5 Best Sights in The Central Valley, California

The featured attraction here is the 355-foot-long Knights Ferry covered bridge. The beautiful and haunting structure, built in 1863, crosses the Stanislaus River near the ruins of an old gristmill. The park has camping, picnic, and barbecue areas along the riverbanks, as well as campgrounds accessible only by boat. You can hike, fish, canoe, and raft on miles of rapids.

This 258-acre, oak-shaded park has a Japanese tea garden, picnic tables, children's play areas, an agricultural museum, a zoo, a golf course, and a water-play feature. Fun Town at Micke Grove, a family-oriented amusement park, is geared toward younger children.

Amid shady oaks you can picnic alongside duck ponds, rent a boat and tool around the lagoon, and view a bronze replica of James Earl Fraser's iconic End of the Trail sculpture, which depicts a Native American warrior on horseback. The indoor-outdoor Tulare County Museum contains several re-created environments from the pioneer era, displays of Yokuts tribal artifacts (basketry, arrowheads, clamshell-necklace currency), and exhibits that chronicle farm history and labor.

Tree-shaded Roeding Park is a place of respite on hot summer days; it has picnic areas, playgrounds, tennis courts, horseshoe pits, and a zoo. A train, little race cars, paddleboats, a carousel, and other rides for kids are among the amusements at Playland. Children can explore attractions with fairy-tale themes at Rotary Storyland.

The Central Valley's largest urban park, with 300 acres of jogging trails, picnic areas, and playgrounds, is especially pretty in spring, when plum and cherry trees, magnolias, and camellias bloom. Outdoor concerts take place in summer. The Shinzen Friendship Garden (shinzenjapanesegarden.org) has a teahouse, a koi pond, arched bridges, a waterfall, and Japanese art.