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Visiting the Land of No Circumcisions

jazz_fanatic

jazz_fanatic

Well-Known Member
I'm planning on heading over to San Francisco for one last girls' road trip before we all separate and head (back) to college. It would be splendid if you all could give us some suggestions on some must-see destinations/activities/places to eat. So far on our list, we've got the Golden Gate Bridge/Park, Muir Woods to see the redwoods, North Beach, Chinatown, Fisherman's Wharf to pig out on seafood, a wine country tour, maybe hike up Twin Peaks, and possibly rent some bikes. Everything is so damn expensive in San Fran, so any suggestions on cheap/free things to do would be great! Also, a heads up on places we should avoid would also help. The last time we all went on a trip together, we ended up in some bad areas late at night and stayed at a hotel surrounded by prostitutes. We laugh about it now, but would really like to come back in one piece. Thanks.

Oh, also thinking about going to see the Victorian homes. I want to have a picnic outside on a hill like these fine folks....

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Your friend,

jazz_fanatic :)
 
I can only say what I would personally like to do. Probably not your cup of tea. Anyway, Alcatraz tops my list along with seeing a Giants game at AT&T Park.

https://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.&um=1&ie=UTF-8&q=at%26t+park+san+francisco&fb=1&gl=us&hq=at%26t+park+san+francisco&hnear=at%26t+park+san+francisco&cid=0,0,2565726016270866733&ei=6MW7TcaKBYHGsAPqxI3PBQ&sa=X&oi=local_result&ct=image&resnum=1&ved=0CD4QnwIwAA

It's a beautiful park, but dress warm. I hear San Francisco is pretty cold this time of year.
 
trigg3r said:
I can only say what I would personally like to do. Probably not your cup of tea. Anyway, Alcatraz tops my list along with seeing a Giants game at AT&T Park.

https://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.&um=1&ie=UTF-8&q=at%26t+park+san+francisco&fb=1&gl=us&hq=at%26t+park+san+francisco&hnear=at%26t+park+san+francisco&cid=0,0,2565726016270866733&ei=6MW7TcaKBYHGsAPqxI3PBQ&sa=X&oi=local_result&ct=image&resnum=1&ved=0CD4QnwIwAA

It's a beautiful park, but dress warm. I hear San Francisco is pretty cold this time of year.
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I may go to see the Giants next friday, the funny thing is they are playing the rockies... they have played in every game I've ever been to and I've been to 4 parks. That's just how the scheduling has worked.
 
Go to Santana Row in San Jose if you like shopping. (It's also right across the street from the Winchester Mansion).

Maybe to to Santa Cruz or if you don't want to drive that far, I would recommend going to Taco Bell Beach in Pacifica.

Go to a Giants game at AT&T Ball Park.

Look for the famous street performer The Bush Man near the Warf. He's usually across the street from In and Out.

Go visit Stanford's campus.


Kick sirkickynoone'sbutt in Mountain View.

Eat at as many Thai, Korean BBQ, Sushi, and Indian places as possible. Nom Nom Nom
 
We looked up Alcatraz and don't think we want to pay $30 for a ferry ride to see a prison. And the girls don't really like to watch sports, so no baseball for us.

Is Winchester Mansion that haunted place? I'd be willing to go there, which is weird, because I refuse to go to fake haunted houses during Halloween.

Street performer, kick kicky's butt, and eat, eat, eat...got it! Thanks!
 
jazz_fanatic said:
We looked up Alcatraz and don't think we want to pay $30 for a ferry ride to see a prison. And the girls don't really like to watch sports, so no baseball for us.

Is Winchester Mansion that haunted place? I'd be willing to go there, which is weird, because I refuse to go to fake haunted houses during Halloween.

Street performer, kick kicky's butt, and eat, eat, eat...got it! Thanks!
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Anne, when you're at the warf, keep an eye out for a cheap boat tour of Alcatraz. I've gone on a few (they don't stop at the island - just go by it an other things) times and paid 5 bucks.

Also ride a Trolley and go to Ghirardelli Square.

Winchester Mansion is the haunted place, but it's expensive. It's really cool though. With that said, it's right across the street from Santa Row a super cool and upscale outdoor mall which is also across the street from a giant mall called something like South Town.
 
I see what you did there, Myke, you spelled my name wrong so people won't know my real identity! Genius!! :D

Wow, 5 bucks isn't bad at all. How long are the tours?

I'll only go to Ghirardelli Square if there's free chocolate and chocolate fountains.

I just looked up Winchester Mansion and it looks really interesting, but you're right...pricey. Maybe I can find discounts or something...
 
Look into doing one of those "Hop On - Hop Off" tours, they're worth the money (usually not too expensive) and a good way to see lots of sights and get a bit of history


Sent from my iPod touch using Tapatalk
 
Here's what you do. You rent one of those mental home vans with a divider between the front seat and all the other seats. You take the wheel and pack your friends in the back and instead of taking I-80 towards San Fran, you haul *** South on I-15 toward So Cal because it's so much better.
 
I lived in SF Area for 6 years, so here are my comments on some of the things that have been mentioned so far.

Golden Gate Bridge - Driving across is cool. I had a sister in law rent a bike and ride across, but I think that's overkill.

Golden Gate Park - Meh. Went once or twice, wasn't especially interesting to me. This is nowhere near the Golden Gate Bridge, by the way.

Muir Woods - That was one of our favorite spots. If you've never seen giant redwoods before, it's a must. Closest place to SF where you can see them. And, in my opinion, a cool drive to get there.

North Beach - Meh. It's not like you can go swimming... ocean and weather are typically too cold.

Chinatown - A lot of people think wandering around a bit is fun. I only did that once, and didn't stop by any of the shops, so I can't really say.

Fisherman's Wharf - Go there to see the sea lions, not to pig out on seafood. Plenty of other good restaurants around in non tourist-trap areas.

Wine country tour - The wine country is gorgeous. Sonoma was a favorite place of ours to visit--just walking around the downtown area is fun. Plus, there's a historical display with some old cabins, if I recall correctly. Also, the cheese store in downtown Sonoma gives out free cheese samples. :-)

Alcatraz - I enjoyed this far more than I expected. In fact, due to the price I probably wouldn't have gone at all if my cousin hadn't given us tickets, but looking back it was one of the highlights of my whole 6 years. Highly recommended. And if you go, spring for the extra money to get the audio tour.

Winchester Mystery House - It's not considered "haunted" that I know of, it's just a large, strange house. And environs. Pricey, though. Unlike Alcatraz, I would say that this one is probably not worth the price.

Santa Cruz - We went to the Boardwalk once; haven't been to any other parts of Santa Cruz. It was fun. I love wooden roller coasters, and the Giant Dipper is one of the best ones I've ever been on. A little rough & tumble because of its age, but a true classic if you like that type of thing.

Stanford's campus - Meh. A little interesting, but probably not worth your time.

Ride a Trolley - I never did do this, and it's one of my regrets. From everything I've heard, it should be a must for anyone visiting SF.

Ghirardelli Square - Meh. Not very interesting.

Some other suggestions:

The Exploratorium - Next to the Smithsonian in D.C., this is the top science museum that I've ever been to. Can't remember the price, but if I recall correctly there are free days every once in a while (once a month?).

Monterey Bay Aquarium - This is unfortunately quite pricy, but it's one of the top aquariums in the country. Truly unique.

and last, but not least...

Jelly-Belly factory in Fairfield - free tour, and free samples! Plus you can by "belly flops", factory rejects for reduced prices.


Last word of advice: don't under-estimate how long it takes to get places. Traffic can be nightmarish.
 
Archie Moses said:
Eat at as many Thai, Korean BBQ, Sushi, and Indian places as possible. Nom Nom Nom
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True.

The best sushi and Korean I've ever eaten (outside of Korea) have been in the Bay Area.

I go there with some frequency (3 to 4 times annually) and 2 things I do every time are go up Twin Peaks (phenomenal view any time, but particularly amazing at night, IMO) and Amoeba Records in Berkeley (I usually eat at Looney's BBQ too, as long as I'm in Berkeley.)
 
trigg3r said:
It's a beautiful park, but dress warm. I hear San Francisco is pretty cold all the time.
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We go for a trip there about every other year or so. The last time we went was in the second week of August (dog days of summer, right?) and we had to buy jackets because it was so cold and we hadn't brought any.

Other than that, I think you are hitting the biggies. We like to go to chinatown for dinner at least one night. Some very interesting little places to eat there if you are culinarily adventurous.

Lombard street (from Hyde street) is a nice attraction. I recommend walking up and then back down. It has really been beautified over the years. For the record it is not the crookedest street in San Francisco, but it is the most famous.

lombard-street-picture.jpg


We also enjoy walking around downtown and seeing things like the Yerba Buena Gardens. Great place for a picnic lunch.

https://www.gothereguide.com/yerba+buena+gardens+san+francisco-place/

YerbaBuenaGardens.jpg


But probably the most fun we had was exploring off the beaten trail to the west of the southbound access to the GGB. There is a very cool lighthouse about a 1.5 mile hike out over the ocean. There is also a decommissioned missile silo where they do tours one Sunday a month (I think).

The lighthouse is near Bonita Cove. Here is a satellite view (zoom in on the Marin Headlands Visitor Center and due south you can see the lighthouse jutting out into the bay). You can see the path you walk to get there and it is literally 100 feet over the breaking waves.

https://tinyurl.com/3jrvqdj

https://www.nps.gov/goga/marin-headlands.htm

Just a little to the south of the visitor center is the decommissioned Nike missile silo.

Also in that general area is the Marine Mammal Center. It is a veterinary hospital and recovery center for distressed marine mammals. They have a tour and other things you can see there.

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All in all we had more fun there than we did in San Francisco proper. At least it is a nice diversion from the standard tourist trap stuff and makes for some great things to talk about where people do not normally go. And we found it by accident.

Have fun!
 
Exploratorium is really awesome. It's kind of like a children's museum with a lot of interactive science related stuff. It's $15 or something.
 
Also on Groupon there was a deal recently to get drunk wine tasting and be driven around by a limo. Might want to check that out.
 
Archie Moses said:
Did Colton just suggest the Winchester Mansion is not know for being haunted? Fail.
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Actually colton is half-right depending upon interpretation. Sarah Winchester herself believed it was haunted and that's why it's built in the bizarre fashion that it presently exists in. However even when you go there the scripted tour is definitely along the lines of "you'd have to be crazy to think this place is actually haunted." So it's been alleged to be haunted in the past and that influenced its design, but no one takes seriously the idea that it's haunted today except by anything but the spirit of mental illness. And for the record, I would state that the tour is not worth the price.

As for places you want to stay out of (since no one answered that question) the Tenderloin district is known for being drug-infested and a rought neighborhood at night and the North Beach club scene on weekends can be a little rough and aggressive.

If you feel like doing one big splurge I highly recommend going to see a show at Teatro Zinzanni. It's an extremely high quality cabaret/vaudeville/variety show in an authentic German spiegeltent set up along Fisherman's wharf that occurs during dinner (which is included in the ticket cost). Depending on the dates of your trip you may be able to get matinee pricing.

https://love.zinzanni.org/index.htm

The other big show in town that's uniquely San Francisco is "Beach Blanket Babylon" which is worth seeing just for the hats if nothing else.

https://www.beachblanketbabylon.com/what/index.shtml

For both of these there is also a half-price tickets booth in Union Square where same-day tickets can be found on these and other shows (although these ones usually sell out, so your odds on getting deals for them is lower).

While on the wharf I am a very big proponent of the Musee Mecanique, which is an extremely large collection of vintage (turn of the 20th century) arcade games and nickelodeons, most of which are still playable for a quarter. You can do the whole thing in about an hour to an hour and a half and play a bunch of mechanical games you will never see anywhere else for probably around $5. Out back there's also a pretty cool WWII submarine and a nice exhibit on envelope art on letters that were sent to sailors overseas.

Most of Archie's suggestions are actually Peninsula or south bay suggestions. Several will take you at least an hour out of the city. And don't go to Santana Row. It's just a mall and they have those in every major city in the country. Anthropologie and Best Buy are the same there as everywhere else. If you do feel like venturing out of the city down south I recommend eating at Sushi Sam's in San Mateo. It is the best moderately-priced sushi you will find in the Bay.

Don't bother with Ghiradelli Square unless you happen to be right there and want hot chocolate. There's really nothing else interesting there.

Bronco70 said:
I go there with some frequency (3 to 4 times annually) and 2 things I do every time are go up Twin Peaks
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I was reading quickly and did a double take here given that Twin Peaks is the name of a very prominent Castro District bar. :)

twin_peaks_castro_san_francisco_photos-731221.jpg
 
Don't go to Santana Row (it's just a mall? lol)? Don't girls go on vacation to shop? If she goes to the Winchester Mansion, why not? I always had fun walking up and down Santana Row.

There's a huge H and M in San Fran too, Ann. I know the females like to hit that up.
 
I guess you'll just have to wait and see what colton meant if he clarifies it for you.

In any event, the only time it's worth going to the Winchester house is on the Flashlight-only tour on Halloween.
 
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