Since we have moved to Arizona, from the beautiful sunny California, we have been loving the beautiful landscape we now live in. It’s no beach, but there is true beauty here. We love exploring and having fun adventures with our family. Especially when we can find exciting places that are free. The Gilbert Riparian Preserve is a beautiful area with lots of kid friendly hiking trails. The ground are fairly flat and strollers are totally doable. So it’s great with younger kids. Georgiana tends to cry on hikes when I wear her in her carrier.
Our family was finally able to make it over there to explore. I just wish we were able to head over there earlier. I noticed on their calendar of events that they had a Star Party and Sky Watch Observatory night. They have the East Valley Astronomy Club come out and help children and adults see the stars. They even have an observatory that they open for you to check out what is showing that night. We were able to see Pluto and three of her moons. We were also able to see Saturn with her lovely rings. The volunteers there are knowledgeable and great at answering questions. My husband was surprised on how much he enjoyed it. We were able to get a pretty great view despite the cloudy night.
The star party started at dusk so we tried to get there a little bit before. They have a really great play area. It’s kind artistic and really great for climbing. My kids loved it. It would be a great place to let them run around and get their energy out. Georgiana loved walking up the smallest arch and then jumping to her daddy. Great exercise for her. We met up with some new friends and we found she loved jumping to our new friends as well. The Riparian is really beautiful all around the play area. I loved the cactus pictured above. Can you see the two faces. It looks like one cactus is yelling at the other way. I’m sure he’s just yelling to get his attention. The other cactus is smiling. The variety of cactus and shrubs are really quite lovely. It was especially beautiful at dusk.
They have a large pond with lots of ducks. We were able to walk across the bridge and watch the ducks. They seemed to expect food. We will have to bring some oats next time. And across the pond is our favorite library. We had a great time together as a family. And we loved visiting with new friends. We defiantly plan on heading back soon as a family. I was blessed to come back the next week with my wolf scouts. I am a wolf den leader and this place was perfect for a quick hike. We met at 6:00, our normal time and the boys were so excited to have a field trip. They were all over that play ground, running and jumping everywhere. They have a couple different paths at the Riparian. The week before we had review rules for hiking, leave no trace, and safety tips. We check out the maps together and picked a path as a group. We also took a picture of it with our phone. Always a great idea when maps aren’t available. It would be pretty hard to really get lost here but we were teaching our boys important skills.
We walked all around and saw a fair amount of wildlife. They loved spotting rabbits, squirrels, different kinds of birds (including dead ones which 8 year old boys find fascinating), and even some egg shells. Lots of lizards and bugs as well. It’s great to remind your scouts and family that you can observe nature a little better when you are quiet. They boys really had a awesome time. We ended up hiking over 2 miles. We ended at the playground and the boys were able to run around some more.
I love visiting places that encourage taking care of our earth. There were lots of signs along the path that were educational. It’s nice for my kids to have values like taking care of our earth reinforced. I know they are practicing being respectful and thoughtful citizens. And when we have teaching opportunities to share why it’s important we take care of this earth and it’s creatures our children are able to practice thinking of others. We have a stewardship over this earth. It’s one of the things I love about scouts. Be sure to check out this awesome and free place to explore with your family. Their calendar of events has information on their Star Party and also a Bird Watching event. (We can’t wait till next month!) I love being outdoors with my kids and watching them explore this beautiful area we live in. They just thrive when they are out in nature. But it’s not too far away. In fact, we might just visit the library and head over to the Riparian for a picnic lunch and a chance to read our books under a tree.
