Guide to
Family-Friendly Adventures
Our family-friendly summer outings are filled with small adventures in any weather that will eventually become memories of fun-filled excursions. This intensely focused times gives you an opportunity for one-on-one chats without the intrusions of everyday life. Nature is also a great teacher: marine biology in tidal pools, botany in the plant life and survival skills in edible berries and plants, shelter building (we call them forts) along with map skills and wayfinding even if using the map app on a phone or the phone’s built in compass. Exercise ranges from hiking to swimming and even snorkeling.
Our family’s top picks? Swimming in the ocean pretty much anywhere but push a log into the ocean at Palm Beach or Donkersley and your seagoing swimming adventure is on! Hiking anywhere in the Duck Lake Trails – but especially the Mud Lake/Suicide Creek area for its humid temperate rainforest jungle-like exploration that is bound to turn up a plethora of banana slugs, giant fungi and creature-filled, slow-moving creeks to poke around in. Backcountry drives that take us to Khartoum Lake or even for a swim at Dodd Lake with a picnic. Mandatory accessories include fish/butterfly nets for examining water creatures close up (catch and release only) and a handy ‘perfect’ stick that fulfills any number of play requirements.
Even after a busy workday, a family outing builds layers on these memories that only a wealth of photos can capture. Don’t let our changeable weather change your mind and don’t overplan- because the unexpected just adds to the adventure, but do plan to have fun as a family and get out there!