Sign up soon for elephant seal tour Sign up soon for elephant seal tour (January 11, 2006)

If you want to see San Mateo County's own wildlife spectacular this year, you'd better sign up soon.

Tickets are going fast for the annual display of northern elephant seals as they fight, bark, give birth, nurse, mate, and -- mostly -- sleep on the dunes and beaches at Ano Nuevo State Reserve

Reservations are essential for the three-mile guided walks that take place every day, storm or shine, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., through March 31, when most of the seals have returned to sea.

Public seal walk tickets are $5 each. School group reservations are $21 for 20 students and two chaperones. There are no refunds or cancellations if the weather turns nasty.

For those who don't want to drive some 30 miles south of Half Moon Bay, SamTrans offers bus service, including the elephant tour, on weekends and holidays from Sunday, January 16 through March 5. Buses leave the Millbrae BART station and stop in Half Moon Bay. The entire trip takes about 6 1/2 hours and costs $15.

For reservations for public seal walks, call 1-800-444-4445; or go online to anonuevo.org. For reservations on SamTrans, call the Ano Nuevo hotline at 508-6441, or go to samtrans.com, and click on "Special Services."
Blue Angels offers ski lessons

The Blue Angels Youth Ski & Snowboard program offers skiers and snowboarders ages 7 to 16 of all skill levels five Saturdays of lessons and practice on the slopes for $799, with transportation and lift tickets included.

Blue Angels is a private program, but contracts with the city of Menlo Park.

The group will visit the Sierra-at-Tahoe Resort in Twin Bridges, California, on Saturdays from January 21 to February 25, excluding February 18. Charter buses pick up participants each Saturday at 6 p.m. at the Menlo Park Recreation Center at 700 Alma St. The buses return to the recreation center at 7 p.m.

For more information, call the Menlo Park Recreation Department at 330-2200, or go online to blueangelsnow.com.
History buffs to hear talk on Redwood City

Retired sheriff's deputy John Edmonds will entertain San Mateo County History Buffs with tales of old Redwood City on Sunday, January 15, at 2 p.m. in Courtroom A of the San Mateo County History Museum, 777 Hamilton St. in Redwood City (enter on Middlefield Road).

Redwood City became a booming port as huge redwood logs from the hills slid into the Bay to be floated by tidal power to help build San Francisco.

More information on events celebrating the county's sesquicentennial (150 years) can be found at smc150.org.
Project Read tutors needed

Project Read-Menlo Park will hold its next volunteer tutor training from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. Tuesday, January 24. All training sessions are held at the Menlo Park Library, 800 Alma St. in Menlo Park.

The second session takes place from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, January 28, with a follow-up session from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. Tuesday, February 28. Volunteers need to attend at least the first two sessions.

Project Read pairs adult students with volunteer tutors for free one-on-one lessons. Since 1985, the program has trained more than 1,200 volunteers to tutor 2,400 students at the Menlo Park Library and the Belle Haven branch library. For information, call 330-2525.
Junior League awards $20,000 in grants

The Junior League of Palo Alto/Mid Peninsula has awarded $20,000 in community grants to five nonprofit organizations.

The awards are:

** Shelter Network, $2,000. The grant will be used to support the children's program at Haven House in Menlo Park. It will pay a portion of the salary of the full-time children's coordinator.

** Community Breast Health Project, $6,000. The Palo Alto-based project offers services to patients, such as crisis lines, doctor discussions, and information libraries. Its Gabriella Patser project provides low-income uninsured women under age 40 with access to free breast cancer screening.

** Girls for a Change, $6,000. This San Jose-based organization trains lower-income-girls to become leaders and innovators.

** St. Vincent de Paul, $3,200. The grant will support St. Vincent's eviction and homelessness prevention program.

** TheatreWorks, $2,800. The grant will go to the poetry artist-in-residence program, bringing it to additional low-income schools and helping support the touring show: "Oskar, the Kid that Could."

For information, go to thejuniorleague.org.

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