SeeCalifornia.com

By C. MacDonald

Huntington Beach, Ca–One of the best kept secrets and most enjoyable things to do this Summer is ride on rafts, go down a mud slide, build treehouses, walk across a mud lake on a rope bridge and much more at the very exciting, old fashioned HB Adventure Playground, hidden in a 3 1/2-acre section of Central Park, east of the HB Library (off Talbert and Golden West). You’ll know where it is when you hear all the shouts of glee by the kids (and adults) having the time of their lives.

Open from 10am to 4pm through Aug. 10, HB is one of the few such playgrounds in the state, supervised by a city Community Services Department. It has rules like “No Running,” “You must wear closed-toe tennis shoes (or stronger) covering the entire foot” and “Don’t Throw Things.” But it’s really a great place for kids to learn skills like carpentry (they provide hammers, nails, boards and other equipment); balance (walking across a rope bridge); responsibility (putting borrowed tools back) and getting along with other rafters on the 50-foot pond. It’s also a wonderful anti-stress place to forget problems, step back in time and focus on fun. Read more…>  Have fun!

If you live in the Bay Area, be sure to check out the Berkeley Adventure Playground (ci.berkeley.ca.us) open through August 17, 2012.  For adults, there are mud adventures (mudandadventure.com) taking place during the summer 2012  in San Jose, Patterson, Sacramento, San Francisco, Del Mar and other cities throughout California.