Coyote Point Recreation Area is a 670-acre San Mateo County park on San Francisco Bay, south of SFO on the border of Burlingame and San Mateo. The county lists picnicking, swimming, windsurfing, cycling, jogging, fishing, boating and sailing. Visitors can walk the beach promenade, visit the marina and breakwater or explore the saltwater marsh.
For kids
The park is home to CuriOdyssey, the science and wildlife museum, and the castle-and-dragon-themed Magic Mountain Playground. The county's park page has posted notices that construction has begun on a new Magic Mountain Playground, after a community process to choose a design. Check the page for what's open.
A strange history
According to Wikipedia, Coyote Point was once an island rising about 80 feet above the bay, connected to the mainland by marsh. Shell mounds suggest occasional Native American use, and human remains about 4,000 years old were found during marina dredging in 1987. In the 1860s, Chinese immigrants set up a shrimp-fishing village nearby. The Howard family later reclaimed the marsh for dairy pasture. Horticulturist John McLaren planted the eucalyptus, cypress and pine on the knoll between 1880 and 1882.
On July 1, 1922, promoters opened the Pacific City Amusement Park on about 90 acres of beach, billed as the “Coney Island of the West.” More than 100,000 people were estimated to have come that July 4. A fire in the second season destroyed about a quarter of it, and it opened only briefly for a third. Strong afternoon winds and sewage in the bay were blamed for its end. The site later served as a Merchant Marine training base in World War II and then as College of San Mateo's campus. The county finished buying the land in 1962.
Plane-spotting
The eucalyptus-covered point is visible from planes landing at SFO, and Wikipedia calls it a good place for watching aircraft and birds.