Berkeley Aquatic Park

I have driven by the Berkeley Aquatic Park for nearly sixteen years. Not once had I stopped the car and stepped foot in the park. Perhaps because of it's close proximity to the I-80 I dismissed it or because I was usually making my way home and another stop was not in the plan.

That changed when I had heard that Monarch butterflies had made the park home for the first time in over a decade. The idea of seeing hundreds of butterflies had me up early on  a Sunday morning with camera in hand.

While we did eventually see the butterflies (which was quite a site to see) (blog post to follow!), our family was delighted by the quiet beauty of the park. The crisp, cold morning air, the reflections of the water, the variety of birds and the green of the trees all made for a lovely playground for us to explore and ground.

Nature is sacred, creative, peaceful. The importance of spending time in the natural world is a priority for my family and I am grateful for that.

Two monkeys climbing on a tree branch!