Things to Do in Seaside

With a relentless focus on practice, San Jose Batting Cages lets players improve their hitting, pitching, and fitness to better prepare for their next outing on the diamond. Whether working through in-season regimens or off-season training, batters perfect their swing in indoor and outdoor baseball and softball cages, and hurlers enter the pitching lanes to hone their fastball against imaginary Ming Dynasty vases. Cages stay open until 8 p.m. each night, helping players blow off post-work steam or just squeeze in a few swings before hitting the hay. A staff of instructors helps athletes develop all aspects of their game through hitting and pitching lessons as well as team and group clinics.

The towering trees that line the outer perimeter of Monterey Bay Racquet Club block out many of the outside world’s distractions, leaving tennis players to fill the air with the thumps of fuzzy balls and the grunts of cross-court strokes. The club’s six outdoor courts open their gates to players of all ages and skill levels, who can practice their craft in unsupervised pairs or team up with experienced instructors for tennis lessons that adhere to club manager and USPTA Master Professional Hans Römer's three pillars of learning: communication, commitment, and creativity. Beyond the standard amenities, the club also furnishes complimentary towels, newspapers, and hot coffee for guests to throw at mistaken line umpires. An onsite pro shop ensures top performance on the courts with racquet-stringing services and professional Head and Penn products.

During her childhood, Cheryl Brown learned everything she could about horses. She joined the Hacienda Hi-Riders horse drill team and participated in 4-H club meetings before majoring in animal science for her first year at Cal Poly, Pomona and writing Mr. Ed's memoirs. Eventually, Brown's love of animals took a back seat to her love for the arts as she switched gears and graduated with a master's degree in art education, which blossomed into a 15-year career as an art teacher as well as a YMCA instructor and a Girl Scout leader.

At Art and More Day Camp, she aims to excite and enlighten youngsters with an endless array of art classes, outdoor activities, and horseback-riding lessons. The spacious facility, which brims with cats and other four-legged friends, comes outfitted with a fenced-in pool, a bounce house, and foosball tables and welcomes kids as young as 3 for one-hour sessions or half- or full-day camps.

Brown's favorite class, Parent with Young Child Art Time, has adults and their preschoolers joining creative forces as parents learn the stages of development and little ones create and play. More than 17 art classes provide an outlet for mini adults to learn a range of art skills that include the basics of drawing, how to create collages, and the art of papier-mâché-ing a younger sibling's mouth shut. Brown also teaches youngins how to properly ride a horse during private and group lessons, during which she bestows her many years of riding experience.

After buying the Exclamation Point's original location in Saratoga, owner Melanie Vancil moved the studio to Santa Clara, expanding the workshop's inventory of needlepoint and cross-stitch manuals, crochet threads, buttons, and hand-painted canvases. Needlepoint, originally developed in the 16th century to create beautiful cloth tapestries without bulky looms or expensive trained spiders, draws from a proud tradition of craftsmanship, decorating household objects such as pillows, chair backs, and rugs with patterns and pictures of colorful fiber. Students of all ages learn to master this ancient form of art, as well as machine sewing and crocheting, in fun, informative classes, creating beautiful fabric keepsakes of their very own.