cool activities for seniors in the bay area

Cool, wet and fog wrapped, the cloud forest on Mt. Sutro (Mt.Parnassus to natives) above the old UCSF Medical Center, is a walk into a reverie. Only 80 acres [here’s the map] it is a dense forest of mostly eucalyptus with the verdant, ethereal theatricality of the Olympic Peninsula. Go west on Parnussus and park […]

Young grandchildren have no interest in wine tasting but there are still ways to entertain them in the Napa Valley. The Old Faithful Geyser is not exactly Yellowstone but it reliably blows its 60 foot column of steaming spray every 30 minutes. Between these scalding spectaculars, the kids can enjoy the llamas and fainting goats […]

Nature at its most beautiful and its weirdest is free on the 1st Tuesday of every month at this massive and glorious glass Victorian greenhouse. Built in 1878, it’s open from 9 to 5 and is a damper and more humid rainforest than the one in the new Academy of Sciences. Among the hundreds of […]

Not all art classes will end with you taking home a painting of a bowl of fruit. At the Cartoon Art Museum you could leave with your own original cartoon birthday cards or a comic strip, even an animated short subject. They have an amazing array of classes but in most of them you’ll be […]

Why aren’t there …. Complimentary magnified reading glasses in restaurants? Heavy fines for people on public transportation who don’t give up their seats to us? Subtitles on British films? Hearing aids that don’t hum? Filed under // etc

In Italy geezers have their own sport – bocce ball. It’s slow, convivial and requires little to no strength. In the Bay Area instead of a dusty village square we have Campo di Bocce, two slick facilities in San Carlos and midst the vineyards of Pleasanton. Both with outdoor and indoor courts. You can learn […]

With airfares to LA reduced to $54, flying nowhere for an hour for $495 doesn’t seem like a bargain. However, for a special occasion like a very major wedding anniversary you’d be hard-pressed to come up with a more exhilarating idea than a zeppelin ride over the Bay Area. These non-flammable vessels are a vast […]

The older you get the more you appreciate really great heartbreak music. In that category it’s hard to match the world-weary passion of fado, Portugal’s answer to the blues. Fado is rarely performed live around the Bay Area but one of the world’s best will be at Zellerbach on Nov. 19. The haute gorgeous Mariza […]