Posts in category: Oroville Itineraries

To help make your visit to Oroville fun and rewarding we have put together an exciting day of museum hopping. Oroville is blessed to have one of the finest if not the finest working Chinese Temple & museum in the United States. The only tool museum in the world also resides in Oroville. If you enjoy browsing through a museum, this itinerary is created for you. We can’t say, “Leave the driving to us,” but we can say, “Leave the planning to us,” and “Follow the Greenline.” Don’t worry about a thing! We have it all mapped out for you.

Morning

Start your day off at 10:00 AM heading for Sank Park and the Lott Home, a major historical center on Montgomery Street near downtown Oroville dating back to 1856. The Victorian garden was designed to express the taste and affluence of a successful businessman. These geometric style gardens were distinguished by regularity and symmetry. The Sank Park landscape architect was Vernon M. Dean. Straight paved walks, enclosed beds filled with a profusion of flowers, trees and shrubs were carefully grouped to create vistas inviting people out of doors.

A Victorian gothic revival style cottage, the C.F. Lott Historic Home, built in 1856, serves as a cultural repository for decorative art objects which are typical of the homes of Oroville’s pioneer families. The collection includes furniture, paintings, rugs, textiles, clothes, silver and glassware of the period, 1849–1910. The Lott Home opens at 10:00 AM To hear a narrative on this historic attraction, dial 530-539-3004 and press 101.

Kids will love the Bolt Tool Museum and so will all the men in your group. Lots of hands-on learning exhibits. All of the tools on display were manufactured during or prior to WWII. There is a collection of adjustable wrenches that measure from a tiny pair about 4 inches long to a giant 12-foot industrial wrench. A set of unusual tools includes a 3-in-1 tool for replacing the belt on a treadle sewing machine. One part of the tool cuts the belt to the correct length, another part punches holes in the new belt, and a third attaches the clamp that holds the belt together.

Lunch

To set the tone for our first afternoon museum, plan to have lunch at Tong Fong Low in Downtown Oroville on Robertson Street. There you will find one of Oroville’s busiest restaurants.

Afternoon

By now you’re saying, “That’s the best Chinese food I’ve ever eaten,” so let’s head to the Chinese Temple, Tapestry Hall & Garden. The Oroville Chinese Temple was built in 1863 to serve a community of 10,000 Chinese. It includes three chapels for each of the major ways of life in China. The main chapel is called Liet Sheng Kong-Temple of assorted deities. It is a place of prayer for various worships including Taoism, Confucianism and Buddhism. The Chan room is a Confucian room for reverence of ancestors. Confucius taught that all human relationships depend upon proper maintenance of the family. The Moon Temple, so called because of its entrance, is Wong Fat Tong – Hall of the Yellow Buddha. The Council Room served a variety of civil and cultural needs of the worker; such as banking, letter writing, discipline and arranging for the burial of the dead.

In 1968, Tapestry Hall was built to display the extensive collection of embroidered tapestries, parade parasols and other objects of beauty and value which characterize the best of Chinese folk art. In China, art was never separate from religious and ethical teaching. All objects in everyday use by the common people of China were ornamented by symbols expressing the religious ideas of Taoism, Confucianism and Buddhism.

Not an idle pleasure garden, a Chinese garden is designed as a place for meditation and reflection, and is an expression of artistic ideas emerging from an intimate feeling for nature. All its parts are symbolic reminders of the religious principles that guide the search for The Way – Tao. To hear a narrative on this historic attraction, dial 530-539-3004 and press 101.

Our second stop this afternoon will be at the Pioneer Museum on our way to the the Lake Oroville Visitor Center. As you approach this storehouse of history, a plaque embedded in the sidewalk catches your eye. “This building is dedicated to Truth, Liberty, & Toleration by Native Sons of the Golden West – May 12, 1932” it reads. Then you may notice the old steps – the first sidewalks of Oroville. And you’re not even inside yet! That’s how it is at this remarkable museum – one historic treasure after another! To hear a narrative on this historic attraction, dial 530-539-3004 and press 107.

At the Lake Oroville Visitors Center, one will find information about the State Water Project, Oroville Dam, the Feather River Fish Hatchery, history of the area, recreational opportunities, maps, books, and a museum containing displays of the State Water Project, animals of the area, Native American artifacts, and gold-mining artifacts. More than 40 videos are available for viewing on request, covering subjects from history of the gold rush and gold dredging, to wild animals, and ghost towns. Interpretive and educational items such as gold panning materials and children’s coloring books may be purchased at the front counter, and outside a 47-foot high viewing tower affords spectacular views of the lake, mountains, and valley.

Evening

At the Lake Oroville Visitor Center you are only a half mile from Lake View Restaurant and Kelly’s Bar located at the Lake Oroville Golf and Event Center, 5131 Royal Oaks Drive. Here you can enjoy a beautiful sunset overlooking Lake Oroville, the dam and out into the Sacramento Valley.

Shopping trips frequently revolve around special interests, but sometimes it is just a means of entertainment or whiling away the time. Here are some interesting Oroville stores worth your time.

Morning

Let’s start out at a very unique store and museum. If you have any interest in hunting or fishing you don’t want to miss Huntington’s Sportsman’s Store located at 601 Oro Dam Blvd., Oroville (huntingtonsports.com). Even if your interests don’t run to the outdoors, you might be fascinated by the museum and its extensive taxidermy and historic firearms collection. The store has a history dating back to the early1940’s when RCBS, Inc. was founded by Fred Huntington and later became one of the world’s largest manufacturers of reloading equipment. The name RCBS is derived from the name of the dies the company was founded to produce: “Rock Chuck Bullet Swage.”

From here we’ll head downtown and stop at another internationally renowned retailer, Mary Lake-Thompson Ltd. The retail store is located at 2121 Montgomery St. Here you’ll find Mary’s artwork on hundreds of gift items ranging from aprons and ceramics to totes and soaps all sourced from original art done by Mary herself. It actually is an outlet store for Mary Lake Thompson Ltd. Mary’s virgin olive oil comes from the fruit on her property. If you have the good fortune of visiting the shop when Mary is present, you’ll enjoy talking with her.

Lunch

A block east on Montgomery Street you’ll find two places for lunch Mugshots 2040 Montgomery St. (mugshotsinternetcafe). and Bird Street Cafe at 2025 Bird St. Both have wonderful sandwiches and salads.

Afternoon

Our first stop after lunch is the Betty Jean’s one block south of Montgomery St. at 1920 Bird St. Betty Jean’s carries a wide array of women’s clothing and gift items and friendly clerks. If it’s jewelry you’re looking for, downtown is the right place to be. There are three stores from which to choose. Also on Bird St. to the west of Betty Jean’s is Crown Jewelry Co. To the east is Sierra Gem Co. housed in a building recently remodeled to reflect its 1800’s historical past. Then on the corner of Myers and Robinson Strs. is Marcozzi, R. F. Jewelers. All three are family owned businesses.

Evening

For dinner you can stay downtown and eat at Bird Street Cafe or if it’s Chinese you’d like to sample, Tong Fong Low on Robinson is one of Oroville’s busiest restaurants.

Night Life

Western Pacific Brewing Company is located 3 blocks from Luceddies at 2191 High St. in the historic train station. Music is available some nights and the beer selection is intriguing. Try their Oatmeal Stout.

There are a lot of things for kids to do in Butte county. Indoors and outdoors quiet things and athletic things. You’ll find more to do here than you can find time to do them all. We’ll help you explore some of them in each community and these will be things that the entire family can have a fun learning experience doing. Lets get started.

Morning

Barry Kirshner Wildlife Sanctuary & Education Center

4995 Durham/Pentz Rd., 530-533-1000, www.kirshner.org

We are going to start the day at The Barry Kirshner Wildlife Sanctuary & Education Center. To arrange a guided tour we need to call the sanctuary in advance at (530) 533-1000. The price for walking on your own is $7 per adult and $6 per child (age 12 and below) and no appointment is necessary. If you can arrange it, the guided tour is the best way to experience the sanctuary.

The Sanctuary is home to a remarkable variety of endangered and exotic animals. Most of the residents living there have “special needs” meaning they can not be introduced back into their natural environment. Wildlife Sanctuary was established to promote an awareness of wildlife and their habitats. You’ll see a bobcat, a mountain lion, leopards, tigers, lions, a serval, a caracal, an ocelot, as well as foxes, a wallaby, and an assortment of exotic birds and reptiles, including a Burmese Python.

Bolt Tool MuseumEnd of Safford Street between Oak & Pine Streets, (530) 538-2528, (530) 533-3096
Hours: Mon. – Sat. 10 – 3:45; Sun. 11:45 – 3:45After we leave the Sanctuary we’ll head for the Bolt Tool Museum. Bud Bolt started collecting tools in 1957 as a way to get shop students to be more attentive. His idea was to show the students the difference between the unweildly old tools their grandfathers might have used and the modern ones. The boys did start paying more attention, and it also sparked, in Bud, a fascination for old tools that continues today. All of the tools on display were manufactured during or prior to WWII.

They include adjustable wrenches that measure from a small pair about four inches long to a giant 12-foot industrial wrench, and a hand-forged set of sockets made by a blacksmith and discovered by Bud in a junk store in Kalispell, Montana. You’ll find it fascinating to listen to the stories that make the tools almost come alive!

Lunch

When we leave the Bolt Tool Museum we’ll be heading for Taco Bell Taco Bell for Kids Meals at 2590 Feather River Blvd. (530) 533-1066.

Afternoon

We have several choices of things to do this afternoon. What we chose to do may depend upon the weather our interests if we feel energetic or a bit lazy. Cool Off with a Swim When the valley heat becomes too much to bear, lots of folks like to dive into the water to cool off. Four area facilities offer that opportunity.

Bedrock Park

A 3.75-acre area along the Feather River, offers swimming in the river as well as river views.

NelsonPool

Open to the public from June to September and offers recreational swim time daily from 1-4 p.m. with evening hours on Tuesday and Thursday from 6:30-8:30 p.m. Serious lap swimmers’ hours at the pool are Monday, Wednesday, and Friday from 4-6 p.m.

Palermo Pool

Open from June to September with recreational swimming hours on Monday through Saturday from 1-4 p.m., and evening hours from 6:30-8:30.

Y.M.C.A. Pool

The heated has both classes and open swims. The pool serves a number of populations, from infants through therapy groups.

If you’d just like to kick back and relax, why not find a nice shady park. Here are three to chose from. Maybe even have a picnick for dinner.

Mitchell Park

Pomona & Fifth Avenue

Twenty-four acre Mitchell Park features several youth baseball fields, a baseball stadium, picnic facilities, and Playtown USA, a theme playground—something for almost everyone.

Nelson Park

Sixth Street & Nelson

Three lighted fields serve the Feather River Park & Rec. District’s softball program, and four youth fields are used by the Thermalito Little League. Playground equipment and picnic tables are also provided.

Riverbend Park

– West end of Montgomery Street

Several open air pavilions are found throughout the park and are available for picnicking or nature viewing. The water play area is very popular with kids. Later additions to the park will include an Aquatic Park with an Olympic-sized swimming pool, waterslides, an exercise pool and a diving pool.

For those of you needing a more energetic afternoon experience, how about a battle at the Combat Zone or a round of Disc Golf at Riverbend Park.

Riverbend Park Disc Golf Course

18 Holes; West end of Montgomery St. at Hwy. 70, 530-533-2011

A great family pastime, because it’s free and all ages can play, is a round of disc golf at the Riverbend Disc Golf Course. The course was designed by Ed Hedrick, the father of disc golf, and was a project of Sunrise Rotary Club. Discs can be purchased at Feather river Recreation & Parks district 1875 Feather river Blvd. Oroville, CA.

Combat Zone PaintBall Park

4514 Pacific Heights Road, (530) 534-9956

Hours: Fri. 9 – 8; Sat. & Sun. 10 – 4, Weekdays by Appt.

Paint Ball is one of the nation’s fastest growing sports, and here you’ll find a series of fields within a master field for scenario games, as well as for “Speedball” and “Capture the Flag.”

A final afternoon choice that might allow for both a relaxing afternoon and some cooling off water activity is the North Forebay and the Aquatic Center. Here you can picnic, swim, boat and RV camp all in one place.

North Forebay

West of Hwy. 70, north of Oroville (Garden Drive Exit)

The Forebay Aquatic Center

(530) 538-4332, www.featherriverrowingclub.com
Tue. – Thur. 10 – 5; Fri. – Sun. 10 – 6, Closed Mon.

Reserved for non-motorized use only, the North Forebay is a sailor’s dream come true. Ranked as the best sailing and windsurfing north of the Bay Area, these waters and winds are delightful. The spot is also popular with those who prefer to canoe, swim, or just relax in the sun. A 200-yard sandy swimming beach has men’s and women’s dressing rooms, drinking water, and a special feature — shade trees that keep the sun off of your picnic table and you. A 15-space RV campsite and restrooms are also found at the North Forebay. In addition to the North Forebay, there is a 7,000 sq. ft. aquatic center on site. The center provides (both single and double), pedal boats, hydro bikes, and canoes.

Evening

If you haven’t already decided on a picnic visit Gold City Grill at 935 Oro Dam blvd., Oroville, CA (530) 533-9332. they have both children and senior menus and prices range from $3.50 to $7.00 per meal.