Aquarium of the Bay

We recently took out an annual membership to the San Francisco Zoo - partly because after two trips it more than pays for itself, and partly because the zoo membership offers discounted admission to a variety of other spots, one being the Aquarium of the Bay at Pier 39 in San Francisco. With a week of grey weather and visitors to entertain, we decided to give the aquarium a try.

After holding a membership to the Monterey Bay Aquarium last year, I was perhaps not in the best position to evaluate, as comparing the two if really quite unfair. The Monterey aquarium is an amazing facility, one of the best in the world, and can easily consume an entire day. San Francisco's version, by contrast, is a about a one hour walk through. It has some nice features but for my money, I would certainly pay a bit more and visit the Monterey Aquarium. However, since we paid half price I was quite satisfied with our day. The aquarium is a not for profit, aimed at educating and advocating for our oceans and the life they support, and keeping this in mind helped keep my experience a good one. One bonus - we purchased the optional movie ticket ($3), and they let us stay and watch as many of the rotating series of 20 minute films as we liked - everything from cartoons about saving the ocean to the lives of sharks to the rebuilding of the Bay Bridge. The location is great too - if you are entertaining guests and making the obligatory stop at Pier 39, the aquarium offers a calm respite from the frenzy of the area.

We decided to skip the crowds and walked down to the Ferry Building for lunch afterwards - a great option anytime, but especially when you have a variety of palates you are trying to please.

Living in an Earthquake Zone

While most don't give it a passing thought on a day to day basis, we are all well aware that we are living in an earthquake zone. So it's only smart to educate yourself, take a few basic precautions, and be prepared...just in case. There are a few simple things anyone can do. One is to pick up a copy of the US government publication "Putting Down Roots in Earthquake Country". It provides some great tips you may not think about if you have never lived in an earthquake prone area -  things like securing your hot water heater and book shelves, making sure you store your bleach separately, and to avoid hanging pictures and light fixture directly above the beds. You can also pick up a grab and go emergency pack, or make you own. We have one stored in each of our cars as well as our home. Other things we've done to help feel a bit more in control? A family meeting spot, an out of state contact person and an old pair of shoes and a flashlight tied to the foot of all our beds; you do not want to have bare feet in the aftermath of an earthquake! We hope to never use any of it, but a few small steps are worth the effort.

The publication can be found on line at http://pubs.usgs.gov/gip/2005/15; for other useful links check out http://earthquake.usgs.gov/hazards/prepare.html

Big Sur

It is an iconic drive, and for good reason. Coastal highway 1 south of Carmel provides spectacular views around each winding bend in the road. There are dozens of pull over stops, official and not, from which to hop out and drink in the view. If you are a runner, the Big Sur Marathon is considered one of the top races in North America. Hikers, nature lovers, foodies and those who excel at doing nothing at all will all find much to love about Big Sur. One must-stop destination: Nepenthe. It has a restaurant, cafe and shop but what it has most of all is spectacular views. Sitting outdoors having a bite to eat while gazing at the Big Sur coastline is one of my favorite memories from this past summer. Although a do-able day trip from the South Bay, to fully appreciate the Big Sur vibe, plan to stay a night or two. Accommodation options range from tent camping to luxury lodges, and everything in between.

Your private beach awaits

One of the best kept secrets of the Bay Area is, in my opinion, the coast between Santa Cruz and Half Moon Bay. While those two places are great destinations in themselves, I much prefer the pleasure of discovering the many small coves and beaches that dot the coastline in between. And you don't have to be terribly intrepid to make a discovery. Simply head along coastal highway 1, and keep your eye peeled for a small path, a particularly wide gravel shoulder or a small gate. Pull over and take a peek. Chances are you have found a path to the coast. Some are steep, some flat, some go through sand dunes and some have small boardwalks to help you navigate through whatever vegetation is about, but all lead to spectacular views and, in my experience, little or no one to share them with. This is when you pull out your camera and get that wide angle shot of you on your private beach. With a blanket, a good book and a picnic lunch there are few better ways to enjoy a sunny day.

Disney in a Day

If you are here with children of a certain age, Disney is an inescapable stop, and this summer we decided to work it into a trip to Orange County. But with so many other great spots to visit, we didn't want to spend our entire time in line for rides. So we decided to try to do Disney in a day, and I'm happy to report that, with a little advance planning, it is indeed do-able. We decided which rides made our top five list prior to our leaving; arrived at the park half an hour before it opened (you can go through the gates and up Main Street prior to park opening); and made sure we went on a day when season passes were blocked. With the help of Disney's FastPass system we were able to hit four out of our five highlights by 9:30 am! All the planning was worth it, as we then had time to enjoy some relaxing time at the beach. Newport Beach is your quintessential southern Cal beach - miles of big white sand in each direction and a boardwalk full of cruiser bikes. Laguna Beach, just a few miles south, is a totally different experience. The big white flat beaches give way to low cliffs, and the park that follows the coast is dotted with stairs down to various small, secluded beaches. Unlike Newport Beach, the town of Laguna Beach itself is steps from the water and offers a great range of shops and restaurants - we particularly liked the Ocean Avenue Restaurant on, you guessed it, Ocean Avenue.  Our final stop on the way back was the Grammy Museum in LA. We had never heard of it either, but with a couple of music fans in the family this new, interactive museum proved to be a good stop and a welcome change from all the sun.

The LA area is so large, with so much to offer - and such terrible traffic - the only way to tackle it is a piece at a time. Orange County, which must surely be used in all those California travel ads, is certainly a piece worth seeing.

North of the Golden Gate

While Napa and Sonoma may be the first stops that come to mind when you think about a drive north across the Golden Gate Bridge, northern California has much more to offer than vineyards. I mentioned our trip to Muir Woods and Stinson Beach in an earlier post, and this time we ventured farther north, to the funky little town of Mendocino, almost a 3 hour drive north of San Francisco. This part of the coast is wild, windswept and unspoiled. Mendocino is a great spot to spend a weekend with excellent restaurants, many eclectic shops - several of which feature the works of local artisans - and miles of hiking trails in every direction. We chose to camp at Russian Gulch, a small state park two miles north of Mendocino. It's known as a hot diving spot, and is also popular with kayakers and canoeists. To break up the drive on the way there we stopped at the Charles Schultz (creator of the "Peanuts" cartoon) Museum in Santa Rosa, a small museum but one that had enough to interest all ages and a good spot to stretch our legs.

On the way home we elected to drive the Coastal Highway all the way to San Francisco, and it proved to take about the same time as 101 - but much more scenic! The Point Arena Lighthouse was a great stop on the way back, and the views from the top of the 110 foot structure make it worth the climb. With much more to see and do, we will certainly be heading north again.

Bay area history usually conjures up thoughts of the Gold Rush, earthquakes and perhaps Spanish Missions. But World War II? Not so much. And yet there is an entire network of historical markers linking the are with that period in time. The National Parks Service even runs a website dedicated to the topic: http://www.cr.nps.gov/nr/travel/wwIIbayarea. We recently visited the USS Hornet, a WWII era aircraft carrier now anchored in Alameda, just south of Oakland (www.uss-hornet.org).

An added bonus: downtown Alameda includes several lively blocks of independent shops and restaurants, and with a network of bike paths along the shoreline you can easily turn your visit into a nice little day long getaway.