Recently in California Category

The Charles M. Schulz Museum and Research Center is a one-of-a-kind place in Santa Rosa, California, conveniently located just minutes north of Sheraton Sonoma County - Petaluma. A celebration of all things Snoopy and the Peanuts gang, the museum is home to a selection of permanent and temporary exhibits illuminating the rich history of Schulz's enduringly iconic cartoon series. Great care has been taken to preserve his office as it was and relocate it. Here, you can walk around and gaze at his bookshelves and the place where he expressed his daily creative inspiration. For the little ones, there's a fantastic art laboratory where they can draw and participate in creative activities, and there's even Peanuts-related sculptures in the outdoor garden. This place is truly suitable for all ages and shouldn't be missed.

The nearby Redwood Empire Ice Arena is another special part of the Schulz legacy, as his daughters grew up in the involved world of competitive figure skating. Up until his final days, Schulz (or "Sparky," as his friends lovingly called him) had a regular table at the enclosed Warm Puppy Cafe that overlooks the ice. It's still a great place to get a snack before or after your time on the ice, which is one of the largest and best rinks in the ice skating friendly region of Northern California. Another must-see is Snoopy's Gallery and Gift Shop right next door, which existed long before the museum's multi-million dollar opening. It is still home to special artifacts, such as Snoopy dolls from around the world, and great gift items for sale that are just about impossible to resist. It's also quite the community gathering place over the summer months, when they host "Fire and Ice" barbecues every Thursday night.

Can't go to Egypt? San Jose - and the Four Points by Sheraton San Jose Downtown - may be your next best bet. The city lays claim to an impressive amount of ancient history and its Rosicrucian Egyptian Museum houses the largest exhibited collection of Egyptian artifacts in the western US.

The museum has humble origins; it began with a single artifact, a lion goddess statue that sat on the desk of the founder of the Rosicrucian Order, an organization that promotes the study of, among other things, the wisdom of the ancient mystery schools of Egypt. It encouraged members to add to the collection, and in the late 1920s, built the first display cases. By the 1960s, the collection had ballooned to more than 2,000 artifacts, and a dedicated space was needed. In 1966 the Rosicrucian Egyptian Museum opened its doors, today welcoming more than 100,000 guests a year who explore its sizable 4,000-item collection, which includes everything from bronze cat statues to four actual mummies and 6,500-year-old black-topped pottery. In addition to checking out the artifacts, you'll want to visit the planetarium; the current show taps into theories about the mysteries hidden in the Mithraic temple carvings. Tip: go online and download an MP3 audio tour to your iPhone or other portable device before your visit.

Always wanted to try skydiving but not so sure about the whole jumping-out-of-a-plane thing? Or being thousands of feet about the ground? iFly Hollywood, located near the Sheraton Universal Hotel, lets you experience body flight indoors.

You don't need any experience - just a sense of adventure. iFly Hollywood uses a vertical wind tunnel that moves air upward, so it's not a simulator. You actually will be flying! The safe-for-the-whole-family experience - kids as young as three can fly - starts with flight training. In a brief class, you'll watch a training video and learn the correct flight position and a series of hand signals. Then it's time to gear up with flight suit, helmet and goggles. You'll then take turns flying with your instructor. It's as easy as walking up to the wind tunnel door and entering it with your instructor's help - he'll adjust your body flight position, and you'll have the hang of it in no time. And because you're floating, not jumping, you don't have to worry about pesky things like dizziness. Each flight is about one minute in length, with two flights in the tunnel being roughly equal to the flight time of three tandem skydives. Once you're an experienced flyer, you can work with your instructor to "advance your flight skills" by learning how to do tricks and flips.