Bay Area weekend greatness

Summer still isn’t here yet, but you could have fooled me!

Clear sunny skies are on the way for the weekend and the local events are in good form for it. Here’s a handful of hand-picked happenings that are ripe for the next few days. Get yourself to any one of these for a guaranteed good time.

Rematch! Our boys in black and orange are back in The Bay on Friday to host three days of interleague play with the Texas Rangers. It’s the first time they’ve played ball together since the 2010 Fall Classic, when the San Francisco Giants beat them on their own turf  to win their first World Series in 56 years, so you can bet there’s a score to settle.

The Giants are 15-7 all-time against the Rangers, who are 0-9 in San Francisco and who just lost a four-game series in Oakland this week against the A’s. If you haven’t made it out to the yard yet this season it’s high time to do so. Weekends, baseball, cold beer, and good brats on the dock of The Bay at phone company park; it doesn’t get much better than that.

Tickets for all three games are limited but available on the SF Giants site and Stubhub.

Southern Exposure is hosting its 12th annual Monster Drawing Rally Friday night at Verdi Club. Come down and watch over 120 hot artists create awesome pieces in front of your very eyes, all of which is available for purchase just minutes after it’s completion for a mere $60.

Check out some of last year’s drawings here. The proceeds directly benefit the nonprofit arts organization’s various programs. Also expect live music via DJ, beer on tap from New Belgium Brewing Company and curbside cuisine from Kasa Indian Truck and Vesta Flatbread.

You and everyone you know can visit Muir Woods National Monument for free on Saturday as part of National Get Outdoors Day, a brand new, national celebration designed to encourage healthy, active fun in the great outdoors.

Go old-school and pick up a detailed hiking map at the visitors center for a buck and experience some of the very best coastal, forested, hillside, and canyon hiking trails around. Muir Woods is visited by well over 800,000 annually, and normally charges the 16 and up crowd $7 for single-day admission, while kids 15 and younger can always get in free. Driving directions are available here, and public transit information here.

Take a super scenic 22-mile bike ride with renown architect David Baker on Saturday (or drive), across the Golden Gate bridge and into Marin for the 35th annual Fairfax Festival. Make it in time for the popular parade which starts at 10 a.m. on Saturday, and stick around to enjoy wholesome food options and unique offerings from local artists and craft-makers.

There’ll also be a flea market, and live music on three stages. Bicyclists that want to ride with Baker and his posse need to register online with the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition. It’s sort of a mini-fundraiser, so there’s a $10 fee for the ride which the SFBC gets to keep.

If you get pooped on the way out, or at the festival you can just take the 4:30 p.m. ferry back to The City. Cyclists should meet at the Ferry Building at 8 a.m.

The Haight-Ashbury Street Faire is celebrating its 35th year on Sunday. This year’s activities will include the usual three stages offering live entertainment, a highly-congested-with-humans (some of them stinky) six-block vending area featuring arts & crafts, food and other merchandise, and an area dedicated to the entertainment of families with children.

Getting their start in 1972, SF’s original punk rock band The Tubes is set to headline on the Stanyan stage at 3:30 pm. Also performing on Sunday is Chuck Prophet, Jenni Williams and No Alternative. Feel free to wander into Golden Gate Park if you feel the need for even the slightest bit of bubble-space or whatever. Oh, and do yourself a favor: Don’t take the brown acid, man.