Things to Do in Mill Valley

At Marin Murder Mysteries, dinner mates may ask you to pass the rolls just before they begin chipping away at your alibi. That’s because guests are both suspects and sleuths during the theater troupe’s interactive performances, attempting to tally the clues and pinpoint the culprit's motive. Each year, the cast and crew serve up three to four different shows that inject generous portions of slapstick into the familiar detective genre. The writers and directors have a particular fondness for the noir-soaked era of the 1950s, with such past plays as Remains to be Seen, Murder Me, Always, and Death of a Doornail. During the show, guests have the option to dine on a gourmet dinner or sip cocktails from a cash bar.

GoCars are little, sunshine-yellow storytelling cars, acting as magic transport eggs by safely cradling up to two passengers (aged 5 and older) through a narrated, GPS-guided tour of San Diego's hot spots. GoCars navigate the city terrain, describing the significance of historic sights such as Fort Stockton, originally a rest stop on the Comanche Trail, and the California Missions Museum, which hosts life-size replicas of Civil War–period Spanish missions and nearly half of Arnold Schwarzenegger's doppelgangers. Adventurers can choose between two different narrated tour routes: downtown San Diego or Point Loma. The downtown San Diego tour showcases urban views of Petco Park, Seaport Village, and the San Diego Zoo, and the Point Loma trek ventures into San Diego's maritime attractions, including the sleepy, shore-bound community called Ocean Beach. These copilot cars invite tour-goers to make detours and food stops, giving riders the freedom to shape their own tour according to their camera wants, appetites, and traveling intuition.

When Cliff Hodges, the founder and CEO of Adventure Out, graduated from MIT with a degree in electrical engineering, he knew a traditional desk job wasn't for him. According to Technology Review, he quickly gave up his engineering career for the wireless world of the great outdoors, where he began to hike, climb, and surf his way around the world, always staying true to his philosophy of environmental respect and protection.

His travels and business accomplishments have gained some measure of notoriety; he's coached on MTV's Made, consulted for ABC News, and was selected as one of four winners of the 2011 Santa Cruz County Civic Service Award: The Nextie. Adventure Out was also identified for meeting survival skills training standards by The New York Times best-selling author Tim Ferriss in The 4-Hour Chef.

Today, he and his program consultant Tom McElroy lead excursions into the California wilderness to teach backpacking and survival skills, including the tracking of animals and wild ice-cream trucks, and they also guide novices through surfing, rock-climbing, and mountain-biking sojourns. Through fundraising, Adventure Out has helped save Castle Rock State Park from closure and a portion of their proceeds is put directly back into the park.

Sailing is in Pam Power's blood. After cutting her teeth chartering small boats in Minnesota, she moved to San Francisco, met her yacht Glory Days, and the rest was history. Alongside her experienced crew, she steers the 51-foot luxury yacht on sailing cruises through San Francisco Bay. The fiberglass vessel carries between 6 and 30 passengers in its spacious upper decks and cozy interior salon. During excursions, the ship cruises past the city skyline and historic Alcatraz and Angel Islands before traveling back in time via the wormhole beneath the Golden Gate Bridge.

Owner Janette Jones combines 15 years of Pilates teaching experience with a love for therapeutic massage at her studio, where instructors guide students with hands-on adjustments to ensure safe technique and correct form. Together with a staff of trainers and an arsenal of Pilates equipment, Janette runs a schedule of classes catering to students of all skill levels. During apparatus-based Pilates workouts, students generate gentle resistance using the mattress-worthy network of springs that lines the Reformer, the Exo Chair, and the Tower Pilates machines. Instructors can also enlist a series of mat exercises, which, much like doing chin-ups over a tar pit, require attendees to support their own body weight.