Alameda Times-Star - Bay Area Living:

Don't sit around as glazed as your bird. Get up, get moving and get everyone out of the house -- if just to work off those starchy carbs.

For those playing host to out-of-town guests during this long holiday weekend, the pressure is on to dish up an activity sure to please the whole crowd.

But rather than trekking off to Alcatraz or the wine country one more time, try something different. Bay Area Living staffers have put together a list of fun destinations that make us all give thanks we live here.

Skating and A Beverage

My friends and relatives enjoy bright lights, the big city, a little adventure and activity.

So this time of year, the out-of-towners' tour starts with an afternoon BART ride -- even the Sacramentans consider it a treat -- into San Francisco.

We exit at the Embarcadero, then amble over to the ice-skating rink, adjacent to the Hyatt and across from the Ferry Building.

Some skate. Others fall down. The rest watch amused.

The rink is open from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. Sundays through Thursdays and 10 a.m. to 11:30 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, until Jan. 4. Admission is $7 for adults, $3.50 for 8 and younger weekdays; $7.50 and $4 weekends. Skate rental is $3.50. Call (415) 956-2688.

Plan to warm up afterward with a drink while gazing down at the best of the Bay Area. A nice spot is the Hyatt's revolving Equinox Restaurant on the 17th floor.

The restaurant takes 45 minutes to complete a revolution that serves up lights from San Francisco and cities beyond, and boats crossing the Bay.

Call (415) 291-6619 for hours and dinner reservations. Closed Mondays and Tuesdays.

-- Barry Caine

Bay Area Discovery Museum

For an outing sure to please the smallest tots, swing by Sausalito's newly expanded Bay Area Discovery Museum, which reopened last month.

The museum now features a new entry pavilion, a Media Lab and the 180-seat black-box Discovery Theater, which will host a variety of kid fare.

Also new is the Tot Lot, an indoor-outdoor aquarium-themed exploration area for children younger than 5, featuring a stream, waterfall and climbing rocks. Look for the opening of an expanded art studio the day after Christmas.

Don't miss the current exhibit on sounds, the delightfully cacophonous "Play it By Ear."

One fun family activity is the Gingerbread Architecture Extravaganza, creating and decorating a yummy gingerbread house with candy canes, marshmallows, gum drops and frosting. The cost is $12 per gingerbread kit. Preregistration required. Saturdays and Sundays from 11 a.m. until 2 p.m. through Dec. 21 plus Dec. 22 and Dec. 23. Open 11 a.m.-1 p.m. Dec. 24.

Or check out Belly Button, a Canadian troupe's puppet play about a baby on the way. Show is at 11 a.m. and 1 and 3 p.m. Tickets are $20 and include museum admission.

The museum is at East Fort Baker, 557 McReynolds Road, Sausalito. Open 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesdays-Fridays; 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekends. Closed Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's Day. Admission is $7, children younger than 12 months get in free. For more information, go to baykidsmuseum.org or call (415) 339-3900.

-- Melissa Schorr

Hike Land's End

Your guests will be convinced you live in one of the world's prettiest places when you take them for an easy but scenic hike at Land's End in San Francisco.

Begin the day with breakfast at Louis' Restaurant (902 Point Lobos, San Francisco), a classic and quirky diner -- with a classic and quirky wait staff -- just above the Cliff House that overlooks the ruins of the once-grand Sutro Baths.

Begin your hike on the trail at the north end of the parking lot just above Louis'. Views of the Pacific are spectacular, and as you wind your way through the forest, views of the Bay and the Marin Headlands are breathtaking.

Be sure to have the camera ready as you round a curve and the Golden Gate Bridge comes into view. So this is what it feels like to live in a postcard.

You can intensify the hike by heading down to one of the rocky beaches (beware of nudists!) or stroll with relative ease to the end of the trail at Lincoln Park Golf Course just below the Palace of the Legion of Honor.

The round-trip hike can range from three to six miles depending on how far you go. Visit www.nps.gov/goga or call (415) 561-4700.

-- Chad Jones

Coyote Point Museum

There's nothing wrong with trying to sneak a little education into the kids during the holiday season.

For a painless infusion of knowledge about the natural world, a choice destination is Coyote Point Museum in San Mateo. Part children's museum and part zoo, the museum is home to four dozen native birds in their newly restored 4,000-square-foot aviary as well as river otters, badgers, foxes and a colony of honeybees.

The foxes are fed at 11:30 a.m. daily, while the otters eat at 12:15 p.m.

The current exhibit at the museum, "Earthquirks," teaches kids about why earthquakes, volcanoes and other geologic natural disasters happen.

A holiday highlight is the gingerbread-house competition. Every visible part of these confectionery structures must be edible. Entries are on display from Dec. 12 through Jan. 4.

The museum is at 1651 Coyote Point Drive in the Coyote Point Recreation Area in San Mateo. Hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesdays-Saturdays and noon to 5 p.m. Sundays and this Friday. Admission is $6 for adults, $4 for seniors and students ages 13 to 17 and $2 for children ages 3 to 12. Admission to the recreation area is $5 per car. Call (650) 342-7755 or visit www.coyoteptmuseum.org

-- Elizabeth Jardina

Schulz Museum

Who's your favorite "Peanuts" character: Linus and his security blanket? His cranky older sister, Lucy? How about Pig Pen or Peppermint Patty?

If you've lived in the Bay Area for years, you've probably taken your repeat visitors to many more obvious destinations. Avoid the reruns and take a short drive instead to a newer regional point of interest, the Charles M. Schulz Museum in Santa Rosa.

All the characters from Schulz's long-running comic strip are here, including the stars of the show, ever-bumbling but good-hearted Charlie Brown and his pup-with-an-attitude, Snoopy.

The Peanuts gang is featured in exhibitions of Schulz's original comic strips, such as "Speak Softly and Carry a Beagle: The Art of Charles Schulz," and in large-scale paintings by fine artist Tom Everhart, the only artist authorized to include Schulz' characters in his work.

In the 100-seat, on-site theater, screenings are presented each afternoon of Peanuts television specials, interviews with Schulz and documentaries related to his work.

Upcoming visiting artists include Joe Wos, a recent finalist for National Storyteller of the Year honors. Wos will tell stories and lead cartooning workshops Friday through Sunday . Kevin Fagan, the cartoonist behind the "Drabble" comic strip, will give a "chalk talk" and sign books at a 1 p.m. presentation Saturday

Hours at the museum, 2301 Hardies Lane in Santa Rosa, are noon to 5:30 p.m., daily except Tuesday. Admission is $5 to $8. Call (707) 579-4452 or visit www.schulzmuseum.org

-- Monique Beeler

Sycamore Grove

Why do we live in the Bay Area?

Oh, let me count the ways. Or at least one of the best draws, which is the beautiful weather and outdoor activities even when winter comes. So what better way of wowing the out-of-town visitors -- and walking a few post-feast pounds off -- than taking them on a hike or bike ride through a park?

Sycamore Grove Regional Park in Livermore has picnic tables, hiking and bicycling trails and even horse paths for those with access to equines. First occupied by the Ohlone Indians, the site was bought by Julius P. Smith in 1884 and turned into "Olivina," one of the first commercial wineries in the Livermore Valley. The Livermore Area Recreation and Park District purchased the original 364 acres in 1974; the park doubled in size in 1999.

You can spot a variety of wildlife here, including golden eagles, great blue herons, foxes, bobcats, deer and red-tailed hawks. And part of the old Olivina winery building still stands near one of the walking trails.

The park is open from 8 a.m. to sunset year round and is at 1041 Wetmore Road in Livermore, near several wineries and the Wente Restaurant. Parking is $2 per vehicle.

Those who want a little more open space need travel no further than Sunol Regional Wilderness.

The park has a regular schedule of naturalist-held activities, including walks, hikes, camping, backpack and horseback programs. You can visit the Old Green Barn Visitor Center for information about these programs and the self-guided Indian Joe Nature Trail. The trail features Indian Joe Cave Rocks, which provides sport to rock climbers.

One natural highlight of the park is Little Yosemite, a scenic gorge on Alameda Creek about two miles upstream from the visitor's center. The park also has sandstone outcrops with fossils deposited in what was once an ancient sea bed.

Sunol Regional Wilderness is open 7 a.m. to dusk all year. Take Interstate 680 to the Calaveras Road exit and proceed to Geary Road. Parking is $4.

-- Susan Young