Jackie Cohen

Tree huggers love spending time outdoors at Redwood Regional Park. Oakland's hidden redwood forest is the perfect 1,829-acre park to hug a really big tree. The park scurries with deer, raccoons, rabbits, and squirrels sharing their home with joggers, hikers, bikers, and mild-mannered walkers. Overnight reservations welcome, so campers pack your gear!

The Fire Arts Festival sets the night on fire with a celebration of creation with fire and light. You'll be mesmerized when your night lights up with spectacular exhibitions of scorching hot fire art, performance fire, and fire sculptures that send swirling flames thousands of feet into pitch black air.

Don't waiver on the USS Potomac, affectionately dubbed the "Floating White House." Welcome aboard Franklin D. Roosevelt's presidential yacht, one of the few floating museum attractions in the nation. More than one million people have visited and sailed aboard the restored 165-foot vessel. This unique attraction is a national historic landmark and a memorial to FDR and his accomplishments.