Kristen McClusky is a Rockridge mom of two young girls and a freelance writer. She writes the funny and poignant blog, motherload, spiked with local flavor (like agro experiences at Berkeley Bowl and other every day adventures). She shares with us her favorite places in Rockridge and beyond.
Favorite restaurant to eat as a family? Fillipo’s in Rockridge on College Ave. Kids eat free on Tuesdays, the food is good, and there’s a great bottomless glass of wine deal!
Favorite rainy day hideout? Rockridge library (we LOVE Gay, the children’s librarian) and the Lindsay Wildlife Museum.
Favorite East Bay outing with kids? We walk to the Temescal Farmer’s Market every week. We see lots of friends, like supporting local farmers, and the kids love the live music. Since this is our Sunday morning ritual, I call it our church.
Favorite park or playground and what you like about it? Is it okay to say that I don’t like playgrounds but endure them for the sake of my kids? Uh, Frog Park is local but I wish the highway wasn’t right there. Haven’t yet found playground nirvana. The San Ramon Olympic Pool rocks though. There’s one really shallow pool that has an amazing play structure on it that kids can manipulate to spray and dump water.
Favorite family road trip/day trip? Tennesee Valley for a hike out to the beach and a picnic.
Favorite date night destination? À Côté on College Ave. Excellent atmosphere, food, and bartenders. And it’s walking distance from home.
What’s good about being a parent in the East Bay? Friendly down-to-earth people, tons of young families, and the ever-helpful Berkeley Parents Network.
How Berkeley/Oaklandish Can You Be? We headed to the Grand Lake farmer’s market after my three-year-old daughter’s ballet class last weekend. She was wearing a tutu, which she decided was bugging her. So she stripped down, then started dancing in front of the band in her undies. She was doing ballet moves while they played a Grateful Dead song. Everyone was giving us these “aw, isn’t she cute” looks. I told my husband it was probably the first time someone did ballet naked to a Dead song, but then decided it might not be that unlikely after all.
hurrah for a cote! also our fave date night spot.