Sure, it’s a bit of a drive from Palo Alto, but if your kids love water play, science and airplanes it’s well worth the effort. Last week we spent a happy morning wandering between the two parks. We started with a walk around the ‘windy hill’ at Seal Point (do bring sweaters even if the sun is out in Palo Alto when you leave).
Cloudy bay views
The boys loved examining the local wildlife–there were bugs a-plenty, jack-rabbits, butterflies, ducks, and herons–and were fascinated by the beautiful, musical wind sculptures along the path.
They spin. They chime.
But best of all was the air traffic control feed. At one stop in the park, just below the main set of stairs down from the summit to the bike path, you’ll find a display that lets you listen in to the communications between San Francisco airport and the passing planes. There is lots of information provided too on the code words the pilots and controllers are using. My boys thought this was awesome.
Playing at being pilots
Then we strolled down to Ryder Park. This is a lovely little play area with lots of interesting climbing features and some fun fountains (but note that the water is only switched on from 11am-4pm during the summer months). I had heard that the park gets very busy, but when we were there around noon on a weekday morning there were very few other families around.
Fountains. Always a crowd-pleaser.
The Outdoors Parent 
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