Spending A Week In San Fran, CA and Looking For Suggestions

[redbirdjazzz]

I'll second the suggestion for wandering around the Berkley campus, including going to the top of the Sather tower for the view of the campus and the bay.

There's also some really gorgeous hiking up at Mt. Tamalpais.

[heyzeus]

Chez Panisse because it's Chez Panisse. That place means a ton to modern American cooking. And my sister, a 25 year San Franciscan has never been.

So is CP still a great restaurant? I have a ton of respect for Alice Waters and longevity and consistency and great food is really more important than flavor of the month to me. But I do want to take my wife to a great restaurant.

Going to see if SBP works as well. Don't want to spend hours waiting in line.

If you go when it opens you will either be seated right away tome they'll call you when it's ready in an hour. I probably waited in line a total of 15 min.

[33anda3rd]

You're going to have a beer in SF. Maybe more. If you have only one, it should be from Russian River. If you're going to have only two, it should probably also be from Russian River. If you have 12 and they're all Russian River, you're still not doing it wrong.

If you can find Pliny the Elder from RR (sells for big bucks online to people who can't get RR beer in their area, which is basically all the US except Cali, Portland and Phiadelphia of all places) you do not want to miss drinking this beer, esp. if you like a hoppy ale.

Pliny The Younger comes once a year, only in the brewpub and to a very very very few select bars, and only in kegs. That once a year is in a month, Feb 7--it's always the first Friday of February. It might be ( along w/ Three Floyd's Dark Lord ) the most sought-after, cultish beer in America. They have a lot of brewpub-only releases too, tasting flights, the whole nine. The brewery is an hour north of SF, with some fun stuff around, maybe worth adding to your day-trip maybes.

[lukethedrifter]

so, I'm doing my homework, rereading your hotel booking advice, checking vrbo, etc

just how reasonably priced can i get a (somewhat interesting) hotel room in SF in early April?

edited to add: looks like the jdv places aren't unreasonable

[doe_boy]

When in the City, be sure to check out this great power-pop trio!*

http://www.sfbg.com/noise/2014/01/28/lo ... fessionals

*(shameless plug for band featuring my brother and his wife)

[Freed Roger]

We are in prelim stages of planning trip to Sonoma for a friend's wedding followed by vacation. after Memorial day.
We will probably have a week for the vacation part of it. Still working out the $ airline and time constraints. So not looking yet for specific advice yet.

So much to see/do in that span - and we know we won't even scratch the surface - or we'd wear ourselves out trying.
But I'm thinking since we probably won't get out there again soon -we HAVE to spend some time in Yosemite. I realize it's 3-4 hours from Sonoma.

[AWvsCBsteeeerike3]

So, the Mrs is going to a conference there next weekend and I'm heading with her. We get in Friday afternoon about 1 and we leave Sunday morning at 12:30 AM (like just after midnight). I'll be by myself Friday afternoon until about 9 PM and then Saturday from the morning until 4 PM.

I need to re-read this thread and get a better idea of where everything is. But, we won't have a car. So, I think my itinerary is going to look something like this.

Friday afternoon: stay in the City. Explore. Pack a bookbag and wander around. Would like to eat some sushi, chinese, and anything else that is a must. If there are city parks that are relatively close and have good people watching/views, that'd be pretty sweet. Probably won't drink much Friday afternoon, but wouldn't mind hitting up a brewery or little pub and people watching for a couple hours while drinking a good beer or two during happy hour somewhere hopefully the one 33 mentioned. Get some food and head back to meet up with Mrs. AW after her dinner. Probably head out to do something, but I don't knwo what.

Saturday morning. Get up, pack a bag, hit up the breakfast place sigh mentioned, and head to the GG bridge. Walk across it, and hoepfully find a way to get down to the beach. Hang out for a while, head back, get some chinese, walk around and meet upw ith Mrs. AW. Find something to do Saturday night until about 10 adn then head to the airport. Okay. Good game plan.

[heyzeus]

So, the Mrs is going to a conference there next weekend and I'm heading with her. We get in Friday afternoon about 1 and we leave Sunday morning at 12:30 AM (like just after midnight). I'll be by myself Friday afternoon until about 9 PM and then Saturday from the morning until 4 PM.

I need to re-read this thread and get a better idea of where everything is. But, we won't have a car. So, I think my itinerary is going to look something like this.

Friday afternoon: stay in the City. Explore. Pack a bookbag and wander around. Would like to eat some sushi, chinese, and anything else that is a must. If there are city parks that are relatively close and have good people watching/views, that'd be pretty sweet. Probably won't drink much Friday afternoon, but wouldn't mind hitting up a brewery or little pub and people watching for a couple hours while drinking a good beer or two during happy hour somewhere hopefully the one 33 mentioned. Get some food and head back to meet up with Mrs. AW after her dinner. Probably head out to do something, but I don't knwo what.

Saturday morning. Get up, pack a bag, hit up the breakfast place sigh mentioned, and head to the GG bridge. Walk across it, and hoepfully find a way to get down to the beach. Hang out for a while, head back, get some chinese, walk around and meet upw ith Mrs. AW. Find something to do Saturday night until about 10 adn then head to the airport. Okay. Good game plan.

If you rent a bike from one of the places along the bay (like at the Ferry Building, or maybe Fisherman's wharf) it's a beautiful ride across the waterfront (stop at the Warming Hut for desserts) all the way up and across Golden Gate. Then if you keep going another mile or two to Sausalito, it's a cutesy little town, and you can take a ferry back across directly to where you got your bike in SF.

[go birds]

i biked across the golden gate bridge and into sausalito and then made the silly decision to bike back across the golden gate (half drunk). i immediately regretted my decison about half-way up the hill to the bridge

[AWvsCBsteeeerike3]

Bahaha, thanks for the advice zeus (and GB!)