Things to Do in Daly City

Archers Joesph and Beth Snell opened Pacifica Archery as an all-purpose shop for shooters of any age. Now, the pairs stays busy supervising 15 lanes, scheduling lessons for various skill levels, and hosting league events. The Snells rent out equipment for visitors to use on the 20- and 10-yard lanes, whether they are students attending a seminar or competitors honing their form. The Snells cater to young enthusiasts with Junior Olympic archery-development programs, which instruct 8- to 18-year-olds on the finer points of arrow-launching. The onsite pro shop furnishes patrons with long, recurve, and compound bows as well as shooting accessories. Channeling their own hunting expertise, the Snells stock camouflage gear and decoys in the shape of common game, including elk, turkey, and dartboards that have escaped from dive bars.

As the owner and operator of the University of Surfing, Matt Cole has transformed incredibly talented surfers into an accomplished team of instructors. From Kyla Langen, the 2012 Bud Light Lime Tour Champ, and her globe-spanning surf career to veteran teacher and decorated pro surfer Kevin Rhodes, students reap the benefits of the instructors’ years of experience during two-hour introductory surfing lessons. In addition to these basic lessons, the staff also coaches intermediate surfers and offers private lessons, giving advice about paddling, proper standing technique, and proper burial technique for broken surfboards. The wave-loving group also hosts daylong and overnight camps that cover the deepest aspects of surfing.

Serves and volleys fill the room with the thwack of paddles, which send orbs on an airborne path across 10 regulation-size tables at Peninsula Table Tennis Club. Monthly memberships allow patrons unlimited access to the fleet of tables to hone skills and baffle opponents with perfectly timed smashes. The drop-in passes can be used by one player or split among cohorts for a day of friendly competition without the hassle of making enough chocolate pudding for home pudding-wrestling matches.

GoKart Racer safely curbs the need for speed with its fleet of Sodi RX 7 European racing karts, which come equipped with hydraulic brakes, a four-point racing harness, and a 9-horsepower Honda engine that can reach up to 35 miles per hour. The speedsters weave through the facility's three indoor European-style road courses, including the 3/8-mile SuperTrack, which has more than 20 turns, an elevation change, and the occasional hotshot, road-jumping frog.

Before the green flag waves, the staff members equip racers with a racing suit, a helmet, and a brief rundown of the kart's abilities and dietary regulations. They tailor races to different age groups by offering kids’ karts, a driving school for minors, and racing leagues for experienced drivers, and they augment traditional racing with a laser maze. The facility also welcomely opens its doors for birthday parties and other events.

What started as a creative way to pay a debt led to the founding of Lemos Farm. Owner Bob Lemos' grandfather was repaid with a cow, so he bought land for the cow and her new calf in 1942, and over the years, the property morphed into a dairy farm, an alien robot, back into a dairy farm, and then a space for horses. Eventually Bob and his father, Arnold, peppered the land with Christmas trees, pumpkins, pony rides, and haunted houses, beckoning families to the sprawling grounds.

Visitors escape urban drudgery and revel in the decidedly country ambience, whether aboard hayrides or visiting the petting zoo for an introductory course in farm-animal massage therapy. During the holiday season, families wander the aromatic rows of the Christmas tree farm, where Douglas fir, incense cedar, and other pines await.

Located steps from a seashore brimming with avian and marine activity, the Half Moon Bay RV Park and Campground's ample campus hosts RV trailers and old-fashioned tents for overnight stays. Walks along the coastal trails or evening gatherings around the barbecue pits provide communion with the natural order, whereas the adjacent Cameron's Inn Pub and a wireless network maintain campers' connections to the outside world. Volleyball courts and horseshoe pits provide more entertainment than spotting parabolas in a campfire.