 My daughter and I had a fantastic trip to the main campus of the San Luis National Wildlife Refuge, which is part of the San Luis NWR Complex in the Central Valley. November is a great season to visit--the fall colors were gorgeous and we saw so many Sandhill cranes. I recommend that you check out the "Seasons of Wildlife" page before you go to get a sense for what kind of wildlife you might see on a given month.
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 Los Vaqueros (Spanish for the cowboys) is a reservoir for the Contra Costa Water District. It is open for recreation, although during the time of COVID, the types of recreation are limited mostly to hiking and fishing. Los Vaqueros charges a $6 day use fee, and it is accessible on the north end from the Antioch Area and on south end from Livermore. Los Vaqueros has 60 miles of hiking, and it connects to both Round Valley (to the North) and Morgan Territory (to the South).
 Today I took a rejuvenating morning hike at Reinhardt Redwood Regional Park. I took a loop that was new to me, the 5.7-mile loop (with about 600' elevation gain) of East Ridge and Stream Trails. This loop combined a chaparral landscape along the ridge top with a riparian redwood forest in the valley below. And I was treated to a display of ladybugs!
 My daughter and I had an amazing time at Cable Car Beach today at Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park. This is a fantastic hike for people with young children. Click "read more" to see more photos, a map, and a write-up of this easy 2-mile loop.
 Yesterday, my daughter and I both finished school for the year. Although I have work to do still, I submitted the final grades last night to the registrar for all the classes that I teach, and she had her last Zoom circle for her toddler class of the 2019-2020 year. So we decided to celebrate today by exploring a new park: Point Pinole Regional Shoreline, which offers amazing views of the San Pablo Bay and the mountains to the west in Marin County, such as Mount Tamalpais.
 The San Joaquin River National Wildlife Refuge is one of the refuges in the San Luis National Wildlife Refuge Complex. Of all the refuges, this one has the longest trail, so my daughter and I decided to try this park out first yesterday on a maiden voyage to the complex. We had a blast, and I know that we will be coming back here in the winter to see the great migration of Aleutian cackling geese and Sandhill cranes. I was really excited that we saw several Riparian brush rabbits right near the parking lot.
 Ed R. Levin County Park is a 1,558 acre county park in Milpitas that combines elements of an urban park with a wilderness area open space park. I made a maiden voyage to this park with my daughter yesterday afternoon. Although the hike that we did around the perimeter of Sandy Wool Lake was appropriate for the littlest hikers, there is a lot more to explore. Indeed, there is the best of both worlds in this park: my daughter has already told me that she can't wait to come back here "when the virus is over" so that she can play on the very cool looking playground structure, and there are two trails in Ed Levin that connect into Mission Peak Regional Park for a longer hike (see here). Seems like we will definitely be heading back.
 As a treat to myself this weekend (ahead of Mother's Day), I decided to take a nice hike on a loop that winds in between Morgan Territory and Mount Diablo State Park. I loved this 8-mile route, and plan to do a variation of it again next spring! Click "read more" to see my loop and more photos.
 Last week, my 2-year-old daughter and I went to Morgan Territory midweek. I took her for the first time to this park; I had been here before to scope out this nice spot that was easily walkable for her. It packed an even greater punch than I realized! It was a great way to spend a nice spring day in Livermore.
 As I wrote about our recent trip to Tassajara Creek Regional Park, I have been limited recently in my ability to hike. I have only been to the parks mid-week when I have my very young daughter with me. So we aren't really hiking for distance as much as hiking to make close observations about the natural world around us. Today we went to Livermore's Sycamore Grove Park and we had a blast noticing the different wildflowers blooming and wading in the Arroyo del Valle.
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