Visiting the Land of No Circumcisions

[freakazoid]

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.

Could I get the name of that hotel? You know, so I can avoid it.

Thanks.

 

[Nate505]

If you have a car, I cannot stress going to Muir Woods and Point Reyes enough for a day (granted if you have the time too). It's so spectacular, and really only a half to an hour away from San Francisco.

At Fisherman's Wharf there is an extremely old arcade. I forget the name of it (it's a French sort of name like Arcade Fantastique or something) but it has a ton of super old arcade "games" that actually work, many dating from the turn of the 20th century. Most are games that are sort of like pinball but not quite (like a baseball game where you have a button that hits a steel ball with a metal bat into a field where there are holes and such for outs or hits). Many are not games but more like a crappy sort of animated show, but they are all super unique and there's no admission to the place or anything, just the cost of the "games" if you want to play them. I loved the place more when it was at the Cliff House, but the Wharf is a much bigger tourist destination so I can see why they moved there.

And for another you need a car for trip, a trip to Santa Cruz is not bad at all. It is home of the last Pacific coast amusement park (I could be wrong about it being the last, but it's one of the very few at the least), and the Giant Dipper roller coaster there is my personal favorite out of any one I've been on. It also has a nice public pier with shops and stuff. It's also kind of nice in the sense that you can just buy tickets for the rides you want to go on. Monterey is near by which has nice scenic drives (especially by Pebble Beach). I'm not sure I'd recommend it with all the other stuff to do in the Bay Area, but I personally enjoy it a lot.

At Golden Gate park the quintessential tourist thing to do is to go to the Japanese Tea Garden. Amazingly enough I had never been in all the years I grew up in the Bay Area, but I did go on a visit a couple years ago. While it's a bit overpriced (like $5 or $7 to get in) I will say it's a neat thing to see. It's the sort of thing I wish I could do in my backyard, on a much larger scale. I think I even shelled out the extra $4 for tea and cookies at the end.

 

[Surely]

I hear Bohemian Grove is a pretty happening place during the summertime months.

Some mysterious guy showed up at my door with an invitation to their summer gathering, but we were having dinner and he was being long winded so I sent him away.

 

[Duck Rodgers]

Some mysterious guy showed up at my door with an invitation to their summer gathering, but we were having dinner and he was being long winded so I sent him away.

How unfortunate. This could be the last year to see Newt's Newt before he goes into Christian mode for the campaign season. I demand you track mysterious guy down and apologize for being so impolite and beg for a re-invite.

 

[Duck Rodgers]

Could I get the name of that hotel? You know, so I can avoid it.

Thanks.

Spiking Tourist Lodge. South Salt Lake City, UT.

 

[Bronco70]

I was reading quickly and did a double take here given that Twin Peaks is the name of a very prominent Castro District bar.

They love me in the Castro. When my wife isn't with me, I usually don't even have to pay for my own drinks. Weird. Such nice people.

 

[sirkickyass]

I just want to see kicky run up and down the aisles while screaming "I do this in the name of Archie Moses!"

Stop encouraging me. Can't you tell I'm mad?

At Fisherman's Wharf there is an extremely old arcade. I forget the name of it (it's a French sort of name like Arcade Fantastique or something)

This is the Musee Mecanique that I mentioned earlier. Some of the animated shows you mentioned (which are usually flip-card based) are actually hilariously deceptive in the sense that they promise pornography and don't deliver. My favorite is one called "see what the exotic dancer does on her day off." You put in your quarter and get to see images of a woman reading a book and playing tennis etc.

I think I even shelled out the extra $4 for tea and cookies at the end.

Whoa big spender! Don't get crazy!

 

[Nate505]

Stop encouraging me. Can't you tell I'm mad?



This is the Musee Mecanique that I mentioned earlier. Some of the animated shows you mentioned (which are usually flip-card based) are actually hilariously deceptive in the sense that they promise pornography and don't deliver. My favorite is one called "see what the exotic dancer does on her day off." You put in your quarter and get to see images of a woman reading a book and playing tennis etc.



Whoa big spender! Don't get crazy!

Yeah, good catch on the name (for whatever reason I didn't see that you mentioned it). My favorite machine was one called The Guillotine. It really did deliver on its theme, in the cheesiest of ways.

And leave me alone, I'm poor damnit! Actually it's more of a case on how I've reverted to my parents, where as a kid I would bug them for everything at a place we went to and on a good day they would relent to maybe getting me one thing. As a kid I told myself "when I'm an adult I'm gonna buy every damn thing I wanted as a kid," but now as an adult I find myself being cheap. So sad.

 

[jazz_fanatic]

Thanks for all your input, everyone. I just skimmed through all of them. I'm not leaving 'til next month so I'll have to go back and filter out all the useful stuff.

 

[Jazz Spazz]

Just a little to the south of the visitor center is the decommissioned Nike missile silo.
And we found it by accident.

Have fun!

This was the only thing that caught my attention in the whole "wonderful" thread.

Next time I visit SF I will have to drop by the Nike missile silo.

I didn't even know Nike was involved with missiles.... they are everywhere.

On a serious note, there are some good suggestions here. I will have to write them down so I can do them on the trip I planned for the first of never.

The only thing I miss from SF is the Wharf.... and the fog I guess.

 

[LogGrad98]

I am a big fan of getting away from the typical tourist destinations. In defense of San Fran the touristy things there are very fun and worth revisiting but when we found the extras that made it that much better. The hike to the lighthouse was probably the most enjoyable time we had on that trip. I will have to dig up a picture from that hike to post in the picture posting thread Trout started. (If you don't humor him, he gets fussy.)

Also if you time it right (like we did one year) you can drive into town as the last float in the Gay Pride Parade. That was fun to explain to my 5, 7, and 9 year olds!

[edit for JazzSpazzSmartAss =]

Here is a picture of the elevator into a nike missile silo. This looks a lot like the one they tour near San Fran but I don't think it is the same one.

https://nikemissile.org/

See? Nothing to do with shoes.




(oh other than you have to wear shoes on the tour. They won't let you go down in the missile battery without shoes. so make sure you take shoes)

 

[VINYLONE]

This whole Kicky/ Archie thing is absolutely ****ing pathetic. Like it's that hard not to respond to someone or, for that matter, to ignore them. Kicky, GTFO.