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OK, So I've Made Reservations for San Francisco
CarsonCityGold
Posts: 1,856 ✭
I've made reservations for the San Francisco Money Show at the end of July. My wife has been really wanting to go to SF, so I said "Why don't we go to SF next month." and she went for it. I'm excited. Long way from home for this native Texan. Any thoughts, sugestions, warnings, etc?? Thanks, CCG
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My #1 Low Ball Peace Dollar Set
CG
NoEbayAuctionsForNow
Your wife will like shopping at Fisherman's Wharf, Union Square, and Embarcadero. That will keep her distracted for several days while you attend the show. Go to Grace Catherdral to pray for nice coins.
Don't sweat the weather; it won't rain again until September. For a great breakfast at a hole in the wall, try Dottie's at O'Farrell & Jones. Cable cars are $3/ride or $9 all day; great way to get around. If you get a car it will cost $30-40 a day to park it. Check with your hotel.
Joe
Not to mention great wines throughout the area. Get off the beaten path to taste the better ones.
CG
The Lincoln cent store:
http://www.lincolncent.com
My numismatic art work:
http://www.cdaughtrey.com
USAF veteran, 1986-1996 :: support our troops - the American way.
My #1 Low Ball Peace Dollar Set
The people were friendly and we always felt safe wherever we went, even at night. Lots of people were walking around at 10:00pm, something I would not recommend in Phila.
I compared prices for rental cars and Alamo was the cheapest. Apparently, everyone else did, too. I waited 45 minutes for a car with about 30 other people. National & Hertz were much quicker, although a little higher.
Joe
Make sure everyone's wives/girlfriends also spend some time @ Union Square. It really has the best shopping in the entire city and again is only a couple of blocks from the convention.
If you can avoid a car, do so. Many of the hotels charge $20+ per night for parking even for hotel guests. SF has great mass transit and its a great town to walk. I've walked from Fisherman's Wharf to Union Square before uphill!!! You'll get your exercise!
Oh yeah, I'll be there Friday and Saturday!!!! Look for me @ the TBT/Herndon Table!
TPN
If you go to wine country, make lunch reservations. Try Tre Vigne in St. Helena. If its not too hot get a table outside on the patio.
Best winery tour is Robert Mondavi. Domaine Chandon next door is very nice and has an excellent restaurant. Its always nice to indulge in a bottle of Chandon Brut or Blanc de Noir on the patio there. If you are there on a day other than Sunday and want to sample some primo Cab stop at Silver Oak just south of Opus One (turn at Oakville Cross).
The best and most expensive restaurant in the wine country is the French Laundry in Yountville. Lunch for two with a modest bottle of wine will run you more than $250 and dinner is more expensive. Reservations are essential and very hard to get (probably too late already).
Have fun.
CG
edite for some typos
Fisherman's warf is great for food and just for looking around.
If you have wheels go across the Golden Gate or take the Fairy (boat not person) to Sausalito. It's a quaint bayside town on the Marin side with a nice atmosphere.
ChinaTown is great if you like shopping and Chinees foods.
Northbeach is the "Little Italy" section - great food.
There's tons of shopping all over the place.
And enjoy looking at the weird people - there'll be a lot of them.
Fort Point: A restored civil war fort responsible for defending the golden gate from the attack that never came. Can be windy and cold, but very interesting. Lots of cannons and other artifacts, and hidden ammunition bunkers in the surrounding hills you can explore. Located directly under the San Francisco side of the Golden Gate Bridge. While you're there, you can walk across the bridge if you want.
<< <i>Avoid the Catro District and Polk Street. >>
Nonsense. Both places are perfectly safe. But I don't see why you would go to the Castro unless you're gay and want to party or its Halloween.
<< <i>Fisherman's warf is great for food and just for looking around >>
Tourist trap
<< <i> or take the Fairy >>
That would be the FERRY. The fairies are on Castro Street where you have already told him not to go.
<< <i>ChinaTown is great if you like shopping and Chinees foods >>
The most interesting shops in China Town are the food markets on Stockton Street and the Chineese herbal medicine shops on Stockton and some of the side streets. The herbal medicine shops sell such things as dried sea horse, bear gall bladder and deer antler, and of course ginseng. Grant Street--the main street in China Town is more touristy shops.
CG
<< <i>Alcatraz Island: Buy tickets in advance because they sell out. You pick up the boat from Fisherman's Wharf. Very interesting and covers the ruins as both a civil war era fort and federal prison for some of the worst criminals in history. There is also a night tour but I don't know much about it.
Fort Point: A restored civil war fort responsible for defending the golden gate from the attack that never came. Can be windy and cold, but very interesting. Lots of cannons and other artifacts, and hidden ammunition bunkers in the surrounding hills you can explore. Located directly under the San Francisco side of the Golden Gate Bridge. While you're there, you can walk across the bridge if you want. >>
The ANA is having a "Alcatraz at Night" tour on Friday July 29th starting at 6:15pm to 10:30pm for $33. $38 if purchased after July 11th.
CG
Enjoy your visit, SF is a beautifulcity.
Apropos of the coin posse/aka caca: "The longer he spoke of his honor, the tighter I held to my purse."
<< <i>Avoid the Catro District and Polk Street.
SPEND AS MUCH TIME AS POSSIBLE IN THE CASTRO (FORGET POLK, ITS MUCH TO SEEDY)
Fisherman's warf is great for food and just for looking around.
If you have wheels go across the Golden Gate or take the Fairy (boat not person) to Sausalito. It's a quaint bayside town on the Marin side with a nice atmosphere.
iF YOU TAKE A FAIRY ACROSS THE BAY HE WILL OVERCHARGE YOU. TAKE THE FERRY INSTEAD
And enjoy looking at the weird people - there'll be a lot of them. >>
AND YOU'LL FIT RIGHT IN
<< <i>Lots of good ideas here...might also walk across the golden gate bridge and visit the Coit trower. Both offer great views of the area. Might also go to Hawk Hill which is on the north side of the GG bridge. It offers that much photographed view of San Francisco thru or over the top of the GG bridge. A mandatory stop is the old mint. I had the pleasure of touring it a year before ot closed a few years back.
Enjoy your visit, SF is a beautifulcity. >>
Speaking of the Old Mint, the ANA is having 2 tours of that also. The first one is Wed July 27th from 9:40 to 11:30 and again on Friday July 29th at the same time. The costs is $9 before July 11 or $10 after that date.
My #1 Low Ball Peace Dollar Set
For some people who are not used to city habits or San Francisco Just a couple of hints. 1. do not refer to it as FRISCO. Your doorman will let the door close on your ankle, the cabbie will give you the lost routine shuffle. 2. If you go out in the evening and there are a lot of places and things to do---buy the first round of drinks. A drink that costs $6 at 7pm is $11 at 9:30. You will look like a good sport for being fast with the wallet and nobody will be the wiser.
San Francisco is made for tourists and fleeces them well. IMHO avoid the wharf or just get a crab, some sourdough and a bottle of fume blanc and chow down. We used to have more fun at the doggie diner on Van Ness when I was in college than I ever had afterwards.
You do not need to rent a car in SF unless you are going to leave the city. The trolley, cable cars and cabs are everywhere. Parking is a nightmare.
Dress in layers. As Mark Twain may have said..."the coldest winter I ever saw was a summer in San Francisco." You will not believe how 55F can chill you to the bone.
IMHO a trip to 'wine country, is overrated and boring. 'Wine country' is on the shelf.
Go to Sausalito instead, 5 miles north of the bridge. Maybe take a half day fishing trip.
You all have a good time.
I grew up in the Bay Area and lived in Los Gatos for 40 years and found that after I turned 25 ---I found the city to be a royal pain in the rear end and never went there more than once a year at the most.
I'd like to add one thing.
When you are visiting SF and are at a CABLE CAR turnaround--like 5th and Market---keep your wallet in your inside zippered breast pocket.
If you are from out of town and standing around watching the cable cars--pick pockets can scope you out very quickly and are very slick. I hate to be negative but that location is where tourists get picked clean.
Your coworker has 8 body piercings and none are visible.
You make over $500,000 and still can't afford a house.
You take a bus and are shocked at 2 people carrying on a conversation in English.
Your child's 3rd grade teacher has purple hair, a nose ring, and is named Breeze.
You can't remember...is pot illegal?
You've been to more than one baby shower that has two mothers and a sperm donor.
You have a very strong opinion about where your coffee beans are grown and can taste the difference between Sumatran and Ethiopian.
A really great parking space can move you to tears.
Gas cost 75 cents per gallon more than anywhere else in the U.S.
A man gets on the bus in full leather regalia and crotchless chaps. You don't even notice.
A woman gets on the bus with live poultry. You don't even notice.
Unlike back home, the guy at 8:30 am at Starbucks wearing the baseball cap and sunglasses who looks like Robin Williams is Robin Williams.
Your car insurance costs as much as your house payment.
The gym is packed at 3 P.M... On a work day.
Your hairdresser is straight, your plumber is gay, the woman who delivers your mail is into BDSM, and your Mary Kay rep is a guy in drag.
It's sprinkling and there's a report on every news station about "Storm Watch 2005".
The three-hour traffic jam you just sat through wasn't caused by a horrific nine-car freeway pileup, but by everyone slowing to rubberneck at a lost shoe lying on the shoulder.
The weatherman talks about the weather in other parts of the country, as if we really care.
You pass an elementary school and the children are all busy with their cell phones or pagers.
It's sprinkling outside, so you leave for work an hour or two early to avoid all the weather-related accidents.
You and your dog have therapists.
There are a LOT of things to do...just depends on how much time you have and what your interests are.
Hell, I don't need to exercise.....I get enough just pushing my luck.
Whattaplace!
Tiger trout, Deerfield River, c. 2001.
My old standby was to take people on the cable car to the Buena Vista for a world class cup of Irish Coffee, then take them for a walk along Fisherman's wharf to shop and get some dinner. From there it was straight to the Cadillac Bar to see what SF Giant players are there getting drunk.
One thing I remember about SF was that you could eat at a different restaurant every night of the year and still not get to them all!
I used to live in the "avenues" about a block away from the Buffalo's in Golden Gate Park.
Larry
Dabigkahuna
PS Everything Flaminio said is true!!!
If you’re going to San Francisco
Be sure to wear some flowers in your hair
If you’re going to San Francisco
You’re gonna meet some gentle people there
For those who come to San Francisco
Summertime will be a love-in there
In the streets of San Francisco
Gentle people with flowers in their hair
All across the nation,
such a strange vibration
People in motion
There’s a whole generation,
with a new explanation
People in motion, people in motion
For those who come to San Francisco
Be sure to wear some flowers in your hair
If you come to San Francisco
Summertime will be a love-in there
If you come to San Francisco
Summertime will be a love-in there