From bicycling along vineyard-lined trails in the Sonoma Wine Country to zipping along San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park on a Segway, Northern California brims with exhilarating options for planners looking to add outdoor experiences to a meetings itinerary.
Following are 10 examples of group activities that take advantage of Northern California’s great outdoors, from the Sierra Nevada mountain range that rings Lake Tahoe to the blue waters of the Pacific along the San Mateo County coast.
Electric Tour Company, San Francisco
www.electrictourcompany.com
San Francisco’s Fisherman’s Wharf and Golden Gate Park, two of the city’s most popular areas for visitors, can be explored on tours by Segways, which are easy to learn to use and provide a new perspective to places that many people already know well, says Chelsea Roberts, general manager of Electric Tour Company.
“Everybody wants to try a Segway and no one really wants to buy one so this is a great opportunity,” says Roberts, whose firm has an exclusive agreement with San Francisco’s Parks and Recreation Department to conduct Segway tours in Golden Gate Park.
“It’s really good team building because it takes everyone out of their element and they’re doing something easy but completely different. It doesn’t compare to other tours. You’re not sitting on a bus or on a boat,” she says.
Tours of the 1,000-acre park are two to three hours long and start with a 30-minute Segway training session. Up to 40 people are led by guides who stop to describe lesser-known lakes, meadows and other points of interest nestled amidst the lush landscape.
USS Potomac, Oakland
www.usspotomac.org
To cruise San Francisco Bay on a boat that was a home-away-from-home for both Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Elvis Presley is an unforgettable experience aboard the USS Potomac, which offers group charters from its berth in Oakland’s Jack London Square.
The “Floating White House” served as President Roosevelt’s yacht from 1938 until his death in 1945 and has a long and fascinating history.
The vessel had many owners after FDR’s death, including Elvis Presley, before The Port of Oakland acquired the ship and restored it. In 1995, the 165-foot-long vessel was opened to the public as a memorial to FDR.
Docents lead visitors through the ship, describing history, enhanced with participation of a local actor who portrays FDR and can be hired for group events, says Marti Burchell, executive director of The Potomac Association, the nonprofit organization that operates the vessel.
“Group events are generally dictated by clients,” she says. “We are very happy to help create something special. We can sail from Oakland under the Bay Bridge and go to the eastern side of the bay to Angel Island and under the Golden Gage Bride and then sail along the San Francisco side of the bay for the grand finale of the evening. It’s very exciting.”
The USS Potomac has capacity of up to 120 people for private events. A dining room can accommodate 24 people for a sit-down dinner. PageBreak
Monopoly in the Park, San Jose
www.monopolyinthepark.com
San Jose’s sunny year-round weather makes it an ideal place for an activity for groups looking to get outside, according to Team San Jose, the agency that operates the San Jose Convention Center and markets San Jose as a leisure, business and meetings destination.
There’s also a unique opportunity for groups: Monopoly in the Park, where groups play on the 930-square-foot permanent Monopoly board—the largest in the world—for a fun and stimulating couple of hours, according to Meghan Horrigan, communications director at Team San Jose.
The board is located a block from the convention center in Discovery Meadow downtown.
The Silicon Valley city is the only venue in the country with a Monopoly in the Park board year-round. Large groups can reserve the giant board and game pieces and play with jumbo dice, putting on large token-shaped hats and even wearing jailhouse clothes as they move giant pieces on the life-size board.
“It’s perfect for small to large groups looking for a unique team-building exercise or just a fun way to blow off steam after educational sessions. It’s also great for family reunions, company picnics and other organized events,” Horrigan says.
Half Moon Bay Kayak Co.,
San Mateo County
www.hmbkayak.com
San Mateo County’s long coastline is a rugged, beautiful place where visitors are awed by wildlife and spectacular sunsets. Half Moon Bay, home to the famous surfing competition, the Mavericks, features scenic Pillar Point Harbor, where fishermen bring in their catches of salmon and halibut each day.
The scenery can be enjoyed from the water with beginners’ kayaking trips in the calm harbor water, and a variety of wildlife can be seen, including harbor seals, sea lions, seagulls and many other types of birds, says Doug Connor, co-owner of Half Moon Bay Kayak Co.
The company offers group kayaking trips, with the option of a picnic on the wide sandy beach adjacent to the harbor.
“The appeal is getting out on the water and having some nice light exercise,” Connor says. “It’s beautiful, you get a totally different perspective of the land from the water, and you see more marine and bird life.”
During the three-hour kayaking tour, the group pulls off on a beach near a point where they can see the Mavericks surf spot.
Another group option is a kayaking trip at sunset, a popular choice at the end of a day of meetings indoors, Connor says.
Wine Country Bikes of Healdsburg, Sonoma
www.winecountrybikes.com
Sonoma County, with its coastline, river valley and rolling hillside landscapes lined with vineyards, has a wealth of outdoor adventures to offer groups. Among the most popular are casual bike rides that feature stops at two or three wineries to sample one of California’s most famous exports.
Wine Country Bikes of Healdsburg arranges a five-hour program for groups that create an experience to savor Sonoma County’s bounty.
“It’s a wonderful way to get outside and experience Sonoma County in a completely different way,” says John Mastrianni, owner of the company. “It’s especially wonderful for groups who have been indoors at meetings. It opens up their senses and really adds to an enjoyable and productive meeting.”
Wine Country Bikes takes groups of up to 35 people on the biking, wine sampling and picnic lunch program, which can be customized to whatever interest and time frame that the group desires, he says.
Typically, groups opt for the Dry Creek Valley, an area in northern Sonoma County known for its zinfandel and sauvignon blanc.
The valley, with its flat roads making for easy bicycling, is dotted with dozens of wineries, tasting rooms and charming spots such as the Dry Creek General Store and the Jimtown Store. A picnic lunch amid vineyards features gourmet food. PageBreak
Catch a Canoe, Mendocino
www.catchacanoe.com
The New England-style charm of the town of Mendocino makes it a spot for romantic weekends, but the beauty of the Mendocino County coast is also a draw for groups wanting to experience pristine redwood groves and wild, rugged beaches without the crowds and hustle and bustle of other areas of northern California.
Catch a Canoe has been operating kayaking and canoe trips since 1972 in Mendocino, centered on the Big River, an estuary that flows 50 miles from the coastal mountain range into the Pacific Ocean just south of the town. The river is home to river otters and harbor seals, including their pups.
The company offers customized group tours with guides on kayaks, canoes and the Solar Wind, a nine-passenger outrigger canoe-type vessel, the company’s latest mode of transport. The vessel is propelled with wind, solar energy and electric power.
Groups that charter the Solar Wind travel four miles up the river east from the coast with a tailwind and then return with the help of a solar-assisted push on tours that last a little more than two hours.
Groups traveling the Big River explore Northern California’s largest undeveloped estuary along 7,300 acres of protected wetlands and forest.
Napa Valley Balloons, Napa
www.napavalleyballoons.com
An unforgettable memory of northern California’s wine country is soaring over Napa Valley, looking down on acres of vineyards from the basket of a hot-air balloon.
Napa Valley Balloons takes groups on early morning balloon rides over the valley. The early morning departure is necessary because it’s when the air is calm and stable just after the sunrise.
The rides are followed by a champagne brunch so that participants celebrate the experience together.
The largest of the company’s balloons holds 16 passengers, and several balloons can be chartered for more participants to have the experience together on a morning flight. Expecting mothers are not permitted to fly and all passengers must be able to stand for at least an hour.
Skip Barber Driving School, Monterey
www.skipbarber.com
Monterey County is known for the world-famous golf at Pebble Beach, but there’s another outdoor sport that also grabs the spotlight: world-class sports car racing.
The Laguna Seca track was built in 1957 and today is known as the Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, still hosting racing events such as Formula 500 and motorcycle races, and thrilling fans with The Corkscrew, a hard-left and hard-right combination that makes for excitement as vehicles race around the track.
Groups can get in on the excitement through the Skip Barber Driving School, where participants learn car control skills and participate in team competition, which is both educational and fun.
A range of options is available, and the school’s group events specialists help plan group outings using Mazda RX-8s, MX-5s Mazda 3s and Skip Barber formula race cars. Breakfast and lunch are included and post-event hors d’oeuvres and aperitifs can be arranged. Participants receive achievement certificates. PageBreak
Walking Tours, Sacramento
www.downtownsac.org/venture-out/downtown-tours
California’s state capital is full of history of the Golden State, and learning about that history while walking in Old Sacramento and the surrounding tree-shaded streets can be an enjoyable outdoor group experience.
Several programs can be customized for groups through Downtown Partnership, a nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting downtown Sacramento.
The organization offers unique tours to introduce visitors to the places and events that shaped California history with themed walking tours focusing on art, architecture and culture.
One of the more fascinating programs is by local history buff Shawn Peter, who takes groups on walks through Old Sacramento’s underground watering holes.
The tour begins at the River City Saloon, a bar decorated in Prohibition-era style and proceeds to other speakeasy spots including the Delta King Riverboat, which was a venue for illegal drinking and gambling.
Peter describes the people and events that shaped the city’s history as one of the “wettest cities in the union” during Prohibition. Participants can enjoy a Prohibition-era themed cocktail (or another favorite drink) at tour stops.
Borges Family Sleigh and Carriage Rides, Lake Tahoe
www.sleighride.com
The mountain scenery of Lake Tahoe, which straddles the California-Nevada border, is heady in its beauty all year, whether it’s during the snowy winters or in the sunshine of the alpine summers.
Groups can experience the outdoors and the local forested slopes in the winter on sleigh rides and in the summer on hay rides.
“It’s a terrific experience because you get spectacular views of Lake Tahoe along a vantage point on the Old Pony Express Trail,” says Diana Borges, whose family owns Borges Family Sleigh and Carriage Rides.
In the winter, old-fashioned sleighs pulled by Belgian draft horses carry groups of up to 85 people through the meadows along forested trails while they sing “Jingle Bells” and stop for souvenir photos.
In the summer, hay rides in carriages drawn by horses can be arranged for groups of up to 25 people. The rides are one hour in length but there are options, such as lunches, dinners and bonfires at the family’s nearby ranch, that can be included for longer activities.
San Francisco-based freelancer Laura Del Rosso is the author of Great Escapes: Northern California.
