Things to Do in Sunnyvale

AquanFest brings together environmental agencies, adventure sports companies, and outdoor groups for an open-air and water festival that teaches interested people about healthy, environmentally conscious activities. You'll have the opportunity to demo hundreds of kayaks and stand-up paddle boards and learn about the new hybrid sport of stand-up paddle surfing. Industry experts and manufacturers will also provide clinics for the newest products and trends in scuba, snorkeling, paddling, surfing, swimming, triathlons, kayak fishing, and more. Hosted by northern Cal's largest water-sports center, AquanFest is an adventure-filled festival of demos, clinics, films, and significantly discounted products at the AquanFest super sale.

With the help of her kids, certified personal trainer Jodi Hamilton-Eichensehr designed a family-friendly playspace celebrating the fun of fitness with games and obstacle courses centered on a giant animal-themed jungle gym. Guarded by a toucan and gorilla, the gym's labyrinthine interior conceals bridges, tunnels, ladders and slides, as well as a trapdoor to the Fountain of Youth. As kids traverse the gym, their bodies covertly enjoy a full cardio workout while building balance, hand-eye coordination, and confidence. Small-group fitness classes teach children about nutrition before building up their appetites with activities such as dashes through the jungle gym or sprints across a running track peppered with hurdles. Jodi also hosts adult classes, which emphasize fun, varied fitness, from cardio to strength training, to build parents' stamina during capture-the-flag tournaments at the office. Staffers also host unforgettable soirees for birthdays, which split guests' time between the jungle gym, party room, and video arcade.

Helicopter pioneer Stanley Hiller Jr. founded the Hiller Aviation Museum with the future in mind, using history to inspire future generations to explore and create. He had firsthand proof of the innovative abilities of youth—his design for the first successful coaxial helicopter landed at age 15.

In the museum he established in 1998, 53,000 square feet of exhibits let visitors of all ages discover more than 40 aircraft without the dangers of encountering them in the wild. A narrated walking tour leads the way through them, tracing the history of flight from its humble beginnings in village jumping contests to today's supersonic jets. Fixed-wing and rotary aircraft designed by Hiller and others rest throughout the huge, bright space, while weekends beckon would-be pilots into a flight simulator equipped with huge monitors of bay views and realistic yokes, throttles, and pedals.

Pruneridge Golf Club’s nine-hole par 30 course features few obstacles and just two holes longer than 300 yards so that golfers can concentrate on making solid contact with the ball and enjoying their round instead of worrying about extreme distance or hazards such as “Sink Holes Probable” signs. Meanwhile, range balls spray from both levels of a two-tier driving range with 44 stalls, and Class A PGA professionals dole out advice throughout indoor and outdoor lessons. During these sessions, Visual Golf stop motion video technology helps golfers see their own bad habits and instructors make recommendations on how students could improve.

Yoga Belly's misty-blue studio with its inviting wicker armchairs envelops students in a soothing ambiance to match its relaxing yoga schedule. A stable of savvy instructors guides stretchers of all stripes amid heated classrooms stoked to warm the muscles, enticing stubborn sweat and room-temperature leftovers from the body. Yoga Belly's sprawling studio affords each stretcher enough space to sprawl atop rich, chocolate-colored wooden floors. Yogis can bring their own mats and towels, or can rent them for class or makeshift-fort duty.