by C Song

Created on: July 14, 2009

With its parks, festivals, museums, zoos, shopping havens, and even a "haunted house", the fun never stops in the heart of Silicon Valley. San Jose's sights and attractions are ideal for any family vacation, whether it's a day trip or a week of family fun.

The Tech Museum of Innovation in downtown San Jose cannot be missed. This large domed orange structure houses over 240 interactive exhibits aimed to educate and inspire. Where else could you try your own hand at open heart surgery with the Operation Room simulator, program a microchip, pilot a spaceship, and experience an earthquake, all in one day? Also be sure to drop by the IMAX theatre on the museum's first floor; you'll be awed by the sheer size of the screen and the realness of the movie experience. Visit the museum website, thetech.org, for more information.

And although you're in Silicon Valley, don't forget about the arts and humanities! Located on South Market Street, across from the Plaze da Cesar Chavez Park, the San Jose Museum of Art is a largely undiscovered gem which has been dedicated to fostering the awareness, appreciation and understanding of art since its founding in 1969. This small museum holds an accreditation from the American Association of Museums and has a permanent collection of over 1400 pieces, from paintings, sculptures, and drawings to new media and installation pieces. An art museum hardly seems to be an ideal destination for children(the usual stereotypical museum being cold, austere, and snooty), but the San Jose Museum of Art is a wonderful place to begin exposing the whole family to the visual arts. Docents and other museum staff are known for their friendliness, and a guided tour is a great way to see the museum. It is no wonder that on any given day, many of the visitors are mothers pushing strollers and 55,000 of the museum's annual 225,000 visitors are children.

Children's Discovery Museum ranks among the top five youth museums in the nation for good reason. This incredible museum features more than 150 interactive exhibits that are sure to fascinate all. Explore the fascinating properties of bubbles in the Bubbalogna exhibit, where kids can make bubble sculptures and learn about surface tension. The museum also strives to educate visitors about the today's pressing environmental issues through the Current Connection exhibit, where kids can generate power to fuel a small machine by cranking some gears. Visitors can also follow artistic pursuits, making their

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