North Fair Oaks, CA Outdoor Activities

For years, football fans lobbied for a football field that looked more like a hockey rink. For $10, today's side deal gets you a sideline-seat ticket to a San Jose Wolves home game (a $25 value), or for $20, get a club-level ticket (a $40 value). All seven 2010 home games take place on Saturdays between March 20 and June 12 and begin at 7:15 p.m. at the Cow Palace in Daly City. Watch as the thrilling routes, veers, and tackles that define football take on new meaning in the confinement of a 50-yard field.

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.

Half Moon Bay Kayak Company’s fleet of colorful plastic shells slices through the glimmering waters of Pillar Point Harbor, carrying crews of paddlers past playful harbor seals and chattering pelicans. Co-owners Doug Connor—who has conquered rushing rapids as a member of the United States Wildwater team—and Chris Manchester—who has kayaked along thousands of miles of coastline, including the world’s second-largest barrier reef—channel their passion for paddling into a range of kayak and standup-paddleboard rentals, lessons, and tours. With expeditions to locales as far-flung as Honduras and Mexico, Half Moon provides sea explorers with exotic open-water explorations as well as local excursions to Fitzgerald Marine Reserve, San Gregorio State Beach, and next-door neighbors’ unattended kiddie pools.

At Kelly Gray Soccer Academy, founder and former MLS player Kelly Gray propels kids toward careers in Major League Soccer. Supported by a staff of professional athletes of an equally high caliber, including the San Jose Earthquakes' current starting goalkeeper, Jon Busch, Kelly primes youngsters for competition at private lessons and small group or team training sessions. Soccer programs range from the Striker Academy, which helps aspiring strikers hone their shots, to seasonal camps, where kids pick up new skills or victory dance routines from a lineup of coaches.

With hands gripped to the wheels of karts capable of cresting 45 miles per hour, up to 12 racers hum around the hairpin turns and straightaways of K1 Speed's indoor track during adrenaline-spiking sprints toward the podium. This brand of excitement can be found at all 15 locations, where racers eschew the fumes and inflammatory skywriting of gas kart exhaust for European, eco-friendly electric karts designed to instantly accelerate out of curves, which are bordered by safety barriers that absorb impacts. To keep everyone in the chase, dialed-down junior karts (available at select locations) safely carry tiny drivers between the height of 48" and 58".

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.