The East Side of Milwaukee is home for me. I’ve lived in seven cities and five states in my lifetime, but the first 18 years of my life were all spent in one place.

The East Side is a quiet neighborhood nestled along the lakefront just north of Downtown. It benefits from the cool lake breezes in the Summer and the warm lake effect in the Winter.

It is an area with tasty restaurants, pretty parks, and a slow, quiet feel that I love. I’ve spent a lot of time exploring this area, as a kid obviously, but also as an adult with my own kids.

Below are our favorite things to do on the East Side. I hope you’ll pop up the next time you’re in town.

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10+ Things to do on Milwaukee’s East Side

My definition of Milwaukee’s East Side does include part of the lakefront that is technically south of the “East Side”. Growing up on the East Side Lake Michigan was a huge part of my childhood. Below are ideas that stretch from Shorewood to the edge of Downtown within about a mile of the lakefront.

1. Walk in Lake Park

We are huge fans of walks with young kids and Lake Park is one of my favorite places to explore with kids. Whatever the season, put on some weather appropriate gear, grab some binoculars or bags for collecting and head to the park to look for signs of the season. (For more walk ideas for toddlers and preschoolers read this list!)

For a walk, I would park over by the golf course and head south. There is a map on the website to give you a better visual look.

2. Play on a Playground

There are several fun playgrounds on the East Side of Milwaukee.

Lake Park is the newest, most interesting structure in the area. It is great for kids who love to climb.

Riverside has some fun quirky things that my kids love.

There is also a playground by Atwater Beach at Lake and Capitol that is fun and wins for best view.

We also love the one along the lakefront on Lincoln Memorial Drive across the street from Colectivo. Grab a cup of coffee and then hang out while your kiddos play.

3. Urban Ecology Center

The Urban Ecology Center’s mission is to foster “ecological understanding as inspiration for change, neighborhood by neighborhood.” So far they have three locations in Milwaukee. Their site has more information about each location.

We love exploring their East Side Riverside location.

When you walk in you are greeted by this welcoming lobby. It is a warm space with various seating, a fireplace, and tables for sitting and working. There are also helpful volunteers at the front desk that can answer questions, help you find things, and offer information.

Beyond that, I was delighted to uncover several family friendly details tucked into this center. In the lobby there are books and puzzles tucked on a shelf.

There is a room with a variety of native animals, including turtles, snails, fish, and frogs in tanks. It is not overly impressive in design or size, but the exhibits are carefully placed at child’s eye view and our kids enjoyed peering at the different animals.

These river themed slides were a huge hit with our kids. You go up a stair case and briefly outdoors to go down the slides, which I found a little odd, but they found to be completely awesome. Apparently the Urban Ecology Center knows its audience. This is technically a “secret entrance” into the center. Our twins went up and down these slides countless times.

The Riverside Park location is situated on 15 acres of wooded land and riparian habitat along the Milwaukee River. The trails are short and easily adapted to various ages and walk lengths. In the past we have seen deer, a variety of flowers and trees, and birds on walks in the Arboretum.

Also Read: 10 Winter Activities do in Milwaukee with Kids

4. East Side Library

This library was recently updated and it’s beautiful. We always love a visit to the library. My kids could browse the stacks for hours and the stack we bring home borders of ridiculous every week.

The East Side branch has lots of story times and other programs for families so check out their calendar for the up-to-date dates and times.

5. Atwater Beach

The beach? In Wisconsin? Yes! There are a few places to hit the beach on the East Side, but our favorite is Atwater Beach.

The playground at the top is great for older kids (3-7ish) and the view is incredible. If you head down the stairs you will find a large, often uncrowded beach with lovely soft sand.

>> Also Read: A SUMMER WEEKEND IN MILWAUKEE <<

6. Boswell Bookstore

The Boswell Book Company is on Downer Ave on the East Side. It is an awesome independent bookstore with a cozy well-stocked children’s area. I don’t think there is a better place to spend a couple of hours on a cold day, but we love a visit to Boswell anytime of year.

7. Eat Yummy Things on Downer

Downer Ave is kind of Main St on the East Side. There are some little shops and a lot of restaurants.

Pizza Man is one of our personal favorites with kids. They have delicious pizza and pasta.

8. Get Outside by the Lagoon

Towards downtown on Lincoln Memorial Drive, in Veteran’s Park you will find the Lagoon. There are often fun events here like a kite festival and the view of downtown is one of the best, but the lagoon itself is fun with kids.

This is a great spot for watching sailboats, renting boats to try out on the calm lagoon, flying a kite in the open grassy area, ride bikes, and more.

9. Sledding

Winter is a big part of Wisconsin life when you’re a kid and sledding is one of the best parts. Our favorite place to sled on the East Side of Milwaukee is the hill by the tennis courts at Riverside Park.

10. Art Museum

The Art Museum is probably technically Downtown, but to me it was the end of our neighborhood when I was a kid and it’s a fabulous place to visit with kids.

Parking is available across the street and underneath the museum. If you arrive at opening you can watch the famous wings open.

Don’t miss the kid’s art space on the lower level. My kids always love the hands on activities.

And while you’re there, ask for one of the kids activity guides. They change with the new visiting exhibits and they do a great job engaging kids (about age 5 and up) in really exploring one of the exhibits in depth.

11. Climb at Adventure Rock

Adventure Rock is situated on the cusp of the East Side of Milwaukee by North Avenue, which is convenient for anyone on that end of town. (The other location is on the west side of town about a half an hour away).

On the main floor are locker rooms, bathrooms, and a huge climbing room with impressive vaulted ceilings. There is a good mixture of course difficulties and space for climbing. Upstairs is also a long area for bouldering.

For climbing with kids, I like that there are a decent number of auto-belays so adults can take turns supervising and climbing.

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We like camping. Although it is a completely different experience with kids, family camping is fun. Some dear friends invited us to go camping at Tallulah Gorge State Park in Georgia.

Camping?

Beautiful Georgia?

Hikes to Waterfalls?

Friends? We’re in.

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Tallulah Gorge State Park

Tallulah Gorge is two miles long and almost 1,000 feet deep. The park has hiking trails and many overlooks where you can spot several waterfalls.

There is also a suspension bridge that swings over the river and overlooks the waterfalls. It is beautiful, green and mountainous.

We arrived around dinnertime and set up our tent right away. We had an easy dinner, roasted marshmallows and watched the kids race around pretending to be fairies.

Saturday morning we headed out for a hike. We hiked down 300 steps to the suspension bridge, across the bridge and then up 300 steps the the other rim.

This was doable for our three year olds, but exhausting. There was definitely some whining in between rock climbing, map reading, and delight. The views made the effort completely worthwhile.

TIPS FOR THE HIKE

• If you are attempting this with younger kids I highly recommend a backpack carrier (I love this one)
• Pack a snack
• Bring Water!
• Go to the bathroom at the visitors center before you head out.
• Wear weather appropriate clothes and good hiking shoes.

Also read: essential tips for camping with kids

Our twins loved the opportunity to read maps. Their interest in maps has dropped into the background lately, but when a natural opportunity appears they are delighted.

The views all along the rim and on the suspension bridge were stunning. The green stretches for miles and the water falls are overwhelming. The powerful sound of water rushing over a waterfall is one of my favorites.

After the hike, we drove a short ways to the lake where we found a beautiful picnic spot. Despite the weekend traffic of hikers, this was a lovely peaceful spot. We were a little bummed that the beach was closed until Memorial Day, especially since we were sweating from the 85 degree heat, but we cooled off in the shade.

For hiking, I highly recommend Tallulah Gorge State Park.

The views really can’t be beat and the trails offer a fun challenge. I didn’t love the camping sites, but they too were decent. The bathrooms were above average for a campground.

All in all, we loved our trip to Tallulah Gorge. Check out the video on their website of the falls if you need a little extra convincing.

Park Details

• 50 Tent, Trailer, RV Campsites
• 63 Acre Lake with a Beach (only open Memorial Day – Labor Day)
• Campsites have electricity.
• Bathrooms have plumping and showers.
• $5 Parking Fee to enter park
• Cash or Check Only
• Playground near the campsites behind the bathroom.

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This is one of the more unique places we have visited and it is just a mere hour or so from the heart of Brooklyn.

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To get to Fire Island you can drive onto one of the ends, but to access the portion where people actually live you will need to take a ferry. Ferry service is very limited in the off season so make sure to check the schedule carefully.

We went the first weekend in April when some of the residents were slowly heading back to the island to start their gardens and uncover their houses from any Winter disruption.

We rode the ferry from Sayville to Cherry Grove. We left Sayville at around 11 and took the 3:30 ferry back in the afternoon. Use the bathroom in the bar/restaurant at the Sayville ferry station – it will be your last chance for a while.

Bring cash!! They did not accept cards for ferry tickets – but the parking lot across the street did take our Visa.

It is a relatively brief ride but we did bring some binoculars to keep our excited twins focused.

One of the most unique things we discovered was that it is a town built on boardwalks and stilts. This of course makes sense given it’s role as a barrier island, but it still felt so surreal to walk around a mostly deserted town on long boardwalks.

Following Hurricane Sandy’s destructive wake much of this has been re-done so the boardwalks are smooth and would be stroller friendly.

They are definitely great for racing along. Our twins tested this out fully.

Our favorite part was the beach.

It is long but not super deep. I imagine in the summer this is crowded with swimmers and sunbathers, but in the early Spring it was completely deserted except for the array of beautiful seashells and rocks.

We came home with pocket fulls.

This time of year the island is largely deserted. We often felt like we were the only people on the island.

One of the reasons we picked Cherry Grove was it’s proximity to the Sunken Forest which is part of the National Park Service.

After a walk up the beach we quickly walked to the other side of the island again and found the trail for the Sunken Forest.

Kids ran through it chasing the items on our sensory Scavenger Hunt.

We hypothesized about the habitants of pond nests and were captivated by a lone deer on the boardwalk.

Along the way we found spots to rest and eat the sandwiches and snacks we had carried to the island.

NOTHING is open.

If you’re hoping to shop or get a bite come back during the regular season which starts after Memorial Day.

There was one bar half open next to the ferry dock. They invited us in for a quick soda and we thankfully got to use their bathroom. Otherwise everything else was closed until Summer.

This was not your typical Fire Island experience but we loved it. We loved the quiet. We loved feeling like we had discovered a quiet uninhabited corner of the world.

Our kids had space to run and explore and came home bursting with as many questions as their pockets contained shells.

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]]> https://bambinitravel.com/spring-day-on-fire-island-with-kids/feed/ 2 2086 https://bambinitravel.com/joshua-tree-national-park/ Wed, 09 May 2018 06:00:12 +0000 https://bambinitravel.com/?p=11390 Joshua Trees stretch before us as far as the eye can see. We drove into the park only moments ago, but with the Junior Ranger booklets in their hands and rocks towering just outside the windows my kids are giddy to get out of the …]]>

Joshua Trees stretch before us as far as the eye can see. We drove into the park only moments ago, but with the Junior Ranger booklets in their hands and rocks towering just outside the windows my kids are giddy to get out of the car.

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Joshua Tree National Park with Kids

Joshua Tree National Park is about two hours East of LA and about two and half hours Northeast of San Diego. The park is huge and contains two distinct desert ecosystems, the Mojave and the Colorado.

Read Also: 5+ Kid Friendly Day Trips from San Diego

The park is completely fascinating and we saw plants and animals we haven’t seen anywhere else.

joshua tree day trip packing list

• Water (we went through an entire cooler of water bottles)
• Sunscreen
• Sun Hats
• Good Walking Shoes
• Pens
• Snacks
• Lunch
• National Park Passports

when you get to joshua tree

Start by asking for the Junior Ranger booklet at the Ranger Station when you enter the park. We LOVE this program.

You get a booklet (see below) for each kid to fill out. It has sections for different age ranges and ours started doing this when they were about 4.

Also Read: How to Make the Most of Your Fourth Grade National Park Pass

We’ve done this at a ton of different National Parks and they are always interesting and help to keep our kids engaged. This one focused on the plants and animals native to the Joshua Tree National Park.

family friendly hikes

Our family did 3 hikes in Joshua Tree. It took us most of the day. We arrived at the park around 10 and didn’t leave until around 4. There are a huge range of hikes that you can do at Joshua Tree National Park. This post from JUST GO offers a lot of helpful information about the various hikes from popularity to how strenuous they are to what you can expect to see along the way to help you decide what will work best for your family or group.

These are the hikes we did with our twin 7 year olds:

HIKE ONE: Hidden Valley Campground Trail to the Barker Dam Trail

This was the longest hike that we undertook. I should say up front that if I were to do it again I might skip the Hidden Valley Trail portion. You can park closer and just do the Barker Dam Loop and I would probably do that if we did it again.

That being said, we did see the best animals on the Hidden Valley portion of the hike. It was a long open space for long stretches where all you could see were Joshua Trees and Cactus and dry grasses.

We saw both a jackrabbit and this chirping squirrel. That was definitely one of the highlights of our day.

The Barker Dam was beautiful. You go up a tiny bit in elevation and the view is cool. My kids loved the opportunities to climb more rocks because it’s their absolute favorite part about hiking.

Hike 2: Cholla Cactus Garden

This was a super short hike. I wouldn’t even call it a hike so much as a walk around a garden on a path. I though it was super cool though. I had never seen cacti like this and it was a bit surreal to see them all together extending out so far.

also read: Los Angeles Day Trip with Kids

Two notes however; 1. there was this welcoming sign about bees. We didn’t see many but depending on the time of year that could be bad. 2. You are close to the cacti and there are signs everywhere about not touching them. There’s even a first aid kit at the entrance because apparently people can’t help themselves.

We emerged completely bite and pricker free with no problems, but when you’re thinking about this one for kids just keep those things in mind.

Hike 3: Arch Rock Nature Trail

This was another super short hike but probably my favorite. This was such a gorgeous part of the park. There were more rocks for climbing and the arch in the rocks was kind of cool.

We also made several hopping out of the car to do a little climbing stops. These little stops were our kids’ favorite parts.

also read: Mt. Whitney and Death Valley with Kids

on our way out of the park

When we were done hiking, we stopped at the Visitor’s Center. There are 3 I believe at different corners of the park.

Here we got our National Park Passport stamped and the kids got sworn in as Junior Rangers by one of the Park Rangers.

Click to Find More National Park Adventures

Good things to know about Joshua Tree

• It gets hot – super hot. The park rangers were telling us that it gets over 115 degrees there in the summer. We visited in April and it was perfect. Warm but there was a definite breeze that kept us from over heating. Because of this, avoid the Summer and early Fall months when it tends to be the hottest and always bring Sunscreen and Water.
• The park is huge. Look at a map beforehand and figure out what hike or hikes you most want to do. Be prepared to do some driving in between. This worked out well for us to re-hydrate and fill up on some snacks before we got out of the car again.

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The moment you arrive at Torrey Pines State Reserve it is pretty obvious why this hike makes it onto so many Best San Diego Hikes for Kids and Best San Diego Attractions for Kids lists.

It is gorgeous! And this isn’t even close to the best view.

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Now I aim to be completely honest here – so I’m just going to say it – the first part of this hike kind of sucks.

You start down here – either park in the lot or on the street just before the park entrance – and then you hike up a hill. You can park at the top but then you’re going to end with the hard part so I don’t recommend that.

So, once you park, you head up a hill. A big hill. Like a super big hill. Not steep for the most part but a long, slow climb up.

Now to be fair, ever since I had that huge part of my lung taken out hills have been hard for me. Part of why I like to hike so much and love California so much, is that forcing myself to walk up these things, while hard, is super helpful for strengthening what is left of my sad lungs.

Even still, those of us that didn’t have a partial lobectomy were also struggling up that hill.

Hang in there through that climb, it is worth it.

The views from the top are spectacular. On a clear day you can see ocean for miles.

I am fascinated by the west coast landscape right now so I loved every bit of this hike. The ocean. The rocks. The foliage…

At the top there is a small nature center and there was also a Ranger outside the bathroom (port-a-potty) area. My kids immediately started asking him questions about the different things on his table.

They walked away (many many many minutes later) with new knowledge about the animals in the hills of San Diego. Learning thru adventure for the win!

We also got our handy bird guide that has since been used on several hikes at the nature center.

So bird guide, new knowledge and rested legs (and lung) in hand we headed down the mountain.

All the way down the views were spectacular. I’ll spare you the hundreds of pictures I took but it was amazing.

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The hike down is definitely doable for little legs. My kids are good hikers at this point (my twins are 6) but I think most kids about 4 and up could handle the walk down. I would probably have attempted it with my kids when they were three but especially the uphill part would have been a struggle.

At the bottom you are rewarded with a stunning beach.

also read: rock field trip to Torrey Pines and activity ideas

The hills, the rocks, the water, the beach. This was pretty much my version of heaven. A busy heaven – because this is a super popular park, but it was amazing.

also read: 52 things to do in san diego with kids

We walked along the beach back in the general direction of the car taking our time the whole way.

My kids loved hopping on rocks and wading into the little pools of water.

I took more pictures and just marveled. Truly. What a beautiful place we get to call home for a while.

We ended at the beach in front of the entrance. My kids couldn’t resist a splash in the (freezing cold) Pacific. And really after all that hiking they had earned it.

Good Things to Know about Torrey Pines

In conclusion, here is what you need to know before you hike at Torrey Pines.

• Wear comfortable shoes.
• Be prepared to go uphill.
• Bring water for going uphill and for the sun.
• Wear sunscreen.
• Stop at the bathroom at the top.
• The top is also a good place to stop and have a snack.
• Be prepared for kids to want to get wet at the bottom.
• It is awesome

If you’re looking for a hike in San Diego I definitely recommend this one. It is one we will do again.

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