san francisco trip ideas

[colin]

Hi all, and thanks for reading.

I'll be going to San Francisco next month during the Thanksgiving holiday with some friends. We fly in on Thursday and leave on Tuesday.

We will be staying Downtown, as close to the BART as possible, and will only have a car on one day.

We'll do the touristy city stuff, and they want to see Alcatraz. The day we have the car, I was thinking a drive up to the wine country (Napa or Sonoma...suggestions?) and I'd also like to go to Half Moon Bay and see the ocean.

I'll also have one day to myself that I'd like to use to take the train somewhere out of the way, but cool nonetheless. Maybe Stanford?

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

[ZachariahDaMan]

I don't know much of anything about San Francisco but I would love to see Alcatraz. Are you going to be taking pictures while you are there? Because I would love to see them.

[colin]

I don't know much of anything about San Francisco but I would love to see Alcatraz. Are you going to be taking pictures while you are there? Because I would love to see them.

But of course.

Alcatraz is a little touristy for me, but my friends want to go. I'm more looking forward to seeing the beaches and the Sonoma area.

No one has any other suggestions?

[Jaybee]

Whatever you do, eat at "House of Nanking" on Kearny Street near Columbus. Nevermind the line outside and the hole in the wall nature of the place... best Chinese Food you'll have.

[colin]

Thanks! I was actually looking for a good Chinese place to go to.

I spent two years in Shanghai though, so I don't know that it will be the best Chinese food that I've had, but I definitely have my hopes up now (Arizona has awful Chinese food).

Thanks again.

[nathanh6686]

If you go to Sonoma county, I would recomend maybe eating in Petaluma (30 miles north of SF). Less tourists than Sonoma and Healdsburg, and it has a great downtown with good restaurants for more affordable prices (though not cheap) but deffinitley less expensive than Bouchon or Dry Creek Kitchen. Try Central Market or Della Fattoria on Petaluma Blvd. or Graffiti on 2nd... then you can go up to Healdsburg and the Alexander Valley wine tasting.

[colin]

Thanks again for the suggestions.

We did go to House of Nanking one day. I wouldn't say that it was the most authentic Chinese food, but it was definitely very delicious. The owner came out and was like "First time here? I'll take care of you." and ordered all of our food. Very cool.

We spent a day going up to Muir Woods, Petrified Forest and Napa Valley. Muir Beach was gorgeous. Petrified Forest would have been really lame, except that one of the in-house geologists took us and a small group on a tour to an ash fall. In Napa, I went to Beringer and was really disappointed (although, I guess I knew what to expect), but then, just down the road there was V. Sattui, which I had read about. Not only was it a really cool winery, but the wine was absolutely delicious. I ended up buying a bottle and jamming into my suitcase (it was a carry-on).

Also walked around a lot, went to MoMA, ate lots of great food, rode on lots of buses.

Selected photos:

Beach near Sunset:

Downtown from Coit Tower:

Pier 39 (I hate touristy things like this, and La Jolla is much better, but my friends insisted):

Ghiradelli Square:

Muir Beach:

Trans America Tower:

Yerba Buena Gardens: