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The Bay Area
The San Francisco Bay Area is full of great places to go with kids
to have fun. We've limited our listings here to the Peninsula, but
don't forget to check out the City and East Bay too.
The San Francisco library
has an extensive list of links to city
attractions, events and guides.
The Contra Costa county and
East Bay Regional Park District
web sites are good jumping off points to investigate the cities and amenities of the East Bay.
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Local Parks and Recreation Sites
Redwood City and surrounding communities all have their share
of parks and recreational amenities. Check out our Out and About
in Redwood City page to find out more.
Group Activities
The Walking Mamas Yahoo Group was started to help people meet up and get
motivated to get out walking. Contact the group to join by
clicking
here.
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Wading Pools
Popular pool-side spots for the toddler set are located in
Burgess Park
in Menlo Park and Rinconada Park
in Palo Alto.
Beaches
Take Highway 84, Woodside Road, or Highway 92 out to
Highway 1 and head north or south along the coast to find some
of the most beautiful beaches in the world. Be warned however,
that few of the beaches are appropriate for swimming due to
cold water and dangerous tides. They can also be quite windy,
so be prepared. Check the State Park website
for more details.
Some popular beach towns along the way include
Half Moon Bay,
Pescadero and Santa Cruz, home of the historic
Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk.
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Zoos and Other Fun Places
Happy Hollow
in San Jose features an accredited zoo, creative
play areas and fun rides.
Hidden Villa
in Los Altos Hills incorporates 1600 acres of
wilderness preserve including an organic farm with animals.
The San Francisco Zoo
is renowned throughout the Bay Area as a great place to take kids of all ages.
Kids can have fun at the Children's Zoo grooming livestock or collecting
eggs at the Family Farm, peering through microscopes in the Insect Zoo,
crawling through a child-sized burrow at the Meerkats and
Prairie Dogs exhibit, and lots more.
Free: 1st Wednesday
Coyote Point Recreation Area in San Mateo has swimming
beaches, trails, picnic sites and plane watching. The park is also
the location of the
Coyote Point Museum,
an environmental
science museum with a wildlife habitat center.
Ardenwood Farm
in Fremont is a historic working farm with
animals and a horse-drawn rail car.
Another place to view animals and maybe even take home a new friend. Humane Society in San Mateo always has lot of dogs, cats, bunnies, etc.
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Parks and Open Space Preserves
Golden Gate National Recreation Area
is the world's largest
urban national park, spanning 3 counties and 76,500 acres of
land, sea and beach. The park begins in San Mateo County,
takes in portions of San Francisco and extends north into
Marin County.
San Mateo incorporates dozens of state and county parks. A
search, by county, on the
California State Parks website will
provide lists to San Mateo's state parks, while county parks are
listed in the San Mateo County
Parks and Recreation site.
Santa Clara county has many parks and open space preserves.
A search, by county, on the California State Parks
site provides
links to Santa Clara's state parks, while information on county
parks can be found on the Santa Clara County Parks site.
The Midpeninsula Open Space District maintains open space
preserves with trails in all three peninsula counties. A
general list of preserves is listed at the
district's website. The
site also includes a
list of trails accessible to wheelchairs and
strollers.
Links to the parks and amenities of San Francisco can be
found at the California State Parks
website as well as the
City's own website.
Finally, Redwood City Independent columnist Tom Davids has
established a website describing the walks and hikes covered
in his regular column The Weekly Walker.
Weekly Walker.com
has over 60 walks sorted by distance, length and features.
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Gardens and Other Picnic Sites
In addition to the many city, county, state and national parks in
the area, there are also some nice garden and picnic spots,
including Stanford University in Palo Alto and
Fioli Gardens in
Woodside. While it will cost you $23,058 per annum to attend Stanford, you can visit for free.
There is an entry fee for Fioli.
Trains
A fun and easy expedition is a ride on
CalTrain.
The local station
is located conveniently at Sequoia Station. A quick trip to
Burlingame is good for a half day,
with a chance to enjoy
Burlingame's main shopping street or pleasant rail-side park.
Mr. Eric Struck operates the Barron Park Garden Railway, a G-gauge model railroad, at his home
at 748 Kendall Avenue in Palo Alto. Currently, the hours are Saturdays 12:00 to 4:00 pm and
Sundays 11:00 am to 4:30 pm, but you can call to confirm at 650) 493-7367.
There are also a number of steam and miniature train rides fairly
near by. Year-round steam train rides are available at
Roaring Camp Railroad in Felton.
The
Billy Jones Wildcat Railroad located
in Oak Hollow Park
in Los Gatos offers 1 mile train rides on
vintage miniature steam engines.
Travel Tips
Tiny Travelers Dot Com
offers some good tips for travelling with young children.
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