frugal sightseeing

Entrance to Christmas in the Park.

Have a Jolly Time at Christmas in the Park, San Jose

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Some of the many Christmas trees at Christmas in the Park, San Jose.

Around this time of the year I miss the German Weihnachtsmärkte. A festive way of celebrating the season. There you can meet some friends, warm up with some Glühwein (mulled wine), or punch, have some candied almonds, and shop for some artisan gifts. Yes, this is an idealization, my mind ignoring the crowds, but these fairs definitely are part of the Holidays. If you are ever in Berlin for December make sure to visit many of these markets because they all feel different. 

Saucer carnival ride at Christmas in the Park.

Christmas in the Park in San Jose’s Plaza de Cesar Chavez Park compares to a Christmas market in Spandau. Here are a lot of carnival rides for little kids. I was greeted by the smell of kettle corn. There are also candy shops, Belgium waffles, and churros to munch on. You can’t buy Glühwein, but there is a hot chocolate booth. The crowds were not bad and the line for food was reasonable. 

Five girls dancing on the Community Stage of Christmas in the Park, San Jose.

Most people enjoyed the community stage, where local groups performed Christmas acts. But the special attraction of this fair is the hundreds of Christmas trees that are decorated by local businesses, high schoolers, and families, and the animated Christmas themed figures that move about. These figures include the stable of Santa’s reindeers, a train with trolls working, and a band of a fox, a skunk and a raccoon.

Sign for the Kristi Yamaguchi ice rink.

There is also a photoshoot opportunity with Santa on an outside stage and some Lego landscapes with a Holiday theme.

At one end, next to the San Jose Museum of Art, is the Kristi Yamaguchi Downtown Ice skating rink. 

A San Jose tradition

Christmas in the Park is a San Jose tradition for over 40 years now. For people preferring a more socially distant experience, they have continued the drive-thru light experience Blinky’s Illuminated Holiday near Raging Waters that was established last year (tickets are required) or you can sign up for a zoom meeting with Santa.

Christmas in the Park is located at Plaza de Cesar Chavez in downtown San Jose. Admission is free. The experience is open every day till January 2nd, from noon to midnight.

Is Christmas in the Park part of your Holiday tradition?
This is a nice place to come at night and see the lights on the many Christmas trees. The last time I was here, in 2017, I stopped by during the day, and seeing these many trees is still special.

Dave's Christmas Lights in San Jose

Make-A-Wish and See Dave’s Christmas Lights, San Jose

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Christmas lights on 1851 Cherry Ave, San Jose

It is again the season that lights will cheer us up when it gets dark early. For 17 years now Dave’s Christmas Lights on 1851 Cherry Ave in San Jose not only put up over 60.000 lights on display they also have donation bins for the Make-A-Wish Foundation. Giving holiday cheers and raising money for a great cause, what stops you? You can drop money in the red donation bins or give online. 

Sign in front of Christmas Lights: Please Help!! This display is our gift for friends & children to enjoy.

The lights are on every night from 6 pm to 9 pm. On weekends Santa and Mrs. Claus will be there. Meet them from 6:30 to 9 pm. Due to COVID-19 they started last year to have this as a drive-by event. This year, as we all know, COVID is still around, so are the drive-by requirements. 

Light display with one of the red donation boxes on 1851 Cherry Ave, San Jose.

Stay safe and give joy!

Dave’s Christmas Lights are on until December 27th, 2021.

Drive by 1851 Cherry Ave, San Jose.

Other lights displays are:

Eucalyptus Street in San Carlos and Robertsville in San Jose

Large petroglyph at the Chitactac Adams Heritage Park.

Spot some Petroglyphs at Chitactac Adams Heritage Park

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Next week is Thanksgiving, a tradition widely believed to have started in Plymouth, Massachusetts in 1621, when colonists and peoples from the Wampanoag tribe shared a week of harvest celebration. 

Exhibit shelter in the Chitactac Adams Heritage Park.

Tommy Orange, in his book There There, depicts the origin of Thanksgiving being a celebration of a ‘successful massacre’; this is rebutted by Snopes. Not the fact that there was a massacre in 1637 killing 500 people, but that this was the origin of the Thanksgiving tradition. Snopes argues that Sarah Josepha Buell Hale petitioned for this holiday and in 1863 it was written into law by President Lincoln. Hale used the narrative of a meal being shared by Natives and Pilgrims to promote the united vision of the state.

This is about as much as I will participate in a history lesson. Fact is November is National Native American Heritage Month. A good reason to search out sacred sites and learn about Indigenous Peoples in the Bay Area.

Large petroglyph with a circular pattern.

The Chitactac Adams Heritage Park in Gilroy offers information on the life and culture of the Ohlone. In an exhibit shelter there are multiple boards teaching us about the diversity of the Native Peoples in the Bay Area, language examples of the Mutsun and Rumsien, and their use of herbs as medicine. 

Bedrock mortars, round holes in the rock.

The real attraction, however, are the petroglyphs, or rock art. In the middle of the shelter a large rock shows circles ground into the rock. Due to many instances of vandalism it was moved multiple times. There are two more rocks as examples at the shelter, but you are encouraged to spot them outside on the boulders. Please don’t climb on the boulders, the petroglyphs are thousands of years old. 

The 0.2 mile hike of the park has interpretative signs about the lives of the native peoples in this area. The rock art on this hike was hard to see, but the holes in the boulders used for grinding up foods, so called bedrock mortars, are impressive.

Sign of Ranchos and Growth, in the background kids playing and vandalism.

Another striking feature of different rock art was vandalism. The disrespectful disfigurement was near a boulder formation with information about Ranchos and Growth.  

The Chitactac Adams Heritage Park is open year round from 8 am to sunset. 

Note the hike is only partial wheelchair and stroller accessible. 

Another sacred site I wrote about is Mount Umunhum. 

Other Resources:

https://time.com/4577082/thanksgiving-holiday-history-origins/

https://www.wbur.org/hereandnow/2020/11/25/native-americans-thanksgiving-mourning

Men sitting on a bench overlooking the rose garden at Heather Farm, Walnut Creek.

Get surprised by a multitude of gardens, Heather Farm, Walnut Creek

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When I visited Heather Farm I knew this place was well known for its garden. What I did not know was the dimensions and multitudes of them. They have a stunning 27 different garden arrangements! 

Little tunnel with bushes growing on top.

After I entered the centennial grove, 100 trees from around the world, the cuteness of the children’s garden caught my eyes. I’m sure the small, about a yard long, tunnel is loved by many toddlers.The Crowden Rose Garden lures you in by the scent. It features more than 1,000 varieties of roses. 

Bench at the stroll garden, Heather Farm, Walnut Creek.

With names like sensory, stroll, and meadow garden you will likely discover a myriad of plants, and ,of course there are plenty of benches to take in the scenery.  

The name Heather Farm is from a priced race horse, King Heather, of the original ranch owner, John Marchbank. Marchbank bought the 255 acre ranch in 1921 and converted it into a thoroughbred horse training facility. He sold most of the grounds in 1945. Nowadays an independent organization operates the free Heather Farms Garden and education center. Besides the many gardens, the park offers tennis courts, a swim center, an all ability playground, and a fishing lake, to name a few attractions. 

Heather Farms is located at 1540 Marchbanks Dr, Walnut Creek, CA and is open daily during daylight hours.

Have you been to Heather Farm?

While you are in Walnut Creek you might also enjoy the Ruth Bancroft garden with its lavish display of cacti and succulents.

Resources:

A yellow rose.

Walnut Creek Magazine

https://www.walnutcreekmagazine.com/2021/05/27/307676/a-look-back-walnut-creek-s-rich-equestrian-past

Gardens of Heather Farm History

https://gardenshf.org/50-2/

To see a mini tour of the gardens you can watch this YouTube video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8mbSlwqtVxc

A fuzzy cactus with a bright red flower.

Find What’s in Bloom at the Ruth Bancroft Garden, Walnut Creek

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A group of cacti, one with a yellow flower.

At the entrance to the Ruth Bancroft Garden you’ll be handed a map to see what’s in bloom. If you want to come prepared, print it out from their website. The fee to see the succulent garden is $10 for adults with discounts for seniors and children. An amount well spent if you like succulents and drought resistant plants. There are large varieties and they have some in bloom each month.

Two buckets with parasols at the Ruth Bancroft Garden, Walnut Creek.

If you go on a sunny day make sure to pick up a parasol to shade you while exploring. The murals at the entrance are also noteworthy, but inside it is spectacular. Large cacti and palm trees vying for attention together with the huge varieties of succulents. The fruits are interesting as well, but please don’t touch the prickly pear, they have thorns. 

Water lily at the Ruth Bancroft Garden, Walnut Creek.

This is the perfect environment for lizards. They will zip by and then stop to look at you. The koi pond with the water lilies was an added surprise.

Afterwards check out the adjacent nursery. Cute succulents arranged in a pot and, of course, a large variety of sempervivum, cacti and other drought resistant plants.

Bench at the Ruth Bancroft Garden, Walnut Creek.

The Ruth Bancroft Garden with 3.5 acres is larger than the Arizona Garden in Stanford. Both are equally spectacular. On selected evenings between 5:30 and 8:30 pm, November to January, the garden transforms into the Garden of D’Lights and they promise to ‘glow your mind’! Tickets are available at their website and cost $16 – $24 for adults and children between 6 and 15 pay $8 to $12.

Opening hours are:

March – October

Tuesday – Thursday: 9AM to 4PM (last admissions at 3:15pm)

Friday – Sunday: 10AM to 5PM (last admissions at 4:15pm)

November – February

Tuesday – Sunday: 9AM to 4PM (last admissions at 3:15pm)

Do you like seeing blooming succulents?

PALEOALTO by Marpi Studio at Lytton Plaza

Evolve with art, Code:ART in Palo Alto

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PALEOALTO by Marpi Studio at Lytton Plaza, Palo Alto.

I was very excited to see that Code:ART is again happening in Palo Alto. The last time I saw it was 2017. Just this weekend, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, from 5 pm to 10pm; Palo Alto lets you peek into interactive art all around downtown. 

The anchor piece is PALEOALTO by Marpi Studio at Lytton Plaza. This is an interactive time machine. The viewer is transported to a superocean and interacts with strange marine animals and vertebrates on two large screens. 

CODED ARCHITECTURES 0.3 by Amor Muñoz

Once again, the alley next to Bell’s Books hosts a mural: CODED ARCHITECTURES 0.3 by Amor Muñoz. The black and white mural is binary code and spells out a message of connectivity. The viewer can decode the message by using a binary alphabet postcard. Fun and games! 

I/O by Ben Faltau

More interaction is at 555 Ramona St with I/O by Ben Faltau. A hidden message, that changes throughout the day, is on one side of this wall (output). The output gets displayed by the input on the opposite site.

Can we work together to find the answer? I really liked the sound of the output display, the letters moved like old destination boards. 

Jeffery Yip’s Cosmic Cannon on Bryan, Palo Alto.

Jeffery Yip’s Cosmic Cannon on Bryan is an installation with sound and light experience. While Cory Barr with his Color Currents on Florence St created an interactive mural. By now it is clear that most of these Code:ARTs are best experienced when it’s dark. LUMINOUS GROWTH by Liz Hickok, Jamie Banes, and Phil Spitler uses the AT&T parking lot on Hamilton to illuminate a large-scale projection and a sculpture installation of crystals in a cityscape.

LUMINOUS GROWTH by Liz Hickok, Jamie Banes, and Phil Spitler

HYDRALA by Dan Tran and Nick Sowers, in front of the Palo Alto City Hall, is a sound-sculpture. Again we are invited to play with the four channels of audio.

HYDRALA by Dan Tran and Nick Sowers

Not only is the art interactive, at each station you might meet the artists and chat with them about their intentions. 

Code:ART info

Code:ART, the interactive new media festival illuminates Palo Alto’s downtown October 7-9 2021, each day from 5pm to 10pm.

The locations can be found on this virtual map: https://viewer.mapme.com/codeart2021/ or you can pick up a postcard map at each station.

During Code:ART Bell’s Books has extended opening hours. On Friday the Pace Gallery and the Pamela Walsh Gallery hosts public receptions and on Saturday the Qualia Contemporary Art also hosts an opening reception.

What is your favorite way to interact with art?

Are you planning on visiting Code:ART?

Touch station. The sign reads: Reach your hands inside these boxes and touch the secret item. Use what you feel and the photos as clues to figure out what's inside!

Smell, Touch, and See

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The Guadalupe Park & Gardens Visitor Center, San Jose

Turtle sunbathing at the Guadalupe Park and Visitor Center, San Jose.

The Visitor and Education Center for the Guadalupe River Park is open Monday to Friday from 9 am to 5 pm. It says on the door to ring the bell when the door is locked, so I did. 

Right now during COVID there are no field trips, but you can imagine little kids will love this place. The room is not expansive, and probably hard to social distance with more than 20 kids.The center hosts a large aquarium and five terrariums. The volunteer asked me to watch my step, but when she looked over her shoulder, she saw that the turtle was still enjoying the sun, only turning slightly to me to get its picture taken. 

Snake skin. The sign says: Feel free to touch on this shelf gently.
Raccoon fur at the Guadalupe Visitor Center, San Jose

I was also surprised to see such a large garter snake in one of the terrariums. The snake just shed its skin and you are allowed to touch the remains. It feels fragile but not brittle. I was informed by the volunteer that this skin was just a few days old.

Speaking of touching, there is a large raccoon fur hanging next to the snake skins to diversify your sensory experience. This is a room for all senses. The far wall has touch, smell, and sight stations. I hope the visitor center will be filled with kids again soon, enjoying it with all senses.

Smell container. Sign reads: Please return the scent containers to this bin once you have finished guessing.

The Guadalupe Park & Gardens Visitor & Education Center is located 

438 Coleman Ave, San Jose

Current open hours are 9 am to 5 pm, Monday to Friday.
Mark your calendars. Pumpkins in the Park 2021 is October 9th, 10 am to 4 pm. Experience Guadalupe River Education, free pumpkins (while supplies last), a giant slide and obstacle course, and much more at Guadalupe River Park.

If you want your children to have sensory experiences, try the Sensory Garden of the Gardens of Lake Merritt, Oakland or Charles Street Gardens in Sunnyvale.

The entrance of the children's bookstore Hicklebee's in San Jose.

Excited by Children’s Books’ Artifacts, Hickelbee’s in San Jose

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Hicklebee's where books come alive sign.

Exit through the gift shop, is not only an experimental documentary by street artist Bansky but the strategic reality of most museums. At Hicklebee’s, a quaint children’s bookstore in the lovely Willow Glen neighborhood of San Jose, that idea is turned on its head: a museum in a bookstore. 

The wall with authors and books artifacts at Hicklebee's, San Jose.

Hickelbee’s employee Carol Schweppe and her husband Steve brought their vision of children’s books alive with artifacts sprinkled around the store. Over the cash register a sign with their motto: Hicklebee’s – where books come alive. When I spotted the Nimbus 2000 I knew exactly what they meant. 

Don and Audrey Wood - Smoking Hot Pens - Original art created following a Hicklebee's signing in 1985.

In a display case on the left from the entrance, you can find more examples of literate artifacts. There is Harold’s purple crayon and an oversized acorn from Chicken Little. And, the authors themselves left their marks. Pictures of smoking pens from a signing by Don and Audrey Wood for example. In every nook you can find autographs and caricatures.

A wall of Hicklebee's with signatures and caricatures from authors.

With this much attention to detail it is no surprise that Hickelbee’s is a well stocked independent children’s bookstore. 

Have you spotted interesting artifacts at Hicklebee’s?

Another independent bookstore with a fascinating history, gives space to the counterculture of the 60s. See my blog post on Kepler’s in Menlo Park.

Paintings by Natasha Kramskaya

Celebrate ‘An American Mosaic’ in San Jose

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Different salsas at the Chili Mole Pozole Festival.

The gallery exhibit from Works ‘An American Mosaic’ celebrates many firsts, first live gallery exhibit for this year, first collaboration with Mosaic America and School of Arts & Culture at Mexican Heritage Plaza. For me this was also my first time at the Mexican Heritage Plaza in San Jose. Last Sunday I enjoyed the Chili Mole Pozole Festival with live music, artisan vendors, and, of course, the exhibit of ‘An American Mosaic’. 

RGB by Tulio Flores at the 'An American Mosaic'.

The $10 entry fee was for the festival and it came with a bag of tortilla chips and a choice of salsas. My two salsas were both pretty spicy.  

Fourteen San Jose artists express their creativity and love for the Bay Area. As diverse as the artists are their works, with sculptures, painted bottles, and many different painting styles. It felt good to be experiencing art again and I enjoyed the multitudes of ideas and approaches. My favorite was Tulio Flores RGB.

This exhibit will tie in with the upcoming free Mosaic Festival on October 2. Mosaic America celebrates the diversity of America through art, performance, movement, and food. So, maybe this will be your first festival of the year? 

Artisan vendors at the Chili Mole Pozole Festival, School of Arts & Culture at Mexican Heritage Plaza.

If you are still a bit hesitant about festivals you can view the exhibit the next two weekends (Friday, Saturday, Sunday) from 12 – 4: except October 2nd.

The Silicon Valley Mosaic Festival is Saturday, October 2nd, from 12 – 6pm at the School of Arts & Culture Gallery at Mexican Heritage Plaza, 1700 Alum Rock Ave at King Road, San José

Admission is free.

How do you celebrate diversity?

artists:

Fco1980

'An American Mosaic' exhibit view.

Dan Fenstermacher

Tulio Flores

Force129

Richard Hoffman

Natasha Kramskaya

Jennifer Lay

Johanne Marion

Elizabeth Jiménez Montelongo

Betty Proper

Ally Spray

Kenneth Tan, The Lola x Kenneth Collaboration

Roan Victor

Yxaya

 

If you need more inspiration from San Jose artists try the San Jose Institute of Contemporary Art (ISA) or the galleries at SJSU.

Stairs to Esplanade Beach, Pacifica.

Step down to Esplanade Beach, Pacifica

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Shoes on Esplanade Beach with Pacific in the back.

Esplanade Beach was our most recent discovery. We grabbed some lunch from Rosalind’s Bakery (recently featured on a post about my favorite sweet treats) and drove down to Esplanade Beach. Street parking was plentiful. The first impression from above was not too thrilling. We parked near a chain linked fence that was obstructing our ocean view and left us with an uneasy feeling about the safety of these cliffs. The entrance to the beach is on Esplanade Ave, which has multiple apartment complexes. There were a few benches on a lookout above. 

Stairs to the Esplanade Beach in Pacifica

The real treat is the stairs leading down to the beach. This is quite a workout! I did not count how many steps or switchbacks there were but they kept on going. I would recommend slowing down for the last part because the sand on the stairs makes them slippery. 

Looking up at the stairs cliff side with sparse plants and netting.

You can tell that the stairs have gotten an overhaul recently. The plants to minimize erosion haven’t filled out the netting yet.
This is Pacifia’s only official off leash dog beach. We saw a few dogs enjoying the run. Visit Pacifica warns to check out the tide schedule since the beach can be narrow at high tide.  For the same reason,  you should probably refrain from walking here during stormy weather.

Looking up the cliff at Esplanade Beach, Pacifica.

If you are looking for a volunteer opportunity, September 18th is Coastal Cleanup Day. A great way to beautify these beaches and remove plastic pollution. If you’re really enjoying this you can help clean Esplanade Beach every 3rd Saturday of the month.

How do you step up for your local beaches?

If you relish an outdoor steps workout also consider Communication Hill in San Jose, or the Trailhead stairs in Saratoga.