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Best of Bay Area’s Mom & Dad Adventure Fall 2008 Byron, Best of Bay Area Did you know there’s a place in the Bay Area where you can take an authentic gondola ride? Well, there is! Gondola Service or as I say in phonetic Italian “Gon-doe-lah Ser-vee-see-oh” is located on Lake Merritt in downtown Oakland.
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Archive for East Bay Sightseeing
Best of Bay Area’s Mom & Dad Adventure
BEST OF BAY AREA FAMILY & K-9 ADVENTURE
| Best of Bay Area Family & Dog Friendly Adventure Niles Canyon Railway Old Movies, Old Trains & Byron, Best of Bay Area There are not too many places in the Bay Area that one can take the whole family on an adventure, including the family dog. We’ve selected the Niles Canyon Railway as our Best Family Adventure that’s dog friendly. As in the days of the past, the Conductor has the final call regarding who boards his or her train. Only well behaved dogs that get prior approval are allowed on board. |
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Alameda Beach – Family Fun – Water Sports – Windsurfing – Kite Surfing
Alameda Beach
Activity/Event/Show Reviewed: Activity
Address: Otis Drive at Westline Drive
City: Alameda
Phone: (510) 562-PARK
From Website: From the 1880s until the outbreak of World War II, Alameda Beach was renowned as an amusement center, the largest beach on San Francisco Bay.
Known for its beautiful sands and warm waters, the beach was a popular day-trip destination for residents from throughout the region. It earned the name “Coney Island of the West,” and bathing spas competed for patronage by staging concerts, balloon ascents, carnival rides, baseball games, prize fights, and other publicity stunts.
The carnival is over, but the beautiful beach is back, bordered by lawns and picnic grounds. Some of the area’s colorful past is preserved in exhibits at the park’s Crab Cove Visitor Center.
Crown Beach is operated by the Park District under a cooperative agreement with the State of California and City of Alameda. It is named in memory of State Assemblyman Robert W. Crown, who had campaigned for its preservation as public parkland.
Showpiece of the park is its 2.5-mile beach, with sand dunes bordering a bicycle trail. The beach is a great achievement of landscaping and engineering. After wind and water action had eroded the beach dangerously, it was restored in early 1982 with sand from San Francisco Bay, pumped ashore by pipeline from a barge.
More sand has been added since then, and groins have been constructed to keep it in place.
The water is warm and shallow at Crown Beach. At the west end of the beach is a bathhouse with changing rooms. Swimming is permitted during park hours year round. No lifeguards are on duty. Next to the bathhouse are picnic tables, barbecue pits and lots of lawn area for ball games. Some picnic areas are reservable; call (510) 636-1684 for information.
Crown is another park popular with windsurfers. Rental sailboards and lessons are available on summer weekends.
An annual crowd-pleasing tradition at Crown is the Sand Castle and Sand Sculpture Contest, held in front of the bathhouse on a low-tide Saturday morning in June. Open to all ages, the contest attracts hundreds of participants and spectators. High tide destroys the sand creations, but winners receive trophies and ribbons as mementos of their artistry.
The natural history of Crown is emphasized in two locations. Elsie Roemer Bird Sanctuary at the east end harbors aquatic birds and other salt marsh creatures. Crab Cove at the north end is a marine reserve where all plant and animal life is protected.
Crab Cove Visitor Center, located on McKay Avenue within Crown Beach, contains exhibits and aquaria highlighting flora and fauna of San Francisco Bay and other marine areas.
The visitor center is disabled-accessible. There are picnic areas nearby; alcoholic beverages are prohibited. (Seasonal parking fee.)
www.ebparks.org/parks/crown.htm
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Robert Sibley Volcanic Regional Preserve – Tour/Park – Oakland
Robert Sibley Volcanic Regional Preserve
Activity/Event/Show Reviewed: Tour/Park
Address: 6800 Skyline Blvd.
City: Oakland
Phone: 510)562-PARK
Approximate Duration:
Costs Involved:
Summary: From Website: East Bay residents have several volcanoes in their backyard at Sibley Volcanic Regional Preserve, which shares with Temescal and Tilden the distinction of being one of the District’s original parks.
Round Top, a peak within Sibley and one of the highest peaks in the Oakland hills, is made up of lava and volcanic debris left over from a 10-million-year-old volcano.
Though Round Top was once the infilling of a great cauldron, it stands out today because it was originally surrounded by sedimentary rocks of the Orinda Formation, which have eroded away.
During the past 10 million years the Berkeley Hills were uplifted on a gigantic scale because of strains on the Hayward and Moraga fault systems. This uplift entailed folding of the rock formations, and the Round Top complex was tilted on its side.
This folding and erosion have exposed a cross section of a great volcano, right down to its roots, providing an unsurpassed outdoor laboratory for the study of volcanism in the Central Coast Ranges.
Volcanic dikes, mudflows, lava flows, and other evidence of the extinct volcanoes are visible throughout the park’s 660 acres. There are also vistas of Mt. Diablo and the hills of Las Trampas, and beautiful displays of wildflowers in season.
An unstaffed visitor center next to the staging area at the park entrance has displays illustrating the park’s geology, and a supply of park brochures containing a map with a self-guided volcanic tour.
The park is named in honor of Robert Sibley, who helped found the Park District and served 10 years on its board.
Sibley Volcanic Preserve’s main entrance is on Skyline Boulevard just east of the intersection with Grizzly Peak Boulevard in the Oakland hills.
Website: http://www.ebparks.org/parks/sibley.htm
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