SAN FRANCISCO BAY AREA SECRETS: Kites at the Berkeley Marina

This series highlights off-the-beaten-track great things to do in the San Francisco Bay Area, that cost little or no money.

Ahhh, one of the great freebees of the Bay Area which makes me glad to be here, at least for now, is Cesar Chavez Park on the Berkeley Marina. Easy to get to and offering a 270 degree view of the Bay, this is where I stop to walk the one mile loop whenever I am in the area.

It's also kite flying heaven. Though I always enjoy watching the kites while I'm walking I haven't paid a lot of attention to them, till I brought my buddy Jonathan along the other day. Jonathan is more of a stroller (I'm more of a power walker), and he had us walking slower, watching the ground squirrels at our feet, the ocean in the distance, and the kites above.

We visitedwith some of the kite flyers -- these guys are professionals and the prices on some of their kites have three zeros behind them. They all seemed to be having a good time, and lo and behold, next thing I knew Jonathan had bought a small kite and we had joined the ranks.

We went out on a super windy Saturday afternoon .The fog was rushing in through Golden Gate and before long obscured our kite. But that's only because of our kite flying success. This little box kite took off and headed straight up, strong and steady, while the kites around us were nosediving and crashing into the ground. Soon it was so high it got swallowed up by the fog. Success.

Jonathan made me reel it in since I'm the one that let it fly so high, but I didn't mind. After all it's been about 50 years since the last time a flew a kite. Now I'm all ready for the Berkeley Kite Festival at the end of July.