Wednesday, February 09, 2005

I need your help

(Some might accuse me of stealing Lulu's idea to garner a lot of hits by soliciting comments. The timing is unfortunate on my part, but hey . . . I was planning to write this about a week ago and just didn't get to it until now.)

Tegan and I are celebrating our tenth anniversary this summer.

We are marking the occasion a bit early by taking a trip to San Francisco during the first week of April. T's parents are looking after the girls, so for a week, the two of us will be flying solo.

Neither of us have been to SF, so I am looking for suggestions on what are good things to do.

We will be in the San Francisco for about three days (hoteling in the Fisherman's Wharf area) and will be spending two days in the Napa area.

So given those basic parameter, what would YOU do?

Feel free to leave a comment via the link at the end of this post, and THANKS for your assistance.
We'll take pictures and post some when we return to prove that your help did not go in vain.
The person who suggest the best experience will receive an (as yet) undetermined prize of indeterminate value and importance.

2 comments:

flipper said...

Since it's your anniversary, I suggest you spend most of your time in your hotel room.

:)

Anonymous said...

Dr. Actually said...

Hi Burb:
I promised some ideas since SF is one of our favorite cities and we've been there several times. Here are some things to think about doing:

Eat in China Town, and just enjoy wondering in and out of the shops there

As everyone does, visit Fisherman's Wharf. Be sure to see the sealions who have taken over one of the piers there.

Take a cruise in SF Bay (ideally on a catamaran or other sailing vessel)

Visit Alcatraz

Drive up to Coit Tower on Telegraph Hill--it is near Fisherman's wharf and has a wonderful view of the city and bay.

Eat lots of seafood.

Take in a symhony at Symphony Hall downtown

Visit Haight-Ashbury. It is much gentrified and a letdown from its 1960s heyday, but there is still a bit of the old character there.

Of course, go see and cross the Golden Gate Bridge, but then head further north up Hwy 1 along the coast about an hour to Point Reyes National Seashore, a small national park. It's stunning once you get down to the shoreline. Here's the link to the park website: http://www.nps.gov/pore/home.htm

Visit Golden Gate Park (not to be confused with the Bridge). The park is on the west of the city, and is a nice place to hike, and has a very nice arboretum.

Drive out to Point Lobos or Lincoln park on the west coast of the city and enjoy the view and the beach.

Drive across one of the Bay bridges for the view and then visit Berkeley. Eat at one of the funky restaurants near campus.

Go south out of the city along Highway 1 (the coastal highway) down to Half Moon Bay, or further to Santa Cruz (about an hour south), or even down to Monterey (about 2 hours south of San Francisco) if you have time. You can go whale watching from Monterey, and visit a spectacular aquarium there.

To see another aspect of California geography, go south from the city to Big Basin State Park. (maybe a 90 minute drive, down Hwy 9, then turn onto Hwy 236) You will drive up into the hills a ways, but it gets you into Redwood country. You won't see any of the immensely huge redwoods, but you will see some very very big ones. There are some nice hiking trails and the geogrpahy is utterly different from anything in the bay area.
(You could combine visiting Big Basin with visiting Santa Cruz and/or Monterey, since they are all in the same direction).

Have fun. Its a wonderful part of the country to visit.