Many thanks to those of you who helped me with my San Francisco trip!

[blonndee]

DUers really came through for me when I asked for advice about my trip, and I only wish I would have had time to do everything you guys suggested!

(This post will be extremely boring for anyone who doesn't live in or near San Francisco, probably, or who isn't planning a trip there, so please feel free to skip it!)

We ended up staying just BARELY out of the Tenderloin district, ha ha. We did get a little worried about where we were staying as we traveled to the city in the airport shuttle, since we came in from the south side of town. :scared: But we stayed in a nice old hotel. The rooms were small but charming and very convenient. We were just south of Union Square on Geary Street, almost right across from Lefty O'Doul's, which, may I just say, I would camp in were I a resident of SF. Neat little dive, with cheap food and beer and no obvious tourists except for ourselves.

I bought some art from a guy hawking his work on Union Square. Very neat--I can't wait to frame it and hang it.

I got the worst sunburn I've had in about 20 years the very first day I was there. FUN. But the day itself was fun. We went to Alcatraz (night tour was booked), walked around Pier 39, and visited an old submarine. Very interesting, but I did get a little claustrophobic and seasick. Were people back then, like, teeny-tiny? Wow. It really made me respect what those people do/did. Oh, and the sea lions at Pier 39 were probably one of my favorite parts of the trip. They were hilarious! It was great because we got there really early and so hardly anyone else was around. We watched them for a good hour and were reluctant to leave for our Alcatraz trip. To experience that on our first full day there really helped set a good tone for the day. We even went back to see them again a few days later. I bought a little pewter seal from the Marine Mammals store as a little forget-me-not, even though I'm not much on trinkets. I just loved them. They made my day.

My brother and parents were surprised at how "urban" SF was :) and didn't quite know how to deal with panhandlers, though they were nice and developed their own system of coping.

We did the 3-hour bus tour around the city when we couldn't decide where all to go. Even though it was a "tourist" thing, it was a great overview of the city and its high points and a good experience. I was surprised at how small the Golden Gate Bridge was. I still thought it was beautiful, although I think the Bay Bridge is highly underrated by comparison.

We went to Golden Gate Park and visited the Conservatory of Flowers (peaceful and beautiful, a bargain at $5) and the DeYoung. The Academy of Sciences was under renovation, so we didn't get to see that. The park was gorgeous, though.

We only spent about an hour in Chinatown, which was just about enough. If I had had the money to be looking for jewelry, I could have spent much more time there, but by that time I was about out of extra money (I had to buy sneakers on the trip).

The weather! OMG. I loved it, except that it was actually really hot a couple of days in the city. The rest of the time, my family complained that it was too cold and windy, but I liked it. You guys were right when you said the weather would vary within the city and during the day!

What else...the bus system. We struggled because we don't know the area, so we ended up doing a lot of unnecessary walking. But I was impressed with the bus system overall! If I knew the routes, it would be a GREAT way of getting around, and cheap.

The food was good, overall! I have to say I was very disappointed in the seafood, though. I guess we didn't go to the right places. I didn't eat any fish that I liked. :-( And I like fish.

We spent three days driving around CA after that. We drove south along 1, and I have never seen anything more beautiful in my life than that coastline. We were literally pulling over every 5-10 minutes to look at a new view. We visited Monterey and the aquarium, and the little towns along the way. We spent a day at Yosemite (jaw-droppingly gorgeous) and a sequoia grove.

Anyway, my ideas about what California is have been dramatically reformed and expanded and I want to praise and congratulate you Californians on your beautiful state.

One more thing: The people we encountered along the way were by far the friendliest, most genuine, and most helpful people I have ever met.

[fishwax]

1. that sounds wonderful

Sounds like you had a great trip! (I figured you would :))

:hi:

[blonndee]

7. It was fantastic!

And I was happy to get your feedback. We were going to go to that civil war point of interest you suggested (Fort Point) but hunger won out and we couldn't find anyplace nearby there to eat.

Still, it was a really great trip. For four adult family members to completely dig more than a week of days together, it's got to be good. Seriously, every day was good, even the one day when we had to end in a shitty place. There was only one hotel/motel in which I refused to take a shower. That's when you know it's bad. Heh. :) Thankfully, the next day we did Yosemite, so showers didn't really matter.

[Coexist]

2. Hey! I just got back from there!

Sounds like we did a lot of the same stuff. We did spend a day in Wine country though.

[blonndee]

4. Did you go up north?

We went to Lodi instead and visited the Woodbridge/Mondavi facility. It was interesting, although Woodbridge isn't my favorite brand. It was still neat to see how they make their wine. We wanted to do either a Napa or Sonoma visit, but couldn't work out the schedule. How was yours?

[Coexist]

5. We had our three kids, so they steered us to a "family friendly" winery, and boy am I glad they did.

It ended up being a really nice surprise. We visited Benziger and WOW! We had a great time, they had peacocks, and a playground and a picnic area, and a tractor tour. They are organic and biodynamic which I didn't know, and I learned a lot about sustainable farming. What a cool bonus for me!

They even had insectaries. We toured their homemade "cave" which use mother nature instead of electricity to age the wines in. The wines were good, the winery laid back, and my teens and 8yo actually enjoyed a trip they were dreading.

http://www.benziger.com/

[blonndee]

6. That sounds really interesting.

I would have loved to have learned about their sustainable farming, and really would have liked my family to hear about that. One thing that bothered me a bit about the Woodbridge facility is that it did seem rather corporate and exploitative--there was very little discussion about the land and nothing about sustainability. Of course, the tour was only an hour, and I was very pleased to hear about how much they harvest locally, but we didn't see anything close to "insectaries." I never even heard of such a thing!

LOL at how your teenagers and younger kid had a good time. I'm 33 and I was actually kind of dreading the tour myself (it was my mom's "thing" to tour a winery) but ended up having a better time than I expected, too! :)

I'm glad you guys had a good time. I really fell in love with California. Before, I always thought of California as "LA," of which I have a really negative impression (sorry, but I do). But now I know better!

[pink-o]

3. The most amazing thing...

..is you found helpful SF natives!!!

I've found that when I travel to the east coast--especially Boston and New York City--natives are incredibly friendly and helpful as compared to us.

Maybe the actual, real summer weather last weekend brought out the best in us!!

Fog's back now. Socked in all day today.