san francisco/big sur trip report
 

My boyfriend and I just got home from an amazing vacation in California. San Francisco is such a beautiful city, and Big sur is beyond words. You just don't see things like that in Baltimore.
In San Francisco we stayed at the Golden Gate Hotel, right off of Union Sqare. We loved the room, the convenient location, and the breakfasts, fresh cinnamon croisants, where to die for. We spent three days in San Francisco and, to my surprise, got to do everything I had wanted and more. We took in all the normal sights, such as coit tower, fisherman's warf, alcatraz, chinatown, height/ashbury,lombard street, golden gate bridge and the presidio, palace of fine arts, and SFMOMA. Right around the corner from our hotel was the Starlight room in the Sir Fancis Drake Hotel, on the 21st floor. We went in and got a drink, just so we could take in the view. If you like Thai food, go to Osha Thai, on Geary st. Very good and not too expensive. We also ate at Cha Cha Cha in the Height, which had really good caribean food and a cool atmosphere. We also tried to do the Dim Sum thing and went to Yang Sing's. We didn't really know how it worked, with the waiters bringing around all these carts, and didn't realize how fast the bill racks up. Unless you have a good amount of money to spend, don't go for a meal, and go for a snack. We didn't have a car while we were in the city, and found it very easy to catch buses wherever we needed to go. We found out very quickly that the cable cars are not so much for getting around, because they are so packed, and much more for the experience. We found it very usefull to by a 3 day city pass for 10 dollars which covered all of our transportation. It payed for itself in about one day. As for everyone's gripes about staying near Union Sqare and the homeless problem, my boyfriend and I never, at any time felt threatened. We stayed off the buses late at night and stayed out of the tenderloin area. Kind of like you would do in any city. There were alot of homeless, but they didn't bother us. It seemed like alot of them were at least trying to display some type of talent, like singing or standing still like a statue, instead of just plain begging. You dont get much of that in Baltimore! Overall I loved the city and the people were very helpful with us confused tourists! Since this post is so long, Ill continiue the big sur portion in the next post.

We took Highway one straight down from Sanfrancico to Big Sur. Just when we thought that we would never see anything more beautiful, it would get even better. It was really cool for me to see all the surfers riding the waves, since you dont see that at all on the east coast. We stopped in Monterey and went to the aquarium, which had a really cool jellyfish exibit, and we stopped in Carmel to look around the Mission. As for big sur, there are no words to describe how beatiful it is. We stayed at the Big Sur Lodge for three nights, which had really big and really clean rooms. And when you get a room there, you also get free admission to all of the state parks in the area. We went to Julia Pfieffer burns, Lobos Point, and Andrew Molera. Our hotel was inside of Pfiffer big sur state park. While we were there we ate at Nepenthe's, big sur river inn, and at the big sur lodge restaurant. They were all very good...and also very expensive!We ate breakfast at Ripplewood, which was the most affordable meal we had, and also very good. In Big sur we actually paid $2.99/gallon for gas! Unbelievable, since we pay about $1.55 where we live. One of the highlights of our trip though, was whale watching. We left from Monterey with Sam's Fishing Fleet. GoWhales.com. We saw fin whales, humback and blue whales, and common dolphins. It was amazing! The entire trip went just as I had hoped, and much thanks to everyone's wonderful suggestions at Fodors! If there are any questions I will be happy to answer.

Sounds like you had a good time! I'm curious to know what you thought of the weather this time of year in SF? I've no doubt it was no where near as humid or hot as Baltimore/WashDC but was it actually chilly? What did you think of the Castro, the Haight and did you take any walking tours while there?

I'm cursed. Every time I plan to visit SF in September something horrible happens to prevent it! Its true. Each time I get a great rate from SF Reservations (if their even still in business) at a great hotel like the Clift, The Huntington, Fairmont, etc and mark my words something will happen. Well this year I might beat the curse as I'm thinking of going last minute or as near to it as I dare. See fate may not have time to intervene this year if I dont plan too far in advance. :) I know it sounds crazy but this will be at least my.... SIXTH attempt!

It sounds like you made the most of your vacation time! Glad you had such a good time. (I worked at Big Sur Lodge, many many years ago when I was in college and Big Sur was full of "hippies". It was a fun summer!)

The weather was one of the best things about the trip! Baltimore has been Soooo Humid. The second we got off the plane my boyfriend and I decided we were staying and never going back! It was great to be able to breathe easily. We layered clothing. I kept having to take off and put back on my sweatshirt. The only time it was cold was at night, and even that wasnt bad.
We didnt make it to the Castro, but Height/Ashbury was exactly as you might expect. There are lots of head shops, tattoo parlors, trendy hippie clothes shops and we found a pretty cool book store. It was neat to see. One of the shops has all the adresses of the famous musicians that lived around there posted on the door.
We didnt take any tours. We got a little map of the city and marked down the spots we wanted to see, and either walked to them or caught a bus. The city was fairly easy to get around in, besides walking up all of the hills.

Hi
Sounds like you had great trip. Could you tell me how long it took you to drive from San Francisco down Hwy 1 to Bug Sur.
Thanks
DIVER

Thanks for the great trip report. We are leaving for San Fran this Friday. Your whale watching trip sounds awesome and I think we just might have to look into it. I didn't realize they would be around there this time of the year.

Thanks so much for an excellent report! Travelers using this web site will be reading it for months, if not years, to come...

bgoldie-
Do you know if your allowed to bring alcohol aboard the whale watching boat?

The drive from San Francisco to Big Sur,taking highway 1 all the way down,probably took about 4 hours or so. The trip seemed much quicker with all that there is to look at along the way. We kind of lost track of time. We left San Francisco at 11am and got to Big Sur with enough time to gawk at the veiws and go for short hike.
As for the whale watching trip, I would definately recomend it. It was one of the highlights of the trip. Im not sure if they allow alcohol...but I do know that quite a few people got seasick. I took one of the seasickness pills that they sell at the place we left from, just in case. I didnt get sick, but it did knock me out. I almost couldnt keep my eyes open for the first part of the trip. My boyfriend didnt take anything and was fine. It is also good to know that it got REALLY cold out there on the Ocean. I wore a hoodie, but I kind of wish I had a hat a gloves. I hope this helps!