Nestled in the heart of Malibu, Paradise Cove consists of a beach area and the thriving Paradise Beach Café. The beach is pristine, the tide pool discoveries plentiful and the views beyond magnificent – especially on a clear, sunny day. There’s also a pier here with views from Palos Verdes to Point Dume.

The catch here is that parking is a whopping $25. To avoid the hefty fee, spend at least $20 at the Café and you pay only $3 for 4 hours on the beach.

The wait for a table at the Café was 45 minutes when we arrived at lunch time, so we opted to order from the Paradise-to-Go menu, cutting our wait down significantly and allowing us to eat right on the sand.

We followed up with a long walk along the beach & some tide pool exploring.

A few tips for your visit:
• No dogs, surfboards, beach boat launching or BBQs
• Restrooms with showers are available beachside; Paradise Beach Café also has restrooms available for customers
• Crowds get plentiful on weekends & holidays; weekday or evening visits tend to be slower
• Beds, beach chairs & cabanas are available for rent

The 15-acre Legacy Park is a sort of central park in the heart of Malibu. There’s a flat path that meanders through the park, which features four important native coastal habitats – coastal prairies, coastal bluffs, Southern California native woodlands and riparian/wetland.

There are informational signs throughout the park providing education about local flora and fauna. There’s also a small outdoor amphitheater and beautiful mosaic animal sculptures scattered throughout.

Not that you needed any more reason to visit, but there’s also this: Legacy Park just happens to be an environmental cleaning machine – capable of capturing stormwater and urban runoff for treatment and disinfection, then reusing the clean water to irrigate the park.

While some of the more educational aspects may be lost on little ones, Legacy Park is a serene spot to enjoy some quiet time in nature. Consider it a nature playground! Put your bird watching skills to the test (we spotted a great egret), take a short “hike” around the park and play on the mosaic sculptures in the children’s area.

This is a great stand-alone outing, or you can combine it with a stop at the Malibu Country Mart’s playground or a visit to Malibu Lagoon State Beach just across Pacific Coast Highway

Oxnard Beach Park features a pirate-lover’s paradise of a play area. My kids (ages 6 & 2.5 when we visited) let their imaginations run wild investigating the cannons, steering the ship and dangling tummy side down on the swings.

But my favorite part of this park is its proximity to the beach. At the far end of the park, a short trail leads through the sand dunes down to the beach. Last year, the kids spent more time here than on the play structures. We searched for animal tracks, flowers, seashells, rocks and sea glass. The kids were content to play follow the leader until we had to drag them home for lunch.

This spot also makes a perfect place for kite flying and picnics.

The 2.5-million gallon Dolphin Habitat is actually a research facility. But the Atlantic bottlenose dolphins that call it home don’t put on any “shows” here per se. If you time it right, you might see trainers interacting with the dolphins via play sessions.

This is a small-scale place to enjoy an up-close view of these powerful creatures right at tank side without fighting off a ton of people to do so. An added bonus is that trainers are often on site to answer questions. We especially enjoyed the underwater viewing rooms, which offer not just a chance to cool off a bit, but amazing views of the dolphins underwater.

In addition to the dolphins, the Secret Garden and Dolphin Habitat also houses an array of rare (and endangered) versions of the usual big cats, including white lions and white tigers. There are also leopards and tigers, a panther, plus a nursery where the littlest additions are available for a peek.

Not a cheap way to spend a couple of hours, but a bona fide alternative to fighting the crowds usually seen at zoos and other marine parks.

I usually despise animal rescue centers because the enclosures seem unnatural and too small. Although the Wildlife Learning Center certainly isn’t large, the naturalistic setting is gorgeous. I hope the animals that live there agree.

We were lucky enough to have the entire Center to ourselves during our weekday visit. And in spite of the Center’s pint-sized setting, we quite enjoyed ourselves, spending about 45 minutes getting to know the animals that call it home. (If you’re looking for a longer visit, you could sign up for a special tour, which runs $20/family.)

In addition to the outer enclosures, there’s also an indoor exhibit where the reptiles, amphibians and arthropods can be found. Be prepared to do a fair amount of lifting at the indoor exhibit; most cases are too high for kids to see in to.

A few other things to keep in mind:
• Trainer talks are held every hour on the hour starting at 1 p.m. on weekdays, noon on weekends
• Restroom located just inside the entrance
• No food or drinks are sold inside the Center, but picnic tables are available if you bring in your own
• Street parking only
• Small, flat, stroller-friendly setting