Planning a road trip to the Bay Area?  Many parents and grandparents have fond memories of stopovers at the old Nut Tree in Vacaville, where you could stretch your legs, get something to eat and ride the train.  With the opening of the “new” Nut Tree Family Park, a whole new generation will be able to share similar memories.

Although it’s been open for nearly a year, many people still don’t know about the park.  We happened to hear about it from friends who have family in Vacaville.  My mom and I decided to take my 3 year-old daughter on the way back from a trip to the Bay Area recently.  Because of its small size and gracious staff, it turned out to be the perfect place for a multi-generational stopover.

The most complicated thing about the park is finding it.  There are signs posted, but we still managed to miss it at first.  The entrance to the park is a large opening in the strip mall just to the right of Borders, on the north side of highway 80.  Directions are available on the website, listed below.  Parking
is free.

Once inside, it is a much simpler world.  There’s a roller coaster and a carousel, as well as a few other “kiddies” rides, the standard airplanes and rescue trucks.  In addition, there are a couple more unique attractions; such as the (surprisingly high) hot air balloon ride, and wooden boats you can rent and push around the “lake.”  For the nature lovers, there are Koi to feed, and a small garden to wander around in the back of the park.  Next to the garden is an adorable cottage-style playhouse.  Although it isn’t open to the general public, it is available to rent for birthday parties or other special occasions.  Complete party information and pricing is available on the Nut Tree’s well-designed and informative website.

On our first visit, my daughter enjoyed the super-sized hobbyhorses, modeled after the original Nut Tree horses with their bright primary colors.  However, her favorite attraction, hands-down, was the bumper cars.  She started giggling at the first bump, and didn’t stop until after we left the park an hour later.  Fortunately, we happened to be there when we could ride by ourselves, which meant I could control most of the bumping.

There is also a small arcade towards the back of the park.  I don’t know if it was more fun to watch my three-year-old try to play the games, or her grandmother.  I never thought I’d see Grandma try so hard to “whack a mole.”  This arcade is aimed primarily at younger children, and is often very generous with their tickets – which means kids (and grandparents) can get a few trinkets without parents spending a fortune.  The arcade is usually our last stop so that the trinkets can entertain my daughter for the rest of the ride home.  Older, more experienced gamers might get bored quickly, and invariably, a few of the games will gobble your tokens, but the staff is usually very good about replacing them.  In addition, on our last visit, my daughter had only 27 tickets and wanted a scented pencil that cost 30.  They let her have it.

My mom loved reminiscing about her many past trips to the Nut Tree, and we both enjoyed seeing the original train, now refurbished, running merrily through the park.  My mom was a bit taken aback by the costs of some of the things – most notably, she thought the boats should have been free, but I appreciated the fact that I could buy as many – or as few tickets as I wanted, controlling both the cost as well as how long we would be there.  All rides cost $3.50 each.  If you have more time to spend than we did, they do offer unlimited ride wristbands for $18.95.  Group prices for the wristbands are significantly less expensive, and start with groups as small as five people.  There is no fee to enter the park, and children under two ride free.  All prices are available on their website.

I was very impressed by the quality of the staff.  Most of the ride operators are adults.  Everyone was very gracious and professional.  On more than one occasion, I was short a few tickets.  Rather than insisting I walk all the way back to the front to buy more tickets, the operator let us on the ride anyway.  Another time, when I decided to sit one of the rides out (to save a bit of money, of course), the operator insisted we ride as a family, and didn’t charge me.  “It’s a family park, you should all ride together,” he told me.  I appreciate the graciousness behind these gestures.

It is against the rules to bring your own food into the park.  It wasn’t a problem for us as ours was a quick visit – an hour and a half.  My daughter did have her “snack cup” with her, and that didn’t seem to be a problem.  Weather permitting; there is a shaded bocce ball complex with picnic tables directly opposite the entrance to the park.  Nut Tree Family Park is small enough that it would be easy to leave your food in the car and come back for it when it is time for lunch.

Moreover, if bringing your own lunch doesn’t appeal to you, there are a number of restaurants nearby, including Amici’s Pizza, Villa Corona, a local Mexican restaurant, and Fenton’s Creamery (which serves meals as well as sweets).  Jamba Juice, Panera Bakery, and Rubios are coming soon.  More information about each of the many dining options is available on the website.

Some people may find the new Nut Tree to be a bit too commercialized compared with the original.  That may be true, but it does mean that there is something for just about everyone.  There are a fair number of “big box” stores around the complex, but if you look closely, you’ll see that there is also an effort being made to bring in some smaller, more unique retailers, often with some historic connection to the area.  One example is the Capay Valley Farm Shop, a deli/market located next to the entrance to the park.  Tempted to try it out, we decided to make an exception to our usual rule and stay for lunch.

The Capay Valley Farm Shop specializes in locally grown and produced products.  Nearly everything in the store is organic and originates 100 miles or less from the store.  You can create your own picnic from a mouth-watering selection of local cheeses, breads, and munchies, or try one of their organic veggie or natural meat sandwiches.  My mom and I split the turkey and white cheddar sandwich with pesto mayonnaise, and my daughter had the bologna and provolone cheese sandwich.  Both were very good.  I don’t think my daughter has ever had bologna, but it brought back memories for me of visits to the old-fashioned butcher shop as a child, where I was always given a slice while we shopped.  The farm shop staff scored some extra points with me when they offered to wash the apples we picked out to eat.  We did see signs for the wine tasting room, but we didn’t have time to explore that.  Nor did we have time to browse their tempting collection of locally produced olive oils, jams, and lavender products.

Nut Tree Family Park is open year round.  The hours vary by season, so be sure to check their website for the latest information.  Right now, the park is open every day of the week.  One clarification: the website mentions that there are limited rides operating on weekdays.  This just means that there are fewer ride operators than rides, so the operators have to divide their time between two or three rides, depending on demand.  You may have to wait a few minutes for the ride you are interested in, but all the rides are operating.  On Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays, the park is fully staffed. 

Of course, the Nut Tree can’t make the ride down to the Bay Area and back any shorter.  Nevertheless, by providing space to run around and a few fun attractions, it can make the journey a whole lot more fun.

Nut Tree Family Park
1681 East Monte Vista Avenue
Vacaville, California 95688
Phone - 888.448.6411
http://www.NutTreeUSA.com
info@NutTreeUSA.com