I think catching a game at a ballpark is a great activity in any new city whether you love baseball or not. Most ballparks offer local flavor in some manner or other, plus modern ballparks have cool amenities and you can’t pass up on the history at some of the old time parks. San Diego is one of our family’s favorite vacation spots, it’s an easy trip from Tucson and we go at least once a year. On our last trip, we were given media tickets to a San Diego Padres game and were excited to finally visit Petco Park with our kids.

The last time Peter and I were at Petco Park was probably 10 years ago, so we were definitely due for a return visit. Plus Quinn is following baseball a lot more now so we knew he’d appreciate seeing a game in action. The boys have watched the Cubs at Wrigley Field, the Diamondbacks at Chase Field and a couple of spring training games over the years but we were due for another baseball adventure and Petco Park was an awesome host for it.

I wanted to share a few of the family-friendly features we found and why you should visit Petco Park with your kids!

1. Park at the Park

A unique feature at Petco Park is also the most family friendly aspect. Park at the Park, is a 2.5+ acre park literally behind the outfield with plenty of lawn seating and a huge TV screen to watch the game. It’s perfect for families that want a little extra space to let the kids run around while still experiencing the sites and sounds of a baseball game. Tickets are general admission and the price varies by game but they are definitely the most budget-friendly option. Don’t forget to bring a blanket and picnic!

2. Shade Chart

If you’d rather sit in traditional ballpark seats, check out the official ballpark shade map. It details out which seats are in full sun, full shade or partial sun/shade. Our seats were in section 116 with full shade and a great view.

3. Nursing Lounge

The Petco Park Nursing Lounge is a comfortable place for moms to nurse. There is comfortable indoor seating with a television to watch the game and a private bathroom. There is also a section of seats outside the lounge to watch the game. The lounge is located on the Toyota Terrace Level in Suite 32. It’s also a great place to bring toddlers who need a little more space to move around. Keep in mind it is a nursing lounge for moms that want privacy so no men allowed.

4. Ride the Trolley to Petco Park

Skip the crazy parking fees and traffic by taking the San Diego Trolley downtown. We parked at Mission Valley for free and hopped on the green line. The 12th & Imperial Transit Center is accessible from all three trolley lines (green, orange and blue). Rides are $2.50 each way but try to catch a weekend game because kids ride free (with an adult fare) on Saturday and Sundays.

5. You Can Bring Snacks

There are plenty of cool food options at Petco Park, including famous local fare like Phil’s BBQ, Pizza Port, Hodad’s, Baked Bear and Lucha Libre. As a family on a budget though, I always want to bring a few snacks and drinks if possible when we attend events. Luckily Petco Parks allows you bring in snacks and single servings of water, juice, and milk. With some snacks covered, we can splurge on a fun treat without spending a fortune. Check out the Petco FAQ for full details on what food is allowed in the park.

6. KidsFest

Sunday is the best day to watch a Padres game with kids. Sunday home game features KidsFest at the Park at the Park, plus kids can run the bases after the game. KidsFest offers a variety of fun inflatables and other kid-friendly entertainment. My boys loved running through the obstacle courses and trying their hand at the sports themed inflatables!

Petco Park is hard to beat for the most kid-friendly baseball park. We had a great time during our visit.

Do you have a favorite ballpark to visit with kids?

San Francisco turned out to be an amazing location for a multigenerational trip. I shared my family’s in San Francisco on Traveling Mom but we really enjoyed a lot more. I’m partnering with Kidifornia today and sharing 11 cool multigenerational San Francisco trip ideas with you.

1. The Exploratorium

One of our favorite San Francisco adventures was the day we spent at the Exploratorium.It’s all about understanding how our world works. From the tinkering and living systems galleries to the seeing and listening gallery, there is so much to explore. Be sure to set aside a full day for this completely hands-on museum. It’s very large and we spent a full day there exploring as much as we could until the adults were exhausted and dead on our feet, we had to drag the boys out kicking and screaming. 😉

2. Musée Mécanique

I’m pretty sure my boys would declare this arcade their favorite part of the trip. It’s located at the Fisherman’s Wharf and is fairly close to the Holiday Inn Express we stayed at, so we stopped by a few times during our weeklong stay. This is no regular arcade, though, Musée Mécanique is full of working antique games and mechanical musical instruments. You can easily stroll through without spending a dime and gawk at the crazy machines of eras gone by or grab a stack of quarters and try your hand at these unique machines.

3. Alcatraz

I was a little worried about visiting Alcatraz with my kids. I knew my husband and dad would find it interesting but what about the boys? Quinn ended up really enjoying this excursion. He followed along with the audio tour really well and found it very interesting. Elliot ended up a little bored with the audio tour about halfway through. The saving grace for him was the National Parks Jr. Ranger program, we spent some time working on the activity book so he could earn his badge. Both boys enjoyed the short ferry ride to the island.

4. San Francisco Zoo

Visiting the local zoo is always an easy idea with kids, and San Francisco is no exception. While all the animals were fun to see, I really appreciated the amazing playground and fun train ride, they were a nice addition during our visit. With all the large mammals available, I found it amusing that the boys really loved the mouse house we found in the exploration zone.

5. Walt Disney Family Museum

The Walt Disney Family Museum is best for families with older kids who can read well. The sheer amount of Disney information is awesome for this Disney fan but the interactive exhibits were limited. My youngest was ready to leave each room fairly quickly. That being said, I loved it and would totally go back with him in a few years. Lucasfilm headquarters is nearby and an easy stop on your way to or from the Walt Disney Family Museum. It’s definitely worth seeing the awesome Yoda statue. Plus, you can walk inside the lobby and check out more Star Wars memorabilia if you visit during regular business hours.

6.Pier 39/Aquarium

The Aquarium of the Bay at Pier 39 is a great little aquarium, fun without being overwhelming. It features animals from the San Francisco Bay, complete with an underwater tunnel allowing sea creatures to swim overhead. Don’t miss the Sea Lion’s out in Pier 39’s West Marina, there’s even a Sea Lion Center with interactive displays and videos.

7. Chinatown

Chinatown is a great place to explore for a couple hours or all day depending upon the interest and activity level of your family. We enjoyed stopping by for a meal several times on our trip. House of Nanking is amazing! It’s also cool to just walk around the neighborhood and window shop, there seem to be interesting things around every corner.

8. Madame Tussauds San Francisco

I was honestly surprised by how much everyone enjoyed Madame Toussad’s Wax Museum. The museum does a great job introducing new wax figures for younger generations while maintaining some local and historical favorites for the older folks. The addition of props at some exhibits made taking pictures extra fun.

9. Cable Car

Make time to ride a cable car, it’s a classic San Francisco activity that should try at least once. Hop off at the Cable Car Museum to see how the cable car system works and learn a bit about its history. It’s small but admission is free!

10. Muir Woods

Muir Woods is a short drive away from the city making it an excellent day trip for San Francisco visitors. We opted to take a private tour of Muir Woods but you could drive yourself or opt for a regular group tour as well. The trail is accessible to both strollers and wheelchairs, making it great for younger and older family members.

11. Golden Gate Bridge

There are many ways to see the Golden Gate Bridge. You can walk over it, bike across it and even book a boat tour under it. We ended up driving over it on our way to Muir Woods and on our way back stopped at Hawk Hill to catch a pretty spectacular view of the bridge and San Francisco beyond it.

If you plan on visiting multiple San Francisco attractions, look into the San Francisco City Pass or Go San Francisco Cards. Both offer deals when visiting several attractions.

I did a lot of hotel research before our San Francisco trip last month. The city is so expensive and it was tough weighing the location and features with the cost. In the end, we chose the Holiday Inn Express Fisherman’s Wharf and overall it was a good choice. I’m sharing 5 reasons we loved the hotel and 3 reasons we didn’t.

5 Reasons We Love The Holiday Inn Express at Fisherman’s Wharf

1. Nearby Attractions

Staying in the Fisherman’s Wharf area means you are within walking distance of many popular attractions. You are within a few blocks of the Boudin Bakery, Pier 39 with the Aquarium of the Bay, Ghirardelli’s Square and 2 different Cable Car lines. We also enjoyed Madam Tussaud’s Wax Museum and Musée Mécanique nearby. Plus there are grocery and drug stores within walking distance, making it easy to pick up a few staples for your hotel room.

2. Convenient Transportation

Beyond the Cable Cars, you can take a bus or trolley further down the piers to the Exploratorium or Alcatraz Landing. It’s also an easy ride to Chinatown. Ubers were readily available if needed, we used them for transportation to the San Francisco Zoo and Walt Disney Family Museum.

3. Free Breakfast

Having an easy breakfast at our hotel before heading out is always our first choice when traveling. I am not a huge breakfast food fan and the kids don’t want to wait around in a restaurant, so a simple breakfast at the hotel works best for our family. The free breakfast option here was pretty comprehensive and even included a few protein options like pre-made omelets, sausage, bacon, and hard boiled eggs. There was also cereal, biscuits and gravy, cinnamon rolls, muffins, toast, yogurt, and fruit. The breakfast area was always busy, a testament I think to the variety and the value it provides.

4. Comfortable Rooms

There are several room options including a few mini suites. Our standard room with 2 queen beds felt spacious. There was plenty of storage between the closet, dresser and floor space for our luggage. Plus there was a small table and two chairs in the corner that worked well for bringing breakfast back to our room.

5. Pricing Options

Hotels in the Fisherman’s Wharf area come at a premium and it can be hard to catch a deal. The Holiday Inn Express is part of the IHG rewards program, though, and you can redeem reward points for free rooms. If you don’t have a lot of points, you can use their points + cash option and bring rates down for a more affordable stay. There is a regular Holiday Inn next door that would also offer the IHG reward options.

3 Reasons We Don’t Love The Holiday Inn Express at Fisherman’s Wharf

1. No laundry room

No laundry room is almost a deal killer for me, at least on longer family trips. I prefer to pack only 1/2 the clothes we need. Doing a quick load or two in the middle of our trip is easy to do when there is a laundry room on site. With the size of this hotel, I am really surprised they don’t offer even a small laundry room for guests.

2. No Fridge

We also prefer a hotel with a mini fridge, if only for drinks and a few snacks. The saving grace at this hotel was the free breakfast, so we didn’t have to worry about cereal and milk in the mornings. They did offer mini fridge rentals for $20/night.

3. No Pool

Having a heated pool would have been a nice option on our week long trip. There was no balcony or other outdoor space for the boys to run around and blow off energy. A pool would have been a welcome respite after a long day of touring the city. I did notice the Holiday Inn next door did offer a pool, though.

We’d Recommend the Holiday Inn Express Fisherman’s Wharf

Overall we were very happy with our stay at the Holiday Inn Express Fisherman’s Wharf. Our room was comfortable and the breakfast was decent. Our favorite thing about this hotel though was the location. So while I would consider staying at this hotel again, I would first recommend checking amenities and prices of other hotels in the Fisherman’s Wharf area before booking your room.

We recently spent fall break in San Francisco. It was our kids’ first visit to the city. We brought my dad along for a multigenerational adventure that included lots of sightseeing. There are so many things to experience in San Francisco that it was hard to narrow down our must see places but high on our list was a visit to Muir Woods. After a little research, we opted to take a private Muir Woods tour. I’m here to tell you why a private Muir Woods tour is totally worth it.

Let’s start with Muir Woods itself. I think everyone should visit Muir Woods. Being desert dwellers, we are generally enthralled with any type of forest but Muir Woods is more than just any old forest. It’s a primeval forest where you can walk among old growth coast redwoods.

Walking through a forest of trees that are amazingly tall, green and lush is awesome. The stillness and natural quiet of the forest is almost magical.

Walking through Muir Woods is how I image what walking around on Endor would be like. I kept my eyes peeled but never saw an Ewok. 😉  It’s not a huge surprise given that George Lucas’s Skywalker Ranch is pretty close by. I was lucky enough to visit Skywalker Ranch a couple years ago and can confirm it’s also pretty darn amazing.

Tips for Visiting Muir Woods

Hopefully, I’ve convinced you that you should put Muir Woods high on your sightseeing list.  Here are a few tips when visiting Muir Woods.

1. Avoid visiting on holidays and weekends if possible. Obviously, summer is the busiest season so if you can avoid the summer that would be best. We visited in mid-October during the week.

2. Arrive early or late to minimize crowds. It was extremely quiet and peaceful with only a few groups already on the trail. Plus because we actually arrived a few minutes before the visitors center opened, we skipped paying the park entrance fee. Our tour guide let us in on that secret tip when he realized we arrived early. I felt a little weird walking past the closed visitors center but a park ranger waiting to open up the booth actually confirmed the practice to another family who arrived at the same time as us.

3. Parking is very limited and due to the awesomeness of Muir Woods and it’s proximity to the city, it’s parking lots can fill up within an hour or so of opening. Additional parking is available along Muir Woods Road but on a busy day that could mean a 2-mile walk just to get to the entrance. I highly recommend taking a tour to avoid this craziness. There was even designated commercial tour parking spaces near the front of the lot that our tour guide was able to park in.

If you do plan on driving yourself, check out these Tips for Visiting Muir Woods which includes the low down on the parking situation. You can reserve parking spaces now!

4. The trail is an awesome multigenerational experience from little ones all the way up to grandparents.The trail is accessible to strollers and wheelchairs. Plus there are bathrooms and a cafe near the park entrance.

Reasons to Take a Muir Woods Tour

Avoiding the parking nightmare on site and being able to enjoy the scenery while driving to Muir Woods would be two key reasons on why you should consider a Muir Woods Tour.

While only park rangers can give tours within Muir Woods, a tour guide can give you tips like what to eat the cafe (the scones are locally sourced) and what trails might work best for your family to venture down.  Plus they can take the quintessential picture of your family picture at the park entrance for you.

And unless you had other road trips out of the city planned, it’d be best to avoid the rental car fee and insane hotel parking rates. Seriously it was over $50 a night to park at our hotel.

Why you should Splurge on a Private Muir Woods Tour

I realize a private tour is more costly than a standard big bus tour and we did debate between the two while planning our San Fransico trip. In the end, we decided to go for it and I’m so glad we did. The private Muir Woods tour was totally worth splurging for, here’s why:

1. Avoiding a huge bus. Those winding, curvy roads into Muir Woods aren’t designed for huge buses. In fact, we saw signs warning against vehicles over a certain length driving on the road. Our private tour’s Ford Expedition easily maneuvered the winding roads to Muir Woods. Plus for me, riding a bus can trigger motion sickness in even normal situations but driving along those crazy, curvy roads would be an instant nausea situation for me.
2. No extra people to worry about for hotel pick ups and drop offs or even waiting for various parties to arrive back at the bus. Your tour guide isn’t herding a big group of tourists, it’s just your family and the guide.
3.  No random people herding means more time for touring and also the ability to make tour adjustments that work best for your family.

The traditional Muir Woods tour offered by many companies includes a short stop in Sausalito. We were done at Muir Woods a little ahead of schedule but were not interested in stopping in Sausalito, so instead our guide took us to Muir Beach. The boys enjoyed playing in the sand and the adults to enjoy the gorgeous views.

We also had time to stop at Hawk Hill which is an excellent place to see a panoramic view of the city and the Golden Gate Bridge.  These two extra stops were a much better fit for our family and they wouldn’t have been possible on a regular tour. The last surprise was driving by the famous Lombard street on our way back to the hotel, another thing a big bus tour with a schedule to follow couldn’t do.

Ready to book your private tour? We booked our private tour through Viator but I wouldn’t hesitate to book directly with Thomas and Land’s End Tour Company on our next trip to San Francisco.