Page 79 - 2020 Travel Guide to California

LUKASZ SZWAJ/SHUTTERSTOCK. OPPOSITE: MUNI/CITYPASS
west of Silicon Valley and San Jose, are vast
open space preserves, including Cali-
fornia’s oldest state park, Big Basin
Redwoods, established in 1902.
easily seen off the coast in migration season
(mid January to mid March) and a herd of
tule elk.
There also is no lack of wide-open
spaces in the East Bay, where the regional
park district includes 65 parks covering
113,000 acres in Alameda and Contra Costa
counties. In the Santa Cruz mountains, just
Heritage & Culture
Early Mexican and Spanish explorers and
settlers in the Bay Area left their mark,
mostly in place names but also in historic
buildings from that era. San Francisco’s
Mission Dolores, established in 1776, is the
oldest building in San Francisco and the
oldest intact original Mission in California.
The patchwork design of its beamed ceil-
ings resembles local Native American
basket weaving. Other old missions are
found elsewhere in the Bay Area: in
Sonoma, San Rafael, Santa Clara, San Jose
and Santa Cruz.
Vestiges of San Francisco’s colorful past,
when the 1849 Gold Rush catapulted it from
a hamlet to a large city almost overnight,
can still be seen in thousands of 19th-cen-
tury Victorians and quaint old quarters
such as Alamo Square and Jackson Square.
The Bay Area is home to world-class
SPECIAL
»
EVENTS 2020
CHINESE NEW YEAR PARADE Feb. 8, San Francisco chineseparade.com
CHERRY BLOSSOM FESTIVAL April 11-19, San Francisco nccbf.org
SILICON VALLEY A LA CARTE & ART FESTIVAL, May 2-3, Mountain View
alacarte.miramarevents.com
CARNAVAL May 23-24, San Francisco carnavalsanfrancisco.org
BAY TO BREAKERS May 31, San Francisco baytobreakers.com
STERN GROVE FESTIVAL Sundays, mid June-mid August, San Francisco sterngrove.org
GAY PRIDE WEEKEND June 27-28, San Francisco sfpride.org
KITE FESTIVAL July 25-26, Berkeley highlinekites.com
ART AND WINE FESTIVAL Sept. 5-6, Millbrae millbrae.miramarevents.com
HARDLY STRICTLY BLUEGRASS Oct. 1-2, San Francisco hardlystrictlybluegrass.com
ART & PUMPKIN FESTIVAL Oct. 16-18, Half Moon Bay pumpkinfest.miramarevents.com
UNION SQUARE TREE LIGHTING Nov. 27, San Francisco macys.com
FESTIVAL OF LIGHTS Nov. 27, Yountville yountville.com
museums, including the recently expanded
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the
Asian Art Museum, the de Young Museum
and California Academy of Sciences in
Golden Gate Park. In Oakland, there’s the
Museum of California that celebrates the
state. The Cantor Arts Center at Stanford
has a large collection of Rodin sculptures.
A lively art scene is found throughout the
Bay Area, home of the San Francisco Sym-
phony, ballet, opera and dozens of theater
and dance companies.
Diverse cultural influences thrive in
pockets spread throughout the region,
including many from Asia: Japantown and
Chinatown in San Francisco, another Chi-
natown in Oakland and Vietnamese and
Southeast Asian communities in San Jose
and neighboring cities. Mexican and other
Latin American influences can be found
throughout, particularly in San Francisco’s
Mission district, while Italian immigrants
left their indelible mark in San Francisco’s
North Beach and Sonoma and Napa wine-
growing areas.
Family Fun
Spend a day at the Santa Cruz Beach Board-
walk, a century-old amusement park
famous for The Giant Dipper, a 1920s-era
roller coaster. Families also enjoy the San
Mateo County coast, particularly Half Moon
Bay’s mid-October festival that features
pumpkin carving and pie-eating contests.
Santa Clara’s Great America theme park
thrills visitors with the most water rides in
Northern California.
San Francisco’s Fisherman’s Wharf and
Pier 39 are lined with shops, restaurants,
street performers and even a colony of sea
lions that wows crowds. The pier also offers
an antique carousel and the Aquarium of the
Bay, with more than 20,000 marine animals.
Over in Golden Gate Park, the California
Academy of Sciences draws families with its
penguin exhibit, a walk-through rain forest
and aquarium with a live coral reef tank.
2020 TRAVEL GUIDE TO CALIFORNIA 77