What Are Some Free Things to Do on Saturdays?

I am not sure if you are asking for the grown ups or for the kids, but here are the free things we do as a family:
1) hike the trail and visit the playground on Rainbow Mountain, in Madison. (Nice trail!!)
2) Barnes and Noble (off University)- we get to read and the little one gets to play at the Thomas the Train table, plus pick out books for us to read to him while we are there. If you get thirsty, you can always raid the water or lemon water at their cafe.
3) Southerland Station (off Governor's, behind Captain D's)- a fantastic train table, plus a construction truck box where you load and unload balls into an elevator type machine (this is a small game, but it is still fun and amusing).
4) Under construction until ?July?, but Madison Square Mall has a fun play area where the kids can run wild and wear themselves out.
5) Not exactly the classiest thing to do, but if you have a Sam's Club membership, there are always enough free samples to count as lunch ;)
5) Dublin Park- walk/rollerskate the paved trail, play in Kid's Kingdom, collect tennis balls in the bushes around the tennis courts (after/before the staff/students have played and picked out the balls they want to keep), fly a kite, play frisbee, have a picnic.

Well, that is all the free stuff I am aware of. If you hear any good ideas, please share them with me!!

--A.

Ditto landing picnic, its a Marina and you can fish and have a great family cookout.

Nature trail on Monto sano and Green Mt. Picnic.

Fly a kite at Big Springs park, they have free jazz and muscic night. You can a get a schedule from the chamber of commerce

I second the Monte Sano suggestion. It was always my favorite place to go growing up.

Keep in mind that recently they've inplemented a toll booth at the State park entrance, so accessing the trails is no longer free all the time (same with using the park and play facilities). On weekends over the summer, there's probably a fee until after Labor day, though it's less than $5.

If you'd like to go hiking for free, Green Mountain is also nice, or if you've headed out to Monte Sano already and find that the toll booth is collecting that day, go back down the winding path to the Burritt Museum -- no, don't go all the way up to the museum itself. Instead, stop at the parking spaces you'll see on the lefthand side as you're going up the drive to the Museum. There's a great nature trail there that is always free and it'll lead you past some gorgeous scenery and the huge cross on the side of the mountain (I just think it's neat).

If hiking isn't your thing, you could give frisbee golf a go, depending on the ages of your child(ren). I reccommend the UAH campus for this activity, but Braham Spring Park also has this available (as well as horseshoe pits and a playground, racquetball and tennis courts, and a duck pond), though admittedly the neighborhood's not quite as good, the course is easier.

If you're up for a little bit of a drive (45 min drive from Huntsville), you could try the TVA Guntersville Dam out near Union Grove. {Take HWY 231S until you get to Morgan City, begin looking for the GREEN
[ <== Union Grove 8 ]
sign and follow that. The turn for the dam is approx. 8 miles down, just look for the BROWN attraction sign that'll lead you to the dam. You'll turn LEFT and there's a gas station on the corner there. (Behind that gas station is a gorgeous creek and waterfall, not much of a nature trail, but it is really gorgeous -- they used to draw power from that waterfall, having a paddlewheel in one of the notched-out parts on the waterfall.) You'll follow the signs to the TVA Guntersville Dam and there's an area for cookouts, fishing, playing in the grass, and there are restrooms. It's a nice place to take kids -- they'll find the dam pretty interesting, especially when boats have to go in and out of the locks.}

Hey P.,

When you find out, let me know! My email address is ____@____.com.

Thanks,
M.

Have you been to Dublin Park? It's a great place to take kids. They have a huge play area that's twice as big as my house! If you want to Mapquest it, it's at 8324 Old Madison Pike, Madison, AL.