Have any plans for summer? San Franciscans are lucky to be within driving distance from several fun and entertaining places. If you want to head for an ultimate graduation trip, or simply have fun, ask your parents for a trip to “The Happiest Place on Earth,” also known as Disneyland. This summer, Disneyland is opening a whole new show. Called “Mickey and Magical Map,” it’s due to open up on May 27th. According to Disney experts, the show contains multi-layered screens, music and characters anywhere from Mulan to Lilo to Rapunzel. If Disneyland seems too far and/or too expensive, there are another two amusement parks that bring thrill and entertainment to people of all ages: Six Flags Discovery Kingdom and Great America. Situated in Santa Clara, Great America recently opened a new ride, Firefall, that will flip you 360 degrees several times each ride. This summer, Great America will be opening the tallest and fastest wooden roller coaster in Northern California, called Gold Striker. The daily park admission is approximately $45.99. Even though the season pass costs $59.99, it’s worth it if you plan to go more than once. To avoid long, go to the parks on “non-peak” days, which are usually Tuesday and Thursday.
Approximately 45 minutes from SHC, Six Flags Discovery Kingdom offers rides that will turn, flip, and thrill you several times each ride. The park opened a recent ride, called SUPERMAN Ultimate Flight. This ride reaches speeds as high as 62 mph on its 863 foot track. The daily price for admission is approximately $44.99.
If you don’t want to leave the city, there are fun places around the city from Pier 39 to the Academy of Sciences. At Pier 39, you can meet up with friends and go window shopping, or go through the mirror maze, or even go to the Aquarium of the Bay. If you walk down Market street from Pier 39, you will reach the new building for the Exploratorium, which opened this year. If you want to go see nice aquariums nearby, check out the Academy of Sciences or Monterey Bay Aquarium. Both aquariums are fun and “do-able” in a day. In neighboring cities, there are many places that are driving distance for miniature golf, laser tag, bowling, movies, and paintball.
If you really want to be a studious high schooler, you might want to look at some colleges that are near the city. There are great universities that aren’t that far from San Francisco that offer tours over the summer, like University of California, Berkeley, University of California, Davis, Santa Clara University, and Saint Mary’s University. No matter what age or grade you are in at SHC, it’s never too early to look into colleges. If your family wants you to look elsewhere, there are great universities ALL over the U.S., like Boston, Massachusetts; Los Angeles, California; Miami, Florida; and New Orleans, Louisiana.Colleges look for people who do productive things in the summer, whether it be getting a summer job, looking at colleges, taking classes at a college or summer school, or simply performing community service.
The most important thing to remember, though, is to have fun. No matter what you choose to do, enjoy the summer!
