This last weekend we went to Lake Cunningham Park for the Fall Family Fun Festival. It was pretty impressive. The park is already a neat place to play and visit. The Fall Festival added a whole bunch of great activities, however, and it was all free. That is what amazed me, that there could still exist an event like this where all is free for the public. I mean everything you would need for a great family day including parking, performances, activities like zip lining and rock climbing, pumpkins- big ones too, hotdogs, chips and water that Lucky grocery store donated and that the San Jose fire fighters were cooking and preparing for the community… all of this free! In budgeting there have been times at fairs when we have had to tell the kids no for certain rides or activities. So you can imagine how great it was to play at this community event and not have to say no for economic reasons to anything. We had a blast. It was a great experience and I am grateful to be paying taxes in a community like this and spending money in local businesses that contribute to these events. Also, I had no excuse but to go on the zip line, too. That was AWESOME!
Shark Tank Sunrise
San Jose State University
Alum Rock Park
San Jose’s first city park, it is also the first municipal park in California. Alum Rock Park was founded in 1872 and is 720 acres large. It reminds me of a county park in that it is so large with so many trails and has a visitor center. It also has a Youth Science Institute that opened in 1953 and continues to offer programs for school aged children.
This place used to be a nationally known destination as people would come to soak in the mineral baths for what they believed to be its curative properties. Most of the natural mineral springs have dried up to a trickle or completely. The park stresses nature now so many of the old structures are gone such as the restaurant, mineral baths, and indoor public swimming pool with a two story pool slide. The old stone bridges remain, as do some of the other stone structures and train supports. With train service gone for many years now, the people of San Jose could at one time get on a train in downtown and come to Alum Rock Park to enjoy what was essentially a resort.
When it was realized that over use of the land was causing damage, the decision was made to return the area to a more natural state for people to enjoy. And so, today, it is a great mix of interesting history, stone structures, barbecue gatherings, kids in playgrounds, people, and the nature of the canyon along the Penitencia Creek that make up Alum Rock Park.
28 County Parks – part 5 of 5
Alviso Marina County Park
Ed Levin County Park
Penitencia Creek County Park
Joseph D. Grant County Park
Hellyer County Park
Martial Cottle County Park
Wow. That was all 28 Santa Clara County Parks. That was a great adventure for us. We saw so much wildlife, so many reservoirs supporting our drinking water, played and explored in some of our favorite places, found new places, and learned much. In fact, I continue to learn as I research the parks we visited and things we read, saw, or heard from park rangers and other visitors.
Visiting them all, one after the other, was an arbitrary challenge I came up with… And it turned out wonderfully… And it became a sweet and memorable family experience.
28 County Parks – part 4 of 5
Sanborn County Park
Upper Stevens Creek County Park
Stevens Creek County Park
Rancho San Antonio County Park
Sunnyvale Baylands County Park
28 County Parks – part 3 of 5
Almaden Quicksilver County Park
Los Gatos Creek County Park
Vasona County Park
Lexington County Park
Villa Montalvo County Park
28 County Parks – part 2 of 5
Mount Madonna County Park
Chitactac-Adams County Park
Uvas Reservoir County Park
Uvas Canyon County Park
Chesbro Reservoir County Park
Calero County Park
28 County Parks – part 1 of 5
The arbitrary mission I assigned myself was to pack lunches, snacks, water, and kids into a car and visit, or revisit, each of the 28 Santa Clara County Parks within a few days. I don’t know how arbitrary missions and the accomplishment of them can be so satisfying, but it was a wonderful adventure.
Santa Teresa County Park
Coyote Creek County Park
Motorcycle County Park
Field Sports County Park
Anderson Lake County Park
Coyote Lake Harvey Bear County Park
Big Basin Redwoods State Park
The first California State Park, it opened in 1902 to protect old growth forest in the Santa Cruz Mountains. In the beginning it was known as California Redwood Park and changed its name to Big Basin Redwoods State Park a few decades later.
Many of the old growth redwood trees here are over 1,000 years old. Wow!
Much of the credit for the creation of the first California State Park goes to a San Jose photographer named Andrew P. Hill. All of these years I had heard of Andrew Hill high school in San Jose and never thought to ask who he was. Now I know. Andrew Hill was amazed at the sight of the old redwood trees, tallest trees on earth and able to live over 2,000 years. Through his photography and connections, he supported the preservation of these special forests. He led excursions of influential people to the trees that led to the funding and legislation that secured our first state park. Today, there is approximately 3% of the old growth redwood forests remaining in California and most of that is now on protected state public lands.
The park is beautiful. The trees are beautiful. The guided walk we went on added so much to the entire experience. I found myself trying to identify trees afterwards and seeing new things around me as I contemplated the life cycles of the rain forest. Also cool, I now know what a huckleberry is and what it tastes like.