One Day in Hercules

Hand-zoo

Ah, Hercules. I almost missed you as I was tooling along highway 80 between San Pablo and Crockett. If I hadn't noticed my gas gauge was almost on empty, I might never have seen your fair city. After filling up, I decided to look for a bed and breakfast, but instead, I found an English teashop called the Captain's Cottage (apparently, I had wandered into Pinole). Well, why not? I can eat crumpets with the best of the girls. Anyway, my granny's from England and I had bit of a craving for clotted cream. Long story short: after a lovely tea, I ended up spending a few hours hiking in Wildcat Canyon (work off that cream) and finished off the day some garlic baked oysters and brews at the Powder Keg Pub. Great adventures in America!

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This gem of an Inn on Benicia Bay is close enough to Hercules that you won't miss any of the action. The large rooms are an elegant mix of historic ambiance and contemporary comfort. There is a spa right on site for easy pampering. Close to Six Flags Discovery Kingdom.
Looks like a lovely B&B, doesn't it? No, it's a tearoom (that's right a tearoom); a little bit of England right in Pinole. Inside you'll find ample seating, tea pots, tea making bric-a-brac and a cozy place to get out of the cold. Anyone for crumpets, clotted cream and fresh strawberries?
You'll see beautiful bay views and probably a contented cow or two.
I am always impressed to find nice parks where I didn't think there could be one. This one is large, 2,430 acres large. You can hike for hours over these verdant rolling hills. You'll see beautiful bay views and probably a contented cow or two. Hike, bike, horseback ride and get above the fray.
This 9 acre park was naturalist John Muir's home with his wife and children. The visitor center is undergoing reconstruction and will be opening in its new form with expanded exhibits by mid May. Meantime, this park is still open for business. See artifacts of Muir's personal belongings, photos, and specimens of nature he collected. ... More >
This 9 acre park was naturalist John Muir's home with his wife and children. The visitor center is undergoing reconstruction and will be opening in its new form with expanded exhibits by mid May. Meantime, this park is still open for business. See artifacts of Muir's personal belongings, photos, and specimens of nature he collected. Take docent led tours to see wildflowers and birds of the area.
Six Flags is a pretty good theme park and a great place to take the family. There are plenty of rides and sea mammal performances and other animals to delight the kids for at least couple of days.
Meantime, this park is still open for business.
Powder Keg warns that their menu is limited so unless you are looking for a pint and some garlic baked oysters, ginger mussel steamers, fish and chips, clam chowder rib eye steak sandwich or ..... Huh, limited you say? More
Powder Keg warns that their menu is limited so unless you are looking for a pint and some garlic baked oysters, ginger mussel steamers, fish and chips, clam chowder rib eye steak sandwich or ..... Huh, limited you say?
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About the Author

Jana Lane
Jana Lane
I am the Vice President of an international, non-profit conservation organization, Save the Turtles, Inc. My eight years as a hands-on VP has provided me with plenty of experience writing web content, proposals, ad copy, brochures, fliers, promotional material, letters of inquiry (the list could go on and on.) Writing for Save the Turtle's website has provided me with great exposure to the concepts and practices of SEO. It seems that we have done rather well as our Google ranking is most often number one on the page. Although, I am still on the board of Save the Turtles and every bit as passionate about saving endangered species as ever, I am currently also enjoying another incarnation as a freelance writer. I love, love, love writing travel blogs! Lately, I have been writing for Uptake.com. and Mynatour, an eco-travel site based in London. I have also written an number of articles for other sites covering such wide-ranging topics as health, food, real estate, and science. My goal, with each writing assignment, is to match each clients individual needs by writing with an appropriate "voice" and level of readability for each unique, target audience. Please feel free to scroll and read!

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