San Francisco

So I'm in San Francisco for the first time. We're visiting SWMBOs family for a week or so.

I haven't flown much in a few years and I have this to say: "berk you United!!" $25 per bag to check our luggage!??! Bull E36 M3!!

Dollar Rent a car, not bad at all guys, quick and easy. And bumping up from a Chevy Cruze to a Buick LaCross for just $5 a day? Sold and thanks :-)

Buick LaCross: I see what everyone is fussing about with the super intrusive headrests. Otherwise it's a nice enough car.

Anyone have any insider suggestions for things to do (cheaply) while we're in the Bay Area?

We just got back from our Cali trip. San Fran is awesome. Walk the Embarcadero and just stop and admire the view. The aquarium is nice. Check out the Naval display. They have a submarine and a liberty ship. Go north and check out Sonoma downtown. Have lunch at the Sunflower Caffe. Do some wine and olive oil tasting at Jacuzzi Vineyards. Stop at Sonoma Raceway (Sears Point). Don't forget to check out Oakland.

Drive PCH (highway 1) south and you just might see whales. We did. Also dolphins at Carmel and Elephant seals south of Big Sur. Don't forget to check out the Red Woods in Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park.

Mitchell Bros. O'farrell Theater?

http://www.ofarrell.com/

Stay out of Oakland.

You're only about a three hour drive through gold country to Yosemite. Or just drive to the ocean and take a left. Keep going until you get to Pebble Beach. You can easily make either trip and back in a day. I've done both.

Monterey, Carmel, and Pebble Beach as a day trip. Spend the entry fee to go on 17 Mile Drive. BTW - every airline now charges $25 per checked bag, not just United.

Exploritorium, now near the Ferry Building. You can pretty easily walk around a lot of the tourist part. Marine headlands are nice. Head down to Half Moon bay, see if Mavricks is up.

Watch out for parking charges. They are crazy so try and avoid making a ton of stops around town.

Golden Gate Park is cool. There are buffalo there, musicians usually playing, great flower garden, and just a good place to relax. There is also the california science museum there too.

We just got back from there Tuesday. We were staying right by the ferry terminal and just walked everywhere.

Nice, thank you all for the advice and tips :-)

And now for my dunderhead moment. I just had my first accident in twenty years. Crunched the front of the Buick and it was my own damned fault. No injuries either car thankfully but waiting now for rental company to bring me a new one. Sigh, not the best start to the day I'm afraid.

vwcorvette wrote: Don't forget to check out Oakland.

Because maybe the flights to Syria, Gaza, and Ukraine were booked that weekend?

Whats wrong with Oakland? I went there yesterday and am alive to tell the story. It's not like someone is gonna run up and shoot you for no reason. Oakland has some nice areas, check out Jack London square, lake merrit, telegraph ave, rockridge. Oakland is right next to Berk, and that's a pretty nice place also.

Walk across the Golden Gate, and back again. Drive north to see the redwoods. Go along the avenue of giants, stop a lot and hike the trails. The best stuff is not well marked.

Even if you don't make it to the redwoods, you MUST drive north on HWY 1. curvy curvy curvy curvy, up down up down up down, with the ocean to one side. It's awesome.

Do you like seafood? Go eat a whole dungeness crab, preferably at one of the restaurants on pier 39.

We hiked to see the Redwoods in Oakland, Skyline Park IIRC. Really cool, close by and free.

Find an "Off the Grid" location. They setup 5-6 food trucks and have music and seating. Its a great way to get some variety.

Alcatraz is worth it, but you kinda have to plan ahead. Free IIRC, but books up in advance.

Go to Napa. Go to Napa. Go to Napa. Eat. Drink. Repeat.

Go eat an Italian sandwich at Molinari Delicatessen! It is, by far, the BEST Italian sandwich I have ever had. Drive down Lombard St. just so you can say you did.

Being the car movie junkie I am, I made a walking tour of some of the landmarks in Bullitt, saw his house, grabbed a snack from the market across the street he bought his frozen dinners at. Went to the big Cathedral that Chalmers chewed out Bullitt's boss in front of. It made for a nice day and I got to see a lot of different areas in SF.

Walk across the Golden Gate bridge like JamesMcD said. Then drive out to Sonoma, go to a couple of wine tastings and enjoy the scenery.

I was going to drive back down on HWY 1, but got rear-ended in my rental, then waited 2 hours for a cop to show up, so that day was shot.

But above all else, GO EAT THAT SAMMICH!

If its nice weather and a weekend STAY THE EFF AWAY FROM STINSON BEACH. We were on our way north through Muir woods and it took 3 hours to get from sausalito to Stinson beach.

Drive over golden gate and go to battery Spencer. It overlooks the bridge/town and is awesome.

Also go to saulsalito and eat the corned beef hash at Lighthouse Cafe. It was fantastic.

Sweet. Things to incorporate :-)

FYI: rental company sent out a Chevy Impala to replace the LaCross. Much better visibility and power. So much less "luxury". I have to say on average, my vote goes to the Impala but it's still a weak sauce GM car. The general needs to start doing better.....

To T25Torx,

I did the driving bullitt tour in one of those special edition hertz mustangs when we were out there the last year. It was cool. The wifie just said DO NOT try to recreate any of the scenes in the movie. :)

rental impala's be all like "TIRESMOOOOOKKKEEEE"

bmw88rider wrote: To T25Torx, I did the driving bullitt tour in one of those special edition hertz mustangs when we were out there the last year. It was cool. The wifie just said DO NOT try to recreate any of the scenes in the movie. :)

LOL. I didn't rent a car till the last day in town, so we could drive out to wine country, otherwise i would have done the driving tour myself. Was still cool. I feel like sharing pictures now..

This is the Cathedral that Chalmers servers his writ to Bullitt's boss at.

Then I went to Bullitt's apartment.

A quick stroll across the street and I was in the market he bought his frozen dinners from.

Saw this nice AE86 on the way to my next destination.

It was getting close to lunch at this point so i figured I would stop by Enrico's for lunch, this is the place Bullitt met his informant at. Unfortunately it is no longer in business, so that's when I went to Molinari's instead.

on the way to Chalmers house I saw this pretty decent looking Citroën DS

This is Chalmers house. I can't imagine what it might cost to buy a place over in that area, it was super posh.

oh and bonus shot of the Golden Gate

So yesterday we left San Mateo at 6:30 and headed for highway 1 south. Starting in Santa Cruz we drove along the coast. First stop was in Monterrey where we wandered around a bit before finding Lovers Point Park for photo ops and rock scampering. Then we headed down 17 mile road. This took us (completely by fortune) through the famed Pebble Beach and past some of the most expensive houses EVER. Then onto the really scenic and twisty part of hwy 1. Our oooooh and aaaaah meters quickly got burned out by the spectacular scenery. As we crossed one bridge we saw a sign for a side road that said "impassable when wet". Sounds like a challenge so we turned on "Coast Road" for 15 miles of jeep trails through redwoods and mountains (go go rental Chevy!)

After rejoining hwy 1 south we continued along taking in the awesome combination of rocks, ocean, surf, mountain, and cliff that drive is famous for. Lunched in Big Sur state park (where gas was a stupendous $6 a gallon!!!) and drove down to the Hearst castle for a quick run through their gift shop (tours take HOURS).

A quick swing by SWMBOs HS and old house. A walk on the beach at Morro Rock and back up hwy 101 to our hotel. Got back at about 11 pm. Tired but a fun day!

That sounds like a great day!

t25torx wrote: This is Chalmers house. I can't imagine what it might cost to buy a place over in that area, it was super posh.

There is a stretch called "Billionaires Row" if that give you a clue.