Great idea for a post! You never know who is lurking, or who will google and find your blog (even if a lot of other SA bloggers don't live near me).

So, I decided to copy HouseHappy and do a similar type blog post.

I will try to make my list from least expensive to most expensive, mostly thinking of things to do for a family of 4 (which is my own experience).

**Go for a walk or a bike ride. Pack up food and make it a picnic.

-One of the many parks in the area (playgrounds, basketball hoops, tennis courts, open space, trails, wildlife viewing, etc.).
-State Capitol/Old Sacramento/Downtown
-Anywhere along river trail. American River bike trail is 32 miles long - longest bike path in U.S., I believe. Easily accessible. Trail spans from downtown (close to us) to Lake Natoma, to the east...
-Lake Natoma (free parking, swimming, biking, hiking, GORGEOUS).

There is almost always enough wind to fly a kite, too. Lots of kite flying with the kids...

{picture credit:

http://kstreetgallery.com/Tuthill_limited_editions.html }









**Davis Farmers Market, "Picnic in the Park"

Wednesday evenings, 7 months out of the year. Free live performances and water feature for kids. Bring a picnic and have a great free night. Or shop the market and order food from vendors (usually local restauarants - GREAT food).



**Free/discounted arts/museums

I wouldn't even know where to begin as far as free/discounted concerts and plays for youth, as well as free/discounted art museum admissions throughout the year, etc.

**Rite Aid ice cream, 99 cent scoops, in the old Thrifty locations. All I Can say is, "YUM!" I do not want to go out for any other type of ice cream - there's is the best, and cheapest, too.

**See a Ballgame

Discounted field seating area, and Value nights with $1 hot dogs and $1 ice cream - minor league baseball

**Local Parks & Rec

Tons of activities and camps, for adults and kids, at very low prices. (i.e. there is a summer camp at the park for $15/week - under $1 per hour for grade school kids. We have taken swimming lessons, karate classes, toddler time, workouts/yoga, etc. My aerobics class is $2.50 per hour.)

**Fairytale Town

$55 per year for family membership

IT's a little zoo and park that the kids LOVE. We go there at least every other weekend when the weather is nice - definitely get our money's worth. (It's like $4 to get in, otherwise, per person).

Last time we went they were shearing sheep and handing out free juice.

**Railroad Museum

$60 annually, for family membership. Play area for kids (Thomas the Train tables), and free historic train rides, plus 2 guests outside family, any time, with membership. Plus, the museum is really cool. It's like a giant warehouse with several retired historic trains to explore.



**Discovery Museum

This is a real little and low priced science museum. The kids always LOVE it. We have seemingly unlimited free tickets for this place too (usually from school).

**Aerospace Museum

This is a new gem that we just found. Haven't even been there yet. They have a really cool Star Trek display, at the moment, kids 5 & under are free, and BM has gotten some free tickets at school, too.

**Roller Skating

Family skate - $10 for up to 6 people

**Bowling

$1 games, Sunday mornings and some weekday afternoons

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Of course, day/weekend trips would include:

San Francisco (1 hour) - hiking, beaches, good/low cost zoo, lots to look at.
Monterey/Carmel (3 hours) - beaches, hiking
Yosemite (4 hours) - hiking, camping
Tahoe (2 hours) - hiking, rent a cabin with others, rent a boat with others, winter snowball fights/sledding/tubing
Reno (2 hours) - gambling for adults, cheap food and hotels
Northern Coast (I haven't traveled up north much, but hear it is gorgeous)
Disneyland/LA (6 hours)
Vegas (10 hours)

Which reminds me, Washington/Oregon is not a far drive, either. Very scenic.

I know that Disney doesn't jump out as terribly frugal. But, being able to drive there in 6 hours, cuts travel costs considerably. We can do Disney with a very minimal budget. (Vegas is similar. Can drive - airfare and room can usually be found dirt cheap).

On the cheap end of the spectrum is camping, camping, camping. There is a campground about 1/2 hour from us that is very low cost and great for some real star gazing away from the city lights. There are great/affordable public campgrounds all over the state.

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For us, personally, the family owns a cabin half way between us and Tahoe. We also have a community pool with our HOA. SO, we can squeeze a lot of "free" activity out of these perks. We are planning a weekend at the cabin in July, with the cost being very minimal.