This has got to be the best kept secret in the Monterey Bay. Located in Pacific Grove, and off the beaten path in Caledonia park, Stillwell’s Snow in the Park must be seen to be believed. The event starts early when the snow machine shows up and covers a basketball court with a ten foot high pile of snow. They then blow another huge pile for the giant snowman. Then they set up a petting zoo, some jump houses, the horse carriage rides, and maybe some pony rides. Oh and it’s all FREE. Yep, that’s not a typo. Even the parking is free because it’s in a neighborhood. Now this is...

Every December, the Cesar Chavez Plaza in downtown San Jose is turned into a winter wonderland. Non profit groups create displays in a friendly competition. Some have a polished Disneyesque quality to them and some are just funky and fun with a cool hand made vibe. They also build an ice skating rink, bring in some carnival rides and have  a variety of scheduled low key family events. Little kids will have plenty of fun just looking at the displays, cranky teenagers may be a bit bored, and adults will appreciate the logistics and effort that went into putting it all together. Great fun but parking is...

This is a fun event. You drive through Vasona park while listening to Christmas music on your car radio. The displays are huge and many incorporate animations. There’s dinosaurs and an erupting volcano, a pirate ship, and a few tunnels among the dozens of displays. Takes about 20 minutes to drive through. Dress warm as you’ll probably have your windows down. But here’s the kicker. This event is very popular and all the cars start lining up in the street before hand. But they won’t let you line up too early. So you’ll want to find a side street or a parking lot with a...

Located by the beach in Monterey, Dennis the Menace Park is an old school park with some new school flair. It’s loaded with artifacts from a bygone area before the lawyers, the social engineers and the child development specialists took over our parks and pretty muck killed anything that was unique and hand made. The park used to be completely old school, but they ripped out some of the stuff and replaced it with the attorney approved stuff. How you feel about that will depend if any of your favorites were destroyed. Fortunately, there are still some old school favorites. So what will you find?...

Located in downtown Monterey, My Museum is a trippy little place full of hands on activities for the little ones. Somewhat like a miniature Discovery Museum, there’s a wide variety of themed play areas and each one incorporates a scientific principle (though some more convincing than others). Is the mini golf course science? Well sort of, if you include the subterranean tunnel that exposes layers of sediment or the idea that being able to hit a decent put involves physics as well as geometry. But that’s not a criticism. The modern children’s museum is first and foremost about play as...

A fun, little, funky aviation museum tucked away off highway 101 near the Sonoma Airport, Pacific Coat Air Museum is a great hands on up-close experience. Out back is a grassy field filled with military planes. It’s a good selection so both kids and their military aircraft enthusiast parents will be satisfied. Inside is a small exhibit of press clippings, memorabilia,  and factoids, but the real action is outside. I wish I had better photos but my daughter was in her “I’m bringing brown baby” phase and extremely active so I basically just followed her around the whole time so...

Located at the San Carlos Airport near Redwood City you can find the most charming Hiller Aviation Museum. Since Hiller is also located at a real airport, it’s also a good place for plane watching and they provide a great viewing area out back along the runway. Not just a forgotten place to hold old planes, Hiller is a modern, family friendly place with loads of regular events and classes so be sure to sign up for their email newsletter if you’d like to be in the loop for future events. Some of the highlights include the flight simulator, the front end of the Boeing 747 they have out back,...

When my daughter was about one and half she started noticing planes in the sky. Not just noticing them, but pointing and yelling “pain, pain” every time she got a glimpse of one. I knew we had an airport in Watsonville, so I figured why not go see them up close. Back before they put up the gates you used to be able just walk right out to the planes. We would walk out to the runway and sit down in the grass and watch them take off and land. We would even take her bike and ride around. It was pretty sweet. One day a helicopter landed and we walked out to check it out. It was there to pick up...

There are two things I’ve learned from Gizdich Ranch. One, there is nothing better than fresh picked strawberries, and two, picking strawberries is one of the most painful things you can do. You can try bending at the knees, bending at the waste, sitting in one spot in a squatting position, or scooting along like a crab. No matter what you try, your back will be killing you after an hour. But is so worth it. That’s why I come here every Saturday from June through July to get my fix. Sure, I could just go buy a flat in their store, but they will not be as good as mine. I’m picky about...

It’s December 16th, 2008 and I’m heading out to the Point for a dawn patrol session. My car is covered in a thick sheet of ice so I melt it off with a couple of gallon jugs of hot water. The air is barely 32 degrees. When I get to the point the waves are waist to chest and just peeling across through second. The cold has kept everyone home so I suit up to enjoy a rare day at the Point in solitude. I catch a few waves before I notice that the Santa Cruz mountains are covered in snow. Not a just a dusting near the summit, I mean solid white from top to bottom. The water is a brutal 48...