OT- San Fransisco Tips?

[Cowtown]

Alcatraz is a must see.

Yep. Rent the headset.

 

[OrangeTown]

CuseTroop , since you're hell bent on depleting all bank account reserves and digging yourself into eternal debt this year, go ahead and book the trip back to Syracuse for the Orangeyes Open now. We have an opening.

Thanks in advance.

 

[CuseTroop]

CuseTroop , since you're hell bent on depleting all bank account reserves and digging yourself into eternal debt this year, go ahead and book the trip back to Syracuse for the Orangeyes Open now. We have an opening.

Thanks in advance.

I'm actually going to be home that weekend. Land Friday, leave Sunday. My grammy's surprise bday party is also the 6th. Let me see how the times work out, but I'm not sure it can work.

 

[chugg21]

I'm a local and, as with any major city, how the locals do it is far different than the tourists.

If you want to do the tourist thing, depending on your tastes, all the obvious choices are well-worth the visit--Golden Gate Park, a boat ride around the Bay, Fisherman's Wharf, the cable cars (packed but fun), Chinatown (small but cool), Alcatraz (weird), Ghiardelli Square, the Marina, etc. Within the park, if you're into cool museums, there's the De Young and the California Academy of Sciences. People like the SF Moma but it's not much compared to NYC's. The Palace of Fine Arts is definitely worth seeing as is the Exploratorium.

For eating, SF is more about the neighborhood than it is the individual restaurants. Here's a link to the various neighborhoods in the City that will help you. If I had to pick one neighborhood not to miss for dining, it would be North Beach.

As for the GGB, if you can take walking on a suspension bridge, the coolest part is hoofing it across. Unreal views of the Golden Gate. If you're into a short ride to eat or hang out, Sausalito and Tiburon are just over the bridge and absolutely worth the trip.

One thing to keep firmly in mind...SF can be chilly, damp and foggy this time of year. But that shouldn't bother you frozen tundra dudes. Spring on the coast here is far different than inland, where it can be 20 - 30 degrees warmer and sunny.

And one final thing...don't know where you're staying but SF has no shortage of great boutique hotels and Airbnb spots to stay...

Oh, one other thing...stay away from the Tenderloin unless you like to live dangerously.

Have to go to the Tenderloin in order to go to Saigon Sandwich though.

 

[chugg21]

More...tourists generally don't do this but by far the best thing to do when visiting the City is to see a few things and then leave. Rent a car and drive south on Skyline Drive (Hwy 35) towards Santa Cruz (a very cool place and surfing's ground zero), pick up Hwy 1 south towards Monterey, Carmel and Big Sur. If you didn't want to go that far south, just taking Skyline to the 1 to Santa Cruz is, as Dr. Evil said, breathtaking, even for people who've been here for decades. It's nature (and history) at its best.

Lived in Monterey for a few years before San Diego. Can't wait to get back there, such a beautiful and calm place.

 

[chugg21]

Go have a Chinese Mai-Tai at the Li Po lounge in chinatown then walk for about 2 more minutes and stop by for a drink at Vesuvio where Kerouac and the beats all hung out.

 

[manleyzoo]

Have to go to the Tenderloin in order to go to Saigon Sandwich though.

You're right! I love that place..funky and great food.

 

[manleyzoo]

Lived in Monterey for a few years before San Diego. Can't wait to get back there, such a beautiful and calm place.

Right again...It's way better than Carmel and almost as cool as Pacific Grove.

 

[chugg21]

Right again...It's way better than Carmel and almost as cool as Pacific Grove.

My wife and I are from Buffalo so we immediately loved Monterey but then started to get bored with it being 65 and foggy every day and wanted somewhere warmer. Now its 75 every day but with a billion people everywhere and no peacefulness, now we're dying to get back to Monterey. Spent a lot of nights walking around in PG, love the little mexican restaurant Peppers.

 

[TinyManInside]

If you are in to craft beer, SF has a great scene with tons of excellent breweries.

 

[Capt. Tuttle]

Clam chowder, sourdough bowl, walking the wharf

 

[realorange]

dungeness crab and/or boullibaisse.

Going to Oregon this summer to get my fill.

 

[VaBeachOrFan]

Okay, I have to ask...

I thought Dr Evil considered a shorn scrotum breaktaking. He considers a drive on Highway 1 from SF to Santa Cruz a similar thrill?

It must be amazing!

It is.

Just got back from 2 1/2 weeks out there, driving 1,700 miles including 400 miles of Route 1 from Nepenthe (see avatar) just south of the Big Sur Post Office to the Lost Coast, some 200 miles north of SF where the road turns east toward the redwoods. Some notes on this famous route:

* Bixby Bridge, south of Carmel, is the iconic photo, but it's not easy to negotiate the pull-off spots while you're looking to stay alive without holding up traffic. Remember, California doesn't believe in guard rails.
* For the food, the view and the gift shop, Nepenthe is worth the trip, but it would be a 300-mile round trip from SF -- probably beyond your reach.
* At least get to Half Moon Bay (doable) for lunch. Great shops and eats with less gridlock than Sausalito (not intending to pan Sausalito, just an observation).
* Route 17 between Los Gatos (my HS town) and Santa Cruz is not for the timid --four narrow lanes of heavy traffic around tight, banked turns at high speed -- so avoid it if you want pleasant memories of the trip.
* The scariest spot that the timid should avoid at all costs, though, is Route 1 between Fort Ross and Jenner Beach, north of Bodega Bay. The road is narrow and twisting (the signs tell you that) and hangs on the very edge of oblivion, at least 1,000 feet above the ocean below (the signs don't tell you that). The only other scene that similarly took my breath away was the Grand Canyon, by way of reference, so Dr. Evil may have a point.

Places you could get to:

* Try Skates restaurant in Berkeley. Don't worry, it's not in town, it's on a point overlooking all of SF Bay and its 3 bridges. Food is SF quality in flavor, originality and presentation, which tells you all you need to know.
* Buena Vista Café in SF originated Irish Coffee in 1952 during a collaboration between its owner and SF Chronicle travel columnist Stanton Delaplane. They had to be clever to find a way to make the cream float, but they succeeded.
* You can't drive down the crooked block of Lombard Street anymore, but you can drive down the steepest street (Filbert) on Russian Hill. Start from Hyde Street, but it will be a leap of faith because you can't see the street over the end of your hood as you start.
* Don't try to drive through Napa Valley on the weekend -- it'll be gridlock. There are plenty of wineries in Sonoma County along Route 101. Try Graffiti's restaurant in Petaluma; Jackson's Bar & Oven in Santa Rosa; or Willi's (tapas) in Healdsburg for excellent food.

Whatever you do, though, have fun, enjoy the vibe, and be glad you can visit SF without having to pay rent.-VBOF

 

[690West]

are not taxable. As far as I know.

 

[dollarbill44]

Rented an apartment with the family last summer a block away from Ghirardelli Square on North Point St. We had a view of Alcatraz and the GGB from our living room - beautiful! I would wake up at 5:30 a.m. everyday as I was still on NY time and went for my strolls between 6:00 and 7:00 before my family woke up. I recommend walking down Lombard St. at 6:30 in the morning. There's nobody there and no traffic, so you can stand in the middle of the intersection of Hyde and Lombard and take pictures in all directions. I also highly recommend the Musee Mechanique on Pier 45. We all had a great time wandering around and playing all of the old arcade games - and I don't mean PacMan, but turn of the 20th century (and earlier) type arcade games. The street performer scene on the Embarcadero in the afternoon is pretty cool if the weather is good. Grab some light fare at Bodin's and pick up a loaf or two of their sourdough. It makes amazing toast.
If you like chocolate and ice cream, Ghirardelli's Chocolate Marketplace is excellent.
Like everyone else said, stroll through Chinatown slowly and go into a few markets to check them out. There is some cool stuff. We enjoyed Golden Gate park then strolling through Haight-Ashbury. Amoeba Music is a very cool store with more music, concert posters, memorabilia than I've ever seen in one place. You can also get a free medical marijuana exam and a prescription if you have some pain. From there, you're not far from the famous Painted Ladies (the colorful row houses).

In short, we all loved S.F. It's a city I could definitely live in and look forward to going back to.

 

[CuseTroop]

Just wanna thank everyone for all of the info, tips, ideas. Jumping on the plane tonight. Have reservations at the Waterbar tomorrow night, I forget the name of the place for Saturday. I've made a list of everything that everyone recommended, and we will sit down at the airport bar and come up with a plan.