On a recent one-day drive through San Jose, my wife, Sarah, and I took in a wealth of rich sites, from the red salty shore of Alviso Marina County Park, the splashy shops of Santana Row, and to the north, the calm and rolling hills of Coyote Valley Open Space Reserve.
It’s an odd mix of stops, but we found it added up to a worthy day trip that wrapped up at one of our long-time favorite restaurants, Falafel’s Drive-In.
Alviso, resting on the southern tip of the San Francisco Bay, has proven to be a worthy goal for us, with its display of historic wood-and-tin buildings of the past, great birding trails along the marshes and the bizarre red waters of the salt-infused bay.
According to Visit San Jose, “Alviso once served as San Jose’s port city and the now closed Bayside Canning Company (once the 3rd largest cannery in the U.S.), serves as a reminder of that history.”
The generous wide paths and boardwalks start from the County Park lot with ample parking spots, a restroom and benches. Since my mother was an experienced birder, she taught me to ask questions and see what other birders are up to, what is in their spotting scopes and claiming their attention. I did that once at Rio del Mar State Beach and the very excited group told me they were trailing a rare wagtail who had wandered off course to the shores of Santa Cruz County. And then the bird popped up right in front of us and I got some amazing photos of the bird wagging its long tail feathers.
Santana Row, at Stevens Creek and Winchester boulevards, is a bustling residential and commercial district in west San Jose. Across the street from Westfield Valley Fair shopping mall, the open-air walking mall features a colorful mix of more than 50 shops, around 30 restaurants, and a lot more. But most of all, we’ve found over the years, is the great body of folks mingling about.
We’ve seen huge crowds of people with every kind of dog on earth walking by in some kind of dog club, outdoor yoga demonstrations, live music, hands-on art tables and on and on.
This visit treated us to an amazing musical duo who stunned us and everyone within listening distance. We learned they were a Colombo-American duet named IndiviDúo, made up of Tiffany Joy, a California singer/songwriter, and Maqui Reyes, a Colombian singer/musician and composer. Their vocal harmony, guitar playing and compositions amazed us and it was reflected across dozens of joyful faces of the crowd that gathered.
A short drive north took us to the Bailey exit and the Coyote Valley Open Space Reserve, in Santa Clara Valley. The sprawling wilderness is overseen by Open Space Authority who is in charge of preserving and stewardship of several spots in Santa Clara Valley. We had just met one of their members at Santa Row who said they invite the public to get involved as docents, trail patrols, community outreach and “trail masters.” (For information, visit openspaceauthority.org). Several trails stemmed off of a small parking lot at the Coyote Valley location where we noticed joggers and hikers, young and not so young. We spotted an osprey and red-tailed hawk, a black-head phoebe, colorful butterflies and numerous ground squirrels darting about. Though this visit was brief, we plan to return for a deeper plunge into its natural bounty that didn’t cost a dime to visit.
I’ve written about it before but feel it’s worth the mention, the Falafel’s Drive-In, 2301 Stevens Creek Blvd. Opened in 1966, they’re still serving freshly prepared Middle Eastern and Mediterranean food. It once again proved to be a fine way to wrap up a rewarding day of tourism not too far from home.
