Birthday at Mt. Baldy Visitor's Center

This year, we celebrated Josh's birthday at the Mt. Baldy Visitor's center. As a family, we have been spending a lot more time in the Mt. Baldy area, and Josh really wanted to share his passion for our local mountains with his friends. For kids, this is a great way to spend the day. For birthday parties, especially, you can't beat this because it's educational, fun, and creates an awareness and appreciation for the mountains. It doesn't cost more than a party in a stuffy room at the pizza jounts, either.After most of the kids arrived, we ate Mac & Cheese. Then Ranger Briana came in and the activities began. First, we made animal tracks:

Then we went outside and listend to a story about what the gold miners used to do to claim jumpers (cut their ears off) - then we panned for gold. Josh found a huge nugget!


After that, Briana took us on a hike where we found ladybugs, learned about bay trees, saw the oldest big cone conifer west of the Missippi, crossed an old ricketty bridge, and then played red-light-green-light on the way back.

When we got back, we got to see a Desert Tortise, and handle snakes!

After cake and ice cream, we played outside until parents came to get the kids. Overall, I think all the kids had a really good time. And I have to admit, for a kids party, I had a good time, too. You can check out more aboyt the visitor's center here: mtbaldyeducation.org