 Image credit: courtesy of San Francisco Aids Walk
THIGH MASTER
Of course we know that the main reason for taking part in AIDS Walk 2008—a 6.2-mile saunter through Golden Gate Park on July 20—is to raise money for health and education services provided by the SF AIDS Foundation, but if we happen to achieve a little muscle tone in our "problem areas" in the process, well, you won't hear us complaining.
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 Image credit: Mike McWay
OUT OF SIGHT
It's not just a myth: The rustic Nature Friends Tourist Club, hidden high on the slopes above Muir Woods, is only accessible by foot—either from the Redwood or Sun trails. Head there on July 20 for the legendary Sommerfest (you can count on lots of beer and brats), a rollicking fete to raise money for the upkeep and maintenance of Muir Woods National Monument. The club's strict members-only policy takes a hike during this annual event.
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 Image credit: Deb Dawson PhotographyHORSING AROUND
Sunday, July 20, is the final day of the Pebble Beach Equestrian Classic I horse show: It's a six-ring circus with nearly 50 different classes. Stick close to Collins Arena, where the day starts with the lesser tiers of show jumping (with obstacles as high as "only" four-plus feet) and culminates in the $30,000 Pebble Beach Grand Prix. Our favorite part, though, is what comes right before all the Grand Prix drama: the lead-line class. Watch toddlers compete—that is, sit blissfully atop a horse as big (to them) as the moon, while a grinning mom, dad or big sis leads them around the ring. Everyone, of course, wins a ribbon. Want more? Come back next weekend for the Equestrian Classic II—or check in to the Lodge at Pebble Beach and make a week of it.
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 Image credit: Scott Chernis
FUTURAMA
Lest you mistake the North Beach Jazz Fest for any of the other numerous and similarly themed events that take place in SF throughout the year, keep in mind that while you will hear the requisite homages to local jazz legends like BJ Papa (right), this particular celebration is dedicated to the future of the genre. On July 21, the six-day festival kicks off, as always, with "Jazz on Grant"—free evening performances in nearly two dozen venues on (or near) Grant Avenue.
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 Image credit: courtesy of the SF Jewish
Film Festival; Christian Horan Photography
FAMILY VALUES
The 28th annual SF Jewish Film Festival opens July 24 at the Castro Theatre with Strangers, a vaguely Romeo and Juliet–meets–Sliding Doors love story between an Israeli man and Palestinian woman whose paths intersect in a Berlin subway. Tensions of every variety ensue (sex! politics! religion!). Also don't miss the July 26 screening of the dramedy Sixty Six, in which Helena Bonham Carter plays a mother worried that she'll have to cancel her son's elaborately planned bar mitzvah because the family business is faltering. Think My Super Sweet 16 meets British middle-class Jewish family circa (duh!) 1966.
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 Image credit: Steve Boxall Zero G Corporation
GET BUZZED
For a mere $4,000 (plus tax), reserve a spot aboard G-Force One, a zero-gravity airplane that mimics the feeling of weightlessness without going beyond the Earth's stratosphere. Oh, don't get us wrong; you get pretty high up there—about 32,000 feet, to be exact. Weightlessness lasts for only 30 seconds—when the airplane reaches the apex of a flight parabola—and then it's back to normal on the descent to 24,000 feet, where the pilot initiates another parabola and the fun starts again. The next Bay Area flight takes off from Moffett Field in Mountain View on July 26.
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 Image credit: courtesy of Warner Bros.
FOG DAY EXTRA
The Dark Knight opened last week, but the lines should have abated a bit by now—time to hit the IMAX at the Metreon.
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