Berkeley Marina

The Berkeley Marina is one of those spots you can usually count on for a cool breeze during a heat wave and something fun to do.  There's a nice playground with a small but peaceful bay beach behind it...

 

Then there is the aptly-named Adventure Playground.  This award-winning playground is constantly in flux, the kids able to add-on or paint at will.  Kids can get their hands on hammers and saws.  Understandably, you have to sign a waver for your kid to enter and sturdy shoes are required.  I know some mamas who call it "Splinter Park."  Eli is a little young for it yet, but he loved exploring the place.  The six to eleven year-olds were in their prime.  It looks like it was designed by Peter Pan's Lost Boys and then some parents swooped in later to covertly add some safety features -- a rail here, a hand grip there, loops of rope crossing off an exit too high from the ground.

 

 

 

 

 

 

One Mama's Two Cents:
If we lived here permanently, I'd leave Adventure Playground for Eli's elementary school days.  But it was fun and safe enough with a little mama hovering.  Sturdy shoes really do help, but long sleeves and long pants were also helpful to protect arms and knees.  Make sure you and your kiddo wear old clothes because there are literally dozens of kids painting the same surfaces where everybody is playing.  The paints are water-based and watered down, but still can stain.

Last but not least, don't miss the Berkeley Marina Fishing Pier -- particularly at sunset.  This is a great spot for an after-dinner walk.

 

 Looking back to shore, you have a good view of Berkeley...

 

After walking almost a half mile, your stroll comes to an abrupt end.

 

Peeking through the boarded-up end, you can see the pier used to continue much farther into the bay.  After a gap for sailboats to slip through, the skeleton of the rest of the pier extends out towards Alcatraz.  (The island is in the middle of the photo below, faint in the haze.)

  

 

 

Comments

[Ali]

Greetings! We are working on an educational book with Heinemann Publishing. The title of the book is On the Playground. We are wondering if it would be possible to permission the photo on your website of the kids walking into Adventure Playground in CA to feature in the book? I will include a link to the publisher below. I would be happy to send more details. -Thank you, Ali

http://www.fountasandpinnell.com