Top 5 Local Things to do in Winter in and Around Merced County
Winter in the central valley
The coldest months of the year often seem like a dead time for events and activities unless you’re going to mountains to ski or play in the snow. Despite that impression, there are actually a lot of great things to enjoy during this time of year within an hour’s drive or less.
1. Ice skating
Ice skating at Fields of Ice in Turlock has brought ice skating to our part of the Central Valley. Located at 716 N. Daubenberger Road, this open-air rink can be enjoyed during the day or under the stars as long as it isn’t raining. The rink will be open this season through January. Ice skate rentals are included in the admission price and just about anyone can figure out how to propel themselves on the ice with a little practice – especially if you ever had any experience riding a pair of inline skates (rollerblades). It’s an especially fun activity with a group of family members or friends.
2. Performing Arts
Photo by Adam Blauert
Winter is a great time to enjoy live music or theater. In addition to performing arts within our own county, the Modesto, Turlock, Fresno, and Sonora areas offer a huge range of live entertainment.
Photo by Adam Blauert
For a list of performing arts venues and organizations within an hour’s drive, click here.
3. Wildlife refuges
Photo by Adam Blauert
Before large numbers of humans settled in the Central Valley, much of the valley’s floor was a great wetland in the winter months – a permanent home for many species and a winter home for many more. Large areas that are currently managed as wildlife refuges continue to provide both year-round and seasonal wetland habitat.
Photo by Adam Blauert
While the refuges are interesting throughout the year, they are especially enjoyable in the winter months when millions of migratory birds arrive. “Birdwatching… really??!??” I know that’s what some readers are thinking at this point. Visiting a wildlife refuge in the winter can actually be an unforgettable experience. If you’ve done it yourself, you know what I’m talking about.
Don’t imagine this as sitting around for hours waiting for a single tiny starling or sparrow to show up.
As you stand on a viewing platform in the crisp evening air and watch great flocks of ducks and geese silhouetted against an orange-red sunset sky, it seems like you’ve stepped into another world – even though you’re only a few miles from civilization.
Photo by Adam Blauert
Evening is usually the best time to visit. As the day ends, multitudes of ducks and geese return from feeding. The refuges offer auto tour routes, short hiking trails, and viewing platforms to enjoy the avian show.
The San Luis National Wildlife Refuge in Los Banos is also home to a large herd of magnificent tule elk. Although they aren’t always close to the fence of their large enclosure, I’ve been able to spot them every time I’ve visited and sometimes they’ve been very close to the viewing platform.
Photo by Adam Blauert
No matter when you go, wear warm clothes and bring a camera and/or binoculars. The closest refuge is the Merced National Wildlife Refuge, seven and a half miles west of Highway 59 on Sandy Mush Road. It offers a five mile auto tour route, three short trails, and viewing platforms. About seven miles north of Los Banos on Wolfsen Road, the San Luis NWR offers two auto tour routes, several short trails, viewing platforms, and a beautiful new visitor center with exhibits about local wildlife.
Photo By Adam Blauert
If you arrive before evening, you can see both elk and birds in one day and also check out the visitor center (open 8AM to 4:30PM every day except federal holidays). The refuges are open daily from one half hour before sunrise to one half hour after sunset.
Admission to both refuges is completely free.
4. Museums
Museums are great places avoid the cold in the winter and to cool off in the summer. Merced County has a wealth of local museums, and so do the surrounding counties.
Photo by Adam Blauert
The Merced County Historical Society’s exhibits in the beautifully restored 139 year-old courthouse at 21st and N Streets is a great place to start if you’ve never seen it before or if you haven’t been there in a long time.
A new exhibit debuts every few months. For complete information about current events click here.
The other rooms contain exhibits of the county’s history from the Yokuts people to the present time.
Other museums within the county and an hour’s drive include:
Merced: Multicultural Arts Center
Los Banos: Milliken Museum
Atwater: Bloss House Museum
Livingston: Livingston Historical Museum
Dos Palos: Dos Palos Museum
Gustine: Gustine Museum
Chowchilla-Fairmead: Fossil Discovery Center of Madera County
Madera: Madera County Museum
Modesto: McHenry Mansion
Turlock: Carnegie Arts Center and Turlock Historical Society Museum
Oakdale: Oakdale Cowboy Museum
Fresno-Clovis: Kearny Mansion, Meux Home Museum, the Clovis-Big Dry Creek Museum, the Fresno Art Museum, and the Discovery Center
Mariposa: California State Mining and Mineral Museum and the Mariposa Museum and History Center
Oakhurst: Fresno Flats Historical Museum and Park
Raymond: Raymond Museum
Sonora: Tuolumne County Museum
La Grange: La Grange Museum
It’s quite an impressive list. If you’re wondering where to start, here are five of my favorites:
Castle Air Museum – huge collection of military aircraft, WWII to present
California State Mining and Mineral Museum – mining history and lots of stunning mineral specimens
McHenry Mansion – beautifully restored 1882 Victorian mansion, one of the best preserved in the entire Central Valley
Fresno Flats Historical Museum and Park – extensive collection of restored pioneer buildings and artifacts, lots of space to explore and picnic
Fossil Discovery Center of Madera County – amazing fossils of massive creatures that lived here in the past
Because museums often reduce their hours during the colder months, call to verify before you visit. Admission to many museums is free of charge, while others require a small per-person fee.
5. Blossom Tours
Photo By Adam Blauert
As winter draws to a close, local orchards put on one of the most impressive displays of blossoms that can be seen anywhere. Usually beginning in the second half of February, these blossoms can usually be enjoyed by driving (or riding your bike) on rural roads in Merced County. For more info about blossom tours, click here.
Photo By Adam Blauert
The University of California’s Cooperative Extension program has compiled several excellent tour routes for different parts of the county. The maps are available for free on their website: http://cemerced.ucanr.edu/Blossom_Tours_262/.
Fresno’s Christmas Tree Lane
Fresno’s Christmas Tree Lane is one of the Central Valley’s longest-standing holiday traditions.
During a recent conversation with my 94-year-old grandmother, she fondly recalled driving down from Merced with her parents to see it somewhere around 1930. Although her memory is nowhere near as strong as it used to be, Christmas Tree Lane stands out brightly as a favorite childhood experience.
I vaguely remembered driving it when I was a child, but it greatly exceeded my memory last Wednesday when my wife and I revisited it.
It’s by far the best holiday light display that I’ve seen anywhere – a local tradition that everyone living in the Central Valley should enjoy as part of their holiday celebration sometime in their lifetime. Many people return annually.
Stretching nearly two miles from end to end, the light show along Van Ness Boulevard includes both lights draped over the roadway and unique and creative displays of lights and Christmas scenes in the yards of nearly 150 homes.
There are also beautiful painted displays along the roadway that have been created by art students at local high schools.
Most visitors enjoy the spectacle by car. It begin each night at 6PM, when all traffic on Van Ness Boulevard shifts to northbound between Shields and Shaw.
Most nights it ends at 10PM, but on Fridays and Saturdays it extends until 11PM. It is visited by more than 100,000 people yearly and has been featured in national publications like Sunset Magazine.
We visited on one of the two “walk nights” offered each season. During these nights, the route is open only to pedestrians, strollers, wagons, bikes, and dogs. We joined the crowd that was strolling past the displays at a leisurely pace, truly surprised at how many people were there on a week night.
There were a lot of families with children of all ages, older couples, and a surprising number of college and high school students. As the time grew closer to 10PM, the crowd shrunk noticeably, but it was still a crowd. Despite Fresno’s sometimes grim reputation, the night was classy and full of holiday cheer.
The stretch of Van Ness Boulevard that makes up Christmas Tree Lane is an island of beautiful, mature trees and well-maintained, architecturally interesting homes within the central part of the city. Several groups performing live Christmas music added to the cheer. Large numbers of volunteers and law enforcement personnel are present on walk nights to guarantee an experience that is safe for families and people of all ages.
Despite a few loud college-age kids that we saw (and heard) towards the end of the night, we felt completely safe the entire time.
While Christmas Tree Lane is certainly an enjoyable holiday experience in a vehicle, I strongly recommend visiting on a “walk night.” Each display is unique and you can take the time to enjoy the creativity and imagination best at a walking pace.
If you visit on a walk night, be sure to wear warm clothes. I recommend having dinner at a restaurant in Fresno before beginning your walk and making sure to use the bathroom after your meal.
There are a few porta-potties available along the route, but the lines are long and they suffer the expected effects of frequent use.
We spent at least two hours walking and enjoying the displays, and could have spent more. There are some yard displays and props along the route that provide great backdrops for family photos.
I brought my camera and took some photos that I’ve included in this story, but they don’t really do justice to the lights. They are best enjoyed live and in person.
Many people park at the Fig Garden Village Shopping Center at Shaw and Palm. There’s also parking available on the side streets adjacent to Van Ness.
We found a spot on one of these streets near the middle of Christmas Tree Lane and walked a loop – first north to Shaw, and then south almost all the way to Shields, and then back north to the street where our car was parked.
Although Van Ness Boulevard is mostly a north-south street, it bends westward near Shaw Avenue, intersecting with Palm just south of Shaw. This is the northern end of the Lane.
The tremendous effort to drape lights across Van Ness Boulevard is carried out by volunteers, and donations are welcomed at several donation stations along the route to keep the event going each year.
The homes along the Lane are decorated by the owners. A successful effort over the past few years to reduce the energy used by the display has resulted in a 50% cut.
For more information about visiting Christmas Tree Lane’s and about its history and the volunteers that make it a success each year, go to http://www.christmastreelane.com/.
Helpful directions from the Merced area
Christmas Tree Lane will be in operation every night through December 25th. If you plan to drive the route, head south on Highway 99 from Merced, but don’t exit at Shields, although that’s the road where the drive begins.
The Highway 99 Shields exit only goes west, and you need to go east. Instead, go to the next exit at Clinton Avenue and head east until you see Van Ness.
Turn north (left) and you’ll get to the start of the route in a short time.
If you plan to walk the route, exit at Shaw or Ashlan and head east. You can park at the north end near Shaw and Palm, or on one of the side streets along the route.
Van Ness Boulevard – Christmas Tree Lane – is paralleled on the west by Palm Avenue and on the east by Maroa Avenue.
It may take some looking, but you should be able to find a parking space on one of the side streets between Palm and Van Ness on the west, or between Van Ness and Maroa to the east.
The route is open to walkers, strollers, and dogs every night, but because it lacks sidewalks and the traffic is usually heavy, I strongly recommend walking only on the official “walk nights.”
Bikes are also allowed, but because of the huge crowds of walkers, I don’t really recommend riding one.
You’ll enjoy the route far more on foot.
No matter whether you walk or drive, Christmas Tree Lane is a great holiday tradition that can be enjoyed by all ages.
It’s free of charge (though donations are welcome), fun, and only an hour from Merced!
Adam Blauert, a high school teacher and avid outdoors enthusiast, has dedicated the majority of his life to Merced County. His passions include fishing, backpacking, delving into local history, and exploring the wonders of the western states.