San Jose Giants - Play Ball!

Baseball: the great American past time. At the major league level, you can catch an Oakland A's or San Francisco Giants game. However, for those trying to learn the game, kids or anyone watching their wallet, there is another option: the San Jose Giants. Entertaining, high quality, and at just $10 for seats that place you a few rows behind home plate, the price is hard to beat! Sitting so close not only helps newbies understand and follow the game - being on top of the action, combined with all the between innings antics, keeps kids and those with only a passing interest in the game happily entertained. www.sjgiants.com

Mountain Winery Concert Series

There are many wonderful venues from which to take in concerts in the Bay Area. With the warmer weather, the options broaden to include outdoor venues and one of my favorites is the Mountain Winery. Nestled in the Santa Cruz mountains just beyond Saratoga, the setting is spectacular and the line up is always fun and varied. Just remember to bring a blanket - even the warmest summer days turn into chilly nights in the mountains! Check out www.mountainwinery.com/concerts

Weekend Getaway: The Central Coast

When I consulted the travel sites before our trip to the Central Coast, it seemed like a pretty low key place - lots of spots of hiking, biking, enjoying the views and wildlife and, I was surprised to see, eating. Well, turns out it was an accurate summary.

With scenic highway 1 still closed in spots due to earlier mud slides, we headed down the 101 and peeled off at highway 46 which, it turns out, it chock a block full of wineries. You could easily park your car and walk to a handful right off the main road. With kids in tow we skipped this option and headed straight toward Hearst Castle, which is certainly worth a stop. As we were a bit early for our tour (you are wise to pre-book), we drove about three miles past the Castle to a beach famous for its sea lions, and were rewarded with an impressive display: hundreds of sea lions, their fur molting, flipping sand over themselves, wiggling about on the beach and making the occasional bellow.

Following out highlights tour of Hearst, we got our fix of highway 1, driving less than an hour down to Avila Beach. About five years ago a major oil spill led to a massive clean up of Avila Beach, including the rebuilding of the entire 3 block beach strip and all new sand being trucked in. The result is a charming, low key spot, perfect for hanging at the beach, walking on the pier, grabbing a bite to eat on a patio and generally relaxing. About 10 miles down the road is the larger and in our opinion not nearly as enticing town of Pismo Beach. In summer the Central Coast tends to be fogged in for a good chunk of the morning, so unless you like to sleep half your vacation day away, it may be best to visit other than in July or August. We had lovely sun and temperatures, but if the weather did not co-operate there would not have been a great deal to amuse us, as most things are centered on the outdoors.

For our final day took a short drive to Morro Bay, perhaps best known for the enormous rock that greets you. sitting just off the coast of this small fishing village. If you drive out to the rock, you may be lucky enough to find the tiny, perfect beach at the end of the road completely deserted. The Morro Bay Museum of Natural History, part of Morro Bay State Park, is also worth the detour.

As for eats, we were three generations and still managed to find choices with which everyone was happy: the Galley Seafood Grill and Bar and the Bayside Cafe both served up great food and views in Morro Bay, while Del's in Shell Beach had lovely pastas and pizzas. So the Central Coast served us up a little history, a little nature, a lot of sun and some good noshing - no complaints here!

Geek Silicon Valley

While many things may spring to mind, Geek Silicon Valley is actually the title of a book. It is a good read for anyone interested in getting a handle on how Silicon Valley came to be. Organized geographically, Geek Silicon Valley travels from San Francisco to San Jose, and all points in between, stopping to highlight the whos and wheres that made Silicon Valley what it is today. Easy to read and somewhat quirky, author Ashlee Vance covers not only the current heavy weights, but many of the little start ups that new ground but never quite became household names.

The Piers of SF

Pier 39 and Fisherman's Wharf are what usually come to mind when you mention the piers in San Francisco; or perhaps Pier 33; where the ferry to Alcatraz departs. But starting just past AT&T Park on the Embarcadero and sweeping all the way around to Chrissy Field, just shy of the Golden Gate Bridge, the piers of San Francisco are in fact many and varied. Yes, some are now parking garages, but from food to fashion to history to outright tourist kitsch, the piers offer a bit of everything. Tucked away along Pier 45, for example, the SS Jeremiah O'Brien and the submarine USS Pampanito are both well worth a tour. Just to the west, the Hyde Street Pier is part of the city's Maritime National Historic Park tells the story of Pacific maritime history; Pier 24 by the Bay Bridge houses a contemporary photography gallery; the Ferry Building near Pier 14 has shopping, dining and a farmer's market; Pier 7 is a picturesque fishing pier...you get the idea.

While the food choices can be overwhelming, especially in the Fisherman's Wharf area, I would recommend the tiny Hollywood Cafe for a tasty and casual breakfast or lunch, and after a day of wandering, a well deserved ice cream at Norman's in Del Monte Square, in the old Cannery complex, certainly hit the spot.

Sipping and cycling in Sonoma

A visit from my parents opened the door to a rare weekend getaway sans kids, and my husband and I grabbed the chance to explore Sonoma. While Napa may be the larger and better known, Sonoma appealed to us precisely because it is still smaller and a bit quieter. The area itself incorporates several wine growing regions, but we decided to keep things small scale and, using the town of Sonoma as a base, cycled our way around a few of the many local wineries. We took our own bikes but they rent for about $25 a day, and the quiet, fairly flat back roads connecting many of the wineries make Sonoma a safe place to cycle.

The old town of Sonoma itself is centered on a square, around which are clustered a number of lovely restaurants, shops and a couple of hotels. We stayed about a mile outside the downtown at the Lodge at Sonoma Renaissance Spa & Resort, which I would certainly recommend. Fortified with a great breakfast from the Sunflower Caffe - which has a charming, private back patio - we headed off to sample some wines. Cycling in between was a great way to break things up; we saw another group touring by Segway and others with rented vans and limos. With many wineries offering sample flights of six wines, an alternative to driving is a good plan. Sipped out after six hours and four wineries, we headed back to the Lodge where they were offering...complimentary wine sampling! We gave it a pass and instead relaxed by the fire. Dinner was a highlight: the Harvest Moon Cafe is a tiny restaurant in Sonoma that specializes in local, seasonal fare and our meal lived up to its reputation.

A change of pace was called for the next day, and many options that are not wine-focused abound: the area has wonderful hiking; charming little towns and villages; a 400 acre wildlife preserve known as Safari West; the Petrified Forest; its own "old faithful" Geyser - all of which we certainly would have hit if we had the children with us. And, there is always the Petaluma Village Premium Outlets when the skies turn grey. All this about an hour's drive north of San Francisco...we will no doubt be returning.

Gardens Galore

Signs of spring are all about, and now is a perfect time to pay a visit to one of the many Bay Area gardens.

High on many people's list is Filoli (www.filoli.org), a Georgian country house with a magnificent 16 acre English Renaissance garden, located in Woodside. The website provides a month by month breakdown of what will bloom when, so you can plan your visit around your favorite flowers. In Palo Alto, Gamble Gardens is open everyday for free self guided tours; Gamble also puts on many special events, including a family Easter event and a spring tour of outstanding gardens within private Palo Alto homes. You can find details at www.gamblegarden.org.

In Menlo Park, Sunset Magazine opens its test gardens to the public for free. The test gardens are zoned into four areas representing four different climate regions of California, and each time the magazine changes its gardening feature, you can go back to tour the new 'sets'. During the June 4-5 2011 weekend, Sunset Magazine's grounds will be alive with special events and demonstrations as part of its Celebration Weekend. www.sunset.com.

In Golden Gate Park in San Francisco, the Conservatory of Flowers offers a peek at rare exotic plants and flowers, and until April 11 the Conservatory's Garden Railway event is on-going; you'll see model trains and trolleys traveling about a miniature display of specialty gardens. Golden Gate is also home to a Rose Garden, Japanese Tea Garden and botanical gardens - and of course much much more! www.golden-gate-park.com.

If you love roses, the Heritage Rose Garden (www.heritagerose.us) in San Jose features almost 4,000 plants of more than 3,000 varieties of heritage, modern and miniature roses. Roses are at their peak through the end of April, and each year the volunteer-led garden hosts a spring festival the last Saturday of April.

Hakone Gardens in Saratoga offers a totally different experience: its an authentic replica of a Japanese Samurai or Shogun’s estate garden, designed by one of the descendants of the imperial gardening family members. It makes a lovely day outing combined with lunch in historic Saratoga Village, or a visit to one of the state parks farther up the highway 9. www.hakone.com

Finally, a California garden tour would not be complete without a cactus or two, and Stanford's Arizona Garden is a little known example. Originally planted in the 1880s, it fell into decades of neglect before restoration began in in 1997. While this volunteer-driven work remains on-going, you can currently view some 500 cacti and succulents.