Page 60 - 2022-2023 Travel Guide to California

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-century Victorians and quaint old
quarters such as Alamo Square and
Jackson Square.
SPECIAL EVENTS 2022
CHINESE NEW YEAR PARADE Feb. 9, San Francisco chineseparade.com
CHERRY BLOSSOM FESTIVAL April 9-10, 16-17, San Francisco nccbf.org
BAY TO BREAKERS RUN May 15, San Francisco baytobreakers.com
CARNAVAL May 28-29, San Francisco carnavalsanfrancisco.org
STERN GROVE MUSIC FESTIVAL Sundays, mid June-mid August, San Francisco sterngrove.org
SAN FRANCISCO LGBTQ + PRIDE WEEKEND June 25-26, San Francisco sfpride.org
MENDOCINO MUSIC FESTIVAL July 9-23, Mendocino mendocinomusic.org
KITE FESTIVAL July 30-31, Berkeley highlinekites.com
ART AND WINE FESTIVAL Sept. 4-5, Millbrae millbrae.com/art-wine-festival
HARDLY STRICTLY BLUEGRASS Oct. 1-3, San Francisco hardlystrictlybluegrass.com
ART & PUMPKIN FESTIVAL Oct. 15-16, Half Moon Bay pumpkinfest.miramarevents.com
UNION SQUARE TREE LIGHTING Nov. 26, San Francisco macys.com
FESTIVAL OF LIGHTS Nov. 26, Yountville yountville.com
58 2022-23 TRAVEL GUIDE TO CALIFORNIA
The Bay Area is home to world-class
museums, including the San Francisco
Museum of Modern Art, the Asian Art Mu-
seum, 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 Symphony, 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
Chinatown 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 radically-transformed and expanded
15-acre South Bay Shores Waterpark.
San Francisco’s Fisherman’s Wharf and Pier
39 are lined with shops, restaurants, street per-
formers 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 rainforest and aquar-
ium with a live indoor coral reef tank.
GAGLIARDIPHOTOGRAPHY/SHUTTERSTOCK. OPPOSITE: JELLY BELLY