Customer Rating: 
Summary: Fun Places to Go with Children in Northern California: 9th Edition
Comment: This book is great to find new and fun things for kids to see.
It is the only guide book that I could find with activities and sights to see in Northern California for children.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Travel Guide to Be With Your Children
Comment: I received this over 3 years ago as an anniversay gift from my wife. Our son was 4 months old at the time. Since then, we have put this guide to great use. On weekdays, my wife and son use it. On weekends my son and I use it for guy-bonding adventures. Sometimes all three of us get to the same fun place together, particularly on vacation.The book will become part of our family history as we scribble our son's date 1st visited in the margin next to each entry. Yes, it's due for revision. We hope 2001 will bring an update for those so inclined to want one. We'll hang onto our copy and keep scrawling in our own updates and corrections. We've been to six of the destinations on the Top 11 Places list in the front. That list is handy to give us a goal to get ourselves to every place on that list. My son's personal favorites include SF Exploratorium, Six Flags Marine World, Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk, Jack London State Historic Park, Bale Grist Mill State Historic Park. There are also gems of little museums that I have enjoyed bringing him along to enjoy, such as the Silverado Museum in St Helena which pays tribute to Robert Louis Stevenson. Without this book, we would never have found such a rich variety of fun places to share with our son. Get it and "365 TV-Free Activities You Can Do With Your Child," by Steve & Ruth Bennett. Your children will thank you much later for the time you spent being with them!
Customer Rating: 
Summary: Loved it, but it needs to be updated
Comment: My children really enjoyed visiting about 270 places out of the over 300 places identified in this book. The age range for each visit was given, so we were able to pick and choose appropriate places to visit. The phone numbers and the dates/times the places are open are invaluable. The places are listed in geographic order, so you can visit the places pretty much in order.Unfortunately, it has been over four years since the book was updated, so much of the information is outdated. We are looking forward eagerly for the next edition.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Too Many Restaurants
Comment: Please! Resaurants are to children what fire is to the Scarecrow! I found this book extremely disappointing because more than half of it focuses on dining and museums both of which most children I know would loath to enter. It listed places like Greens Restaurant (an excellent choice but not for kids) and Museum of Modern Art in San Francisco. Both of these would be sheer torture for the average 4 to 9 year old. I really can't understand how the publisher allowed this book to be released as guide for children's activities. The author takes the trouble to list such overexposed restaurants as the Hard Rock Cafe and Planet Hollywood (a guide for teenagers maybe?) and misses many of the authentic pleasures for kids in Northern California. There are a few good children's activities listed like the Hershey Chocolate Factory in Oakdale but the bulk of the book is strictly for adults. I want my money back!
|
