Our family has recently had two more incredible trips to Ardenwood Historic Farm. Honestly, I cannot praise this place enough as a destination for families with young kids. It's been, hands-down, one of the best discoveries that we've made in the East Bay since moving here with our toddler. Winter, spring, summer, and fall, there is always something wonderful to do at this park. Fall seems to be the busiest of the seasons at Ardenwood, with Perry's Pumpkin Patch, the Harvest Festival, and the Haunted Railroad. But for our family this fall, the thing that made Ardenwood really special was the beginning of monarch season!

Roaring Camp is a private company that is housed right next door to Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park. The former property that became both Roaring Camp and the state park was once one large ranch called Big Trees Ranch, which San Francisco businessman Joseph Warren Welch bought in 1867 to preserve a stunning grove of old growth trees that were in danger of being logged. Big Trees Ranch was eventually sold, part to the county of Santa Cruz (the part which eventually became the state park) and part to a man named F. Norman Clark, who had a dream to "bring the romance and color of steam railroading back to America." Clark worked with the state park to plan a line that would disturb as few trees as possible, and the railroad tracks run through the state park. This was an incredible excursion: both a train ride (which is always fun) and an adventure into the heart of the redwood forest along the steep canyon banks of the San Lorenzo River.

Ardenwood Historic Farm has become one of my family's absolute favorite activities for the weekend. It seems like most people associate this fantastic EBRPD park with its fall Harvest Festival, so it tends to be less crowded than Tilden's Little Farm. We had another lovely adventure this Saturday: we toured the Patterson House for the first time.

Today was my daughter's birthday, and she loves trains. So to celebrate, I took her to the California State Railroad Museum which is part of the Old Sacramento State Historic Park. I had been here before--my husband and I used to live in Sacramento--but this was her first visit, and it was a HUGE success! Choo choo!

On our recent family vacation back to the Gulf Coast, we made a stop at the Zoological Park in Alexandria, LA. Now, Alexandria is not exactly a cosmopolitan city; however, its zoo is, indeed, world-class. It's really impressive and a lot of fun, especially if you go early in the morning to beat the heat and see the animals when they are most active.

At long last, we finally made it to the Steam Trains at Tilden Park!

Most of the land around Sunol is owned by the East Bay Municipal Utility District, which manages reservoirs and water in the area. Although it seems like this place would be loaded with hiking trails, most of it is actually off limits to the public to protect the water running through Alameda Creek. Although you can drive through the canyon, the train gets you closer to some of the area's natural beauty. It was such a pleasure to finally do this, especially because this year is the 150th anniversary of the transcontinental railroad, and this line was originally the westernmost portion of the transcontinental railroad. It's a bit of living history.

Click "read more" to see more photos of the ride.