Whether you have a kid or just want to feel like one, freshwater lakes, public pools, water parks and secret swimming holes are a great, cheap way to cool off this summer. Here are some nearby favorites.
Right On Track
Amtrak's passenger line may be ailing elsewhere, but it's on track in California.
-Chronicle Bay Area
Hyde Street Find
Well-done rustic fare makes 1550 Hyde a keeper.
-Chronicle Magazine
Secret To Labor Day Camping?
It's true, all the easy-to-reach great spots are long gone. But don't put away your Coleman just yet.
-Chronicle Outdoors
Old Mint To Be A Museum
After a 9-year political and bureaucratic odyssey, keys were finally handed over.
-Chronicle Bay Area
High Five
Cinq, a small Corte Madera restaurant, packs a big punch.
-Chronicle Magazine
Raves For New Library
The new Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Library in downtown San Jose combines the collections of a city library and a major university.
-Chronicle Bay Area
Hilariously Outspoken Mimes
SF Mime Troupe's deliciously biting (and not at all silent) satire, "Veronique of the Mounties," is making its way around the Bay.
-Chronicle Friday
Don't Say It's "A-Peeling"
People checking out Stanford's giant banana sculpture are having trouble keeping their puns to themselves.
-Chronicle Bay Area
Is Oakland Airport Ruined?
It was once a bucolic little airport. Now, as discount carriers grow, so do the crowds and frustrations.
-Chronicle Business
SF's Mob Scene
In case you were wondering why 200 people spun clockwise across Market Street: New York City's "flash mob" phenomenon has arrived.
-Chronicle
GG Bridge Clock Removed
The toll plaza clock tower, which for decades gazed at riders from above lane 7, was a casualty of rust from years of exposure to cold, bitter salt air.
-Chronicle Bay Area
Follow the Reader This Week:
A restored historic inn beside Trinity Lake, an Orcas Island cottage features a private beach, an inexpensive Guatemala B&B;, and a Victorian-era inn near Edinburgh's center.
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