quote:

Originally posted by Scuba Steve Sig:

How is Pinnacles NP? It’s only 2 hours south of San Francisco.

It’s been about 35 years since a Boy Scout trip. I remember Pinnacles being alright. Not close to Yosemite. I’d rather hit Muir Woods.

Pinnacles in June will be HOT. It’s a lot of steep trails to see the neat stuff (caves)

quote:

Originally posted by Scuba Steve Sig:
Right now I am thinking about getting an AirBNB around Outer Richmond area that has off street parking and there is a fair chance we won't even go into downtown SF.

Good gravy! Are you trying to get shot?

If you're going the AirBNB route outside of SF and want to take BART into town, may I just east of Oakland into Walnut Creek, Concord, etc.

Parking in Yosemite Valley can get a biatch, but just get an early start and get to the ranger station by 7 or 8am. Then you're GTG.

quote:

Originally posted by Russ59:

quote:

Originally posted by Scuba Steve Sig:
Right now I am thinking about getting an AirBNB around Outer Richmond area that has off street parking and there is a fair chance we won't even go into downtown SF.

Good gravy! Are you trying to get shot?

I'm talking the Outer Richmond neighborhood of SF, not Richmond, CA.

I might just pickup a tent at Target and spend a night in the Tenderloin to get away from the wife and kids though.

The Steinhart Aquarium at the Academy of sciences in Golden Gate Park is really cool. Your kids will love it. There’s a parking garage under the building that is easy and secure.

https://www.calacademy.org/exh...s/steinhart-aquarium

The State Railroad Museum in Sacramento is great too.

quote:

I'm talking the Outer Richmond neighborhood of SF, not Richmond, CA.

I might just pickup a tent at Target and spend a night in the Tenderloin to get away from the wife and kids though.

Make sure your quadruple boosted on tetanus and hep A etc…

quote:

Originally posted by HRK:
…head over to the Buena Vista for a real Irish Coffee, …

Thanks for bringing back some great memories! It’s gotta be pushing 40 years, but those were good times. Irish coffee (or two) at the Buena Vista, then head over to the now defunct Magic Pan in Ghirardelli Square.

I visited San Francisco 19 years ago and the most memorable parts were visits to Muir Woods, Alcatraz, and Carmel.

https://www.nps.gov/muwo/index.htm

quote:

Originally posted by Scuba Steve Sig:

quote:

Originally posted by Russ59:

quote:

Originally posted by Scuba Steve Sig:
Right now I am thinking about getting an AirBNB around Outer Richmond area that has off street parking and there is a fair chance we won't even go into downtown SF.

Good gravy! Are you trying to get shot?

I'm talking the Outer Richmond neighborhood of SF, not Richmond, CA.

I might just pickup a tent at Target and spend a night in the Tenderloin to get away from the wife and kids though.

You had me going, too, when I saw Richmond. I've only known that as the Richmond District. If you want good Chinese food, you don't have to go all the way to Chinatown. On the other side of the Golden Gate park is the Sunset District. Along Noriega St between Sunset Blvd and 19th Ave are several Chinese restaurants. I liked S&T Hong Kong Seafood myself on the corner of 33rd Ave.

If you go to where the old Cliff House was, you can walk down to the ruins of the old Sutro baths. You can come up close to where the waves are breaking and to the right there's a short tunnel underneath you can see the waves spray underneath real close.

And, as I said, you're in the 49 mile drive anyway and at least you can follow it through the Presidio and down underneath the Golden Gate Bridge. I think they call it Fort Point. It was an army base guarding the mouth of San Francisco Bay. You can visit the fort or park along in front of the sea wall, watching the waves break high with the Golden Gate bridge right in front of you.

I’ve only been once, and it was a long time ago. I enjoyed Sausalito and Marin County (Mount Tamalpais). Asking residents and former residents for Scuba Steve, is that still a cool place to go?

I grew up in Northern California and returned there to spend most of my life either in Sonoma County, Sacramento area, or the Peninsula south of San Francisco.
We used to take our kids to the Exploratorium a lot, also to the California Academy of Sciences and Aquarium in Golden Gate Park.
I have no recent experience in the city of San Francisco. From what I hear, I would not recommend going there--it sounds like whole city blocks in central SF have boarded up stores. Maybe an exaggeration, I don't know.

For us the prime attraction of California is its diversity of natural "wonders". That includes not only Yosemite--and I agree several days are needed, not one; but also the Pacific coast. Of places within driving distance, Monterey (the aquarium is fabulous), and especially Point Lobos State Natural Reserve near Carmel are really worthwhile, and unlike anything one can find on the east coast. One can do easy hikes around Point Lobos, expect to see sea otters and other interesting coastal wildlife.

Perhaps the most unique natural environment in California are the coastal redwoods. They can be experienced in Muir Woods; in Big Basin Redwoods State Park down near Santa Cruz; or in Sonoma County at Armstrong Grove outside Guerneville (but if not seeing wine country you probably wouldn't be going near there).

I strongly recommend light, rain resistant jackets and hats for all. It gets cold and wet almost daily in the City. And Sac is hot and miserable in June. Never cared for it. If you drive north, avoid stopping in Stockton at all costs. Even in '93 is was a very bad place to be. Don't know if it's still true, but meth makers used to produce on the turkey farms outside of Stockton, the turkeys covered the smell of manufacturing. I lived in the area for 9 years. If it tells you anything, I haven't been back since 95.

Regarding Pinnacles NP… it IS interesting and nice place for hiking… but pales in comparison to Yosemite in terms of grandeur. I’d choose time on the coast and Yosemite over Pinnacles.

We got back from a successful trip to San Francisco this weekend. We didn't exactly pack right for pretty much staying in San Francisco the whole time and only brought 1 or 2 pairs of pants each, but the AirBNB had laundry. We did:

Marin Headlands and the Nike launch site there
Church at Star of the Sea
Golden Gate park
Getting sea shells on the beach
Red Oak Victory Ship
Rosie the Riveter National Historic Site
Lombard Street (no traffic on a weekday morning, we drove down and then walked it)
Ate at a Mexican Restaurant in Chinatown...
USS Hornet
John Muir National Historic Site (the kids were there at closing and the Ranger let them help lower the flag after getting their Junior Ranger Badges)
Alcatraz
Some popular street steps
Lands End
Sutro baths ruins
Muir Woods - found a banana slug there
Chinese near the AirBNB in Richmond District
Painted Ladies
Randall Museum
Fort Point
The Presidio
Exploratorium
Pier 39
San Francisco Maritime Museum
Ghirardelli Square
In-N-Out Burger for the first time in 5 years (ehh...Whataburger is better)
Super Duper Burger - better than Whataburger
Computer History Museum and some sights in Mountain View killing time before out flight out of SFO

I wanted to get in Point Reyes and either the lighthouse there or at Bonita but ran out of time, SS Jeremiah O'Brien (wife will only take so many ships) / USS Pampanito (pricey for a sub), and ride a cable car and street car (but we saw them). The kids earned 9 Junior Ranger badges and had a great time. We were managed to escape being victims of crimes, walked through downtown several times without incident, and for what its worth, I generally felt safer than my time living in St. Louis. HOWEVER, we were not out at night. I did watch two transvestites go into the bathroom at the Maritime Museum after my wife and daughters but nothing occurred of that. Saw some homeless people camping/sleeping, maybe a dozen, largest concentration under the overpasses across the bay from Alameda. Saw some a couple crazy people walking around near Pier 39. Oh yeah, the line of dozens of broken down 70-90s campers in an RV encampment along 19th Ave on the way south out of San Francisco was a site to behold.

We didn't try for Pinnacles or Yosemite. The 55-65 degree weather in June was glorious. When we were inland at John Muir NHS it was 90 friggin' degrees and the kids were complaining about wearing pants.

I think we hit enough to probably never go back and everything will be fine.

Wow, you must run a pretty tight ship. You did a lot in just one week.

Interested in hearing your thoughts - what was worth visiting? What would you have skipped? Learnings for the next time someone is looking for recommendations.

quote:

Originally posted by konata88:
Wow, you must run a pretty tight ship. You did a lot in just one week.

Interested in hearing your thoughts - what was worth visiting? What would you have skipped? Learnings for the next time someone is looking for recommendations.

We got in at 7:30 am on a Saturday and were at the airport at 4pm the following Saturday, so it was a big "week." When you got a 12, 10, and 6yr old, there is no relaxing vacations, we run them hard to burn them out. We were hitting 12,000 steps a day for me, 20,000+ for our 6yr old, and that's with having a rental minivan.

I think everyone liked everything we did with the exception of the Computer History Museum, nobody but me gave a crap about Silicon Valley. I wanted to do Point Reyes Saturday morning, but was nervous about something going wrong and not being able to make it to the airport in time so we killed time closer to SFO. That whole trip to Mountain View didn't need to happen otherwise.

I'm glad we went, the cool weather was great in June, we returned to humid mid-90s in Iowa. We don't do places like Disney World/Land, I hate standing in lines.

We more or less did something in the morning and then something in the afternoon and ate in the AirBNB for breakfast and either lunch or dinner and ate a meal out each day. San Francisco sucks the money out of your wallet though.

One interesting thing, the whole time we were there I think I saw TWO Suburbans. I see dozens a day in Iowa. Obviously gas prices and parking play into that. Our rental was a Chrysler Pacifica Hybrid from Enterprise with only 6,000 miles on it. It was the perfect machine for our mission and got 28mpg on $5+/gallon gas.

Spotting Waymo cars were a thing of excitement for the kids.

quote:

Ate at a Mexican Restaurant in Chinatown...
Alcatraz
Chinese near the AirBNB in Richmond District

I've done most of the things you have listed, but it took me more than a week...I lived in the Richmond district (33rd/Geary)from the mid-60s to the mid-70s. I do miss all the things to do there, but i especially miss the weather

The above stood out.

1. In all the years I lived there, I never made the trip out to Alcatraz

2. I spent a lot of time in Chinatown and can't imagine a Mexican restaurant down there...but it has been 50 years

3. When I left The City, all the good Chinese eateries were moving out to the Richmond on Clement Street and the area was commonly referred to, by the locals, as New Chinatown

quote:

In all the years I lived there, I never made the trip out to Alcatraz

I've lived in the Bay Area for 65 years. Never been to The Rock.

Our AirBNB was in the 700 block of 41st in the Richmond District. Very quiet neighborhood of "flats."

Alcatraz and the USS Hornet were my favorite. It was a slow weekday on the Hornet, our son asked a docent a question about the AA gun deck and we got a free side tour of the ammunition handling room and then he showed us the Fresnel optical landing system, it still operates on the Hornet. Really cool seeing that in person.

I forgot the name of the Mexican restaurant, it was after getting back from Alcatraz, after being accosted by all the street venders slinging hot dogs. Mrs. Scuba showed me the nearest Mexican restaurant on Google Maps, which was right at the edge of Chinatown. I showed her it was on the OTHER SIDE of Coit Tower, she didn't understand the issue. So we walked up hill and down both ways...and of course there was no fog and of course the winds from the Pacific weren't blowing as strong and some of the "heat dome" was coming in and it was sunny and it was pushing some 75 degrees in our pants and we hiked our way there, hearing about it from our kids the whole way how its June and they should be wearing shorts. Yes, San Francisco has public transportation, but it was only a mile or so each way, just a hot, hungry, hilly mile after just getting out of prison.

It was decent Mexican...but they had steak instead of ground beef and none of the kids liked that...so they ate the rice and beans...so that was money well spent.

The Mexican restaurant lunch was a low point in the trip...

The Richmond District Chinese restaurant "didn't taste the same" as the crappy Iowa Chinese restaurant we usually go to (it was FAR better), so they didn't eat that as much either. The winners at mealtime: Uncrustables and the kids found a new love for Tony's Pizza.

quote:

Originally posted by kkina:

quote:

In all the years I lived there, I never made the trip out to Alcatraz

I've lived in the Bay Area for 65 years. Never been to The Rock.

I lived in the St. Louis area 23 years before going up the Gateway Arch.

The Park Ranger on the microphone as you get off the boat at Alcatraz cracked me up, the spectacle reminded me of Lord Humongous in Road Warrior. Our kids turned their Junior Ranger badge book in to him right as another boat was arriving and he told them to hold on a minute and then announced to the 150 or so people they "they were in for a really big treat" and swore them in over the speaker in front of the newly arrived boat passengers and the people waiting to leave on the boat. Everyone clapped afterwards.