Visiting San Francisco

[ncp]

Come south (LA/SD). We'll take you out and show you a good time.

[jyasaki]

Originally Posted by clloyd

Personally I hate Fishermans Wharf, serious tourist trap. Would definitely not eat there, you can do a lot better very easily.

Well, you can do better; don't know about easily (without a lot of research.) The "lots of restaurants in close proximity" makes it easy. And there are a couple of restaurants there that my local friends go to on special occasions (though I have no idea which - seafood place upstairs on Pier 39 comes to mind, but that's about all I've got.)

Cabs are easy to find, so visit some Neighborhoods.

Would be okay,, but again, you have to know where you're trying to get to. For a visitor, a bus tour may be a better way of seeing sights (and might make a good recon for finding areas you want to check out in a more personal manner.)

Depending on length of stay, heading down the coast to Half Moon Bay (maybe 45 minutes by car) or Santa Cruz (1.5 hrs) or Monterey (2 to 2.5 hrs) would be a nice change of pace. Or go north to Point Reyes (parkland), Tomales Bay (oysters) or Bodega Bay (Hitchcock's "The Birds").

Lots of stuff to do in the area.

jky

[Aries]

Snobs...you'll be dissing Buba Gump Shrimp Co next...

[Aries]

Originally Posted by jyasaki

Well, you can do better; don't know about easily (without a lot of research.) The "lots of restaurants in close proximity" makes it easy. And there are a couple of restaurants there that my local friends go to on special occasions (though I have no idea which - seafood place upstairs on Pier 39 comes to mind, but that's about all I've got.) Would be okay,, but again, you have to know where you're trying to get to. For a visitor, a bus tour may be a better way of seeing sights (and might make a good recon for finding areas you want to check out in a more personal manner.) Depending on length of stay, heading down the coast to Half Moon Bay (maybe 45 minutes by car) or Santa Cruz (1.5 hrs) or Monterey (2 to 2.5 hrs) would be a nice change of pace. Or go north to Point Reyes (parkland), Tomales Bay (oysters) or Bodega Bay (Hitchcock's "The Birds"). Lots of stuff to do in the area. jky

Fog Bay iirc correctly is the upstairs seafood - or as above Buba Gumps ; )

[jyasaki]

Doesn't ring a bell. I do remember something about a crab bowl (Local source Dungeness in a spicy sauce with other seafood, all in a bowl.)

If requested, I could find out with a phone call.

jky

[John Kennett]

Originally Posted by Peter_C

Weather dependent, I would recommend taking one of the ferries over to Angel Island and go for a hike if the family agrees.

That looks good, thanks. I won't tell them about the hike. Once they're on the island they won't have much choice

Sounds like we'll probably head over to Sausalito too. Anywhere else worth getting a ferry to? Not planning to have a car while we're staying in SF, so ferries are good!

Originally Posted by jyasaki

Well, you can do better; don't know about easily (without a lot of research.) The "lots of restaurants in close proximity" makes it easy. And there are a couple of restaurants there that my local friends go to on special occasions (though I have no idea which - seafood place upstairs on Pier 39 comes to mind, but that's about all I've got.)

Sound like a recommendation might be useful. Even if it's only which ones to definitely avoid!

Depending on length of stay, heading down the coast to Half Moon Bay (maybe 45 minutes by car) or Santa Cruz (1.5 hrs) or Monterey (2 to 2.5 hrs) would be a nice change of pace.

We're planning a couple of days down that way after we've done SF

[jyasaki]

Originally Posted by John Kennett

Sound like a recommendation might be useful. Even if it's only which ones to definitely avoid!

Yelp.com will get you a bunch of reviews of places (there's a choice for SF Bay Area somewhere on there) as will Chowhound.com, I think. They're a little too "foodie" for my taste (which admittedly, is a little basic), but, taken with a grain of salt, tend to be pretty accurate.

Since you have a few months, you might also watch the food sections on SFGate.com (the local SF newspaper), and SFBG.com (SF Bay Guardian, a formerly underground weekly publication.) Should keep you up to date on new and trending restaurants.

I'm across the bay and don't get to SF very often so can't really give you much personal advice.

jky

[limeydal]

Bay Voyager 2013 | Join us and be part of the adventure

[limeydal]

Ahhh , just skip S.F and head straight to San Diego !
How old are the kids ?

Have friendly locals with RIBs and a couple of attractions !

Sea World
San Diego Zoo/ safari Park
LEGOLAND
Maritime museum
Carrier Midway
Mission Bay watersport Park


just to name a few !

[John Kennett]

Originally Posted by limeydal

Bay Voyager 2013 | Join us and be part of the adventure

Nice find, thanks

[Boatnomad]

Never been but sounds great.....
San Francisco - Lonely Planet

[John Kennett]

Well we had a good time, but the only boating that we managed to fit in was the Alcatraz ferry!

I can't understand why more people don't have RIBs in the Bay Area, it looks ideal. Sailing is obviously big, standing on the Golden Gate bridge on a Sunday afternoon I counted about three hundred sailing boats, but saw only a handful of RIBs during our stay. For that matter there didn't seem to be very many other powerboats either. Is it as California eco thing?

I did spot this rig one evening though. Anyone here?

[Boatnomad]

You would think with fuel being so incredible cheap they would be everywhere
Maybe there are so many rules and regulations they have put people off?
Not that it is much different over here

[jyasaki]

Originally Posted by John Kennett

I can't understand why more people don't have RIBs in the Bay Area, it looks ideal. Sailing is obviously big, standing on the Golden Gate bridge on a Sunday afternoon I counted about three hundred sailing boats, but saw only a handful of RIBs during our stay. For that matter there didn't seem to be very many other powerboats either. Is it as California eco thing?

I don't think it's an environmental thing. Probably more of a "Holy crap it's expensive to store this thing" problem. Housing here is off the charts, so a storage capable house is expensive, and many communities don't allow home storage of boats anyway due to the eyesore factor. Other storage facilities charge based on land values, so...

There are a good number of powerboats in California, but seem to be primarily used for lake fishing, open ocean fishing, or water skiing. The larger cruiser boat contingency seems happy to sit on the mooring and drink wine. Most RIB's you'll find here are used by the diving crowd, who don't generally do SF Bay.

The lack of powerboats used for recreation other than fishing and skiing sort of surprised me as well.


jky

[Bigtalljv]

Also the Sacramento river delta is only and hour or so away and there you have lots of flat warm river water. Its also 100 degrees plus air temp there so the girls are comfortable in bikinis.

[Peter_C]

Hard boats are more common here in the USA. Boston Whalers are seen ten fold to RIB's.

Most folks with boats around the Bay go fishing and usually head out into the ocean around dawn, and return fairly early before the winds come up. You may have just not seen the power boats coming and going.

The San Francisco Bay is well known for it's sailing. I grew up sailing the Bay and will say it can be challenging even for a 10m boat. Speaking of which I need to call my buddy up and go sailing...