Fodor's Travel Talk Forums - Trip Report San Francisco

May 26/2006
Got in at around 11:00 a.m. picked up rental car and headed to our hotel to see if we could get rid of our luggage. Got lucky great service at Marriot San Mateo we will be here for two days, got an early start to our first afternoon in San Francisco and went straight to Fisherman¡¦s wharf, walked around for a while had early dinner at Neptune¡¦s (food was good) and waited for our 6:00 p.m. ride to Alcatraz, thanks to all those who suggested the evening tour it was great, I had purchased our tickets in advance and they were even mailed at home so did not have to even go to will call. Even though it was early went back to our hotel once we finished since we had been up from so early.
05/27/06
Got up early had breakfast and headed towards Sausalito spend most of the day here had dinner and left after that to explore the Castro, walked around for a while did not stay too long since it was really cold.
05/28/06
Today we took it a little easy since we will be heading towards Yosemite, we had decided to spend the night at a ¡§central¡¨ location not to drive the entire 4 hours, went to China Town walked for a while and had lunch at something called the boat house (I think) the food was not all that great of all the places there we end up in a so-so sushi place anyways, that happened to me for not having my list of favorite places to eat handy. Early afternoon we started driving to Oakdale to prep for Yosemite made sure we had enough gas, bought some groceries since we would be in Yosemite for 3 days/2 nights.
05/29/06
Checked out by 5:00 a.m. wanted to get an early start into Yosemite, someone had said the drive was not all that great through 120, we did not find anything wrong with it got in a little before 7:00 a.m. and THERE WAS NO ONE IN LINE to get into the park I was shocked since I had read so much about the park been packed for Memorial Weekend went to the Valley and started doing our exploring for the day spend all day here catching the trolley to take us from waterfall to waterfall, did most of the short hikes and called it a day at 5:00 p.m. since we did not know how much time it would take us to get into our cabin (Scenic Wonders) it was about a 45 min. drive to it and not at all complicated, the park was not packed at all, people here an there but, nothing compared to what I had read, got into our cabin cooked dinner and called it a night after walking all those trails we were really exhausted. The next morning we got up early and went back passed the Valley and did a couple of trails one of the girls got to see a bear and we were all glad it was her, since she is such an animal lover, went back to our cabin relaxed for a while and at 6:00 p.m. we headed out to Glacier Point to watch the sunset, on our way up got to play with snow and the girls were all shocked to see so much snow on May 30, watched the sunset and it was Spectacular.
05/31/06
Today we are leaving Yosemite and on our way out stopped at Mariposa Grove walked around and stated heading towards Monterey. Went to San Juan Bautista following JCorrea¡¦s advise (thank you) got to Monterey early afternoon checked into Best Western Beach Resort and decided we should get the 17 mile drive out of the way, did that and after ended up at FishWife seafood restaurant (thank you to those of you who suggested it) the food was great and my friends were very pleased. Called it a night early since the following morning we had to be up early for our Whale Watching.
06/01/06
Went whale watching, did get to see one whale ƒ», but it was so terribly cold that other than those 30 minutes we were there looking at the whale the trip was not at all pleasant (not anyone¡¦s fault) I must add that we were all well prepared. We got back by 1:00 p.m. grabbed a quick lunch right there in the wharf and went to the Aquarium for the afternoon, did that in about 2 hours after walked Cannery Row and had dinner at a Pub (can¡¦t remember what it¡¦s called) but the food was great.
06/02/06
My dear friends did not believe me when I told them to bring long sleeves that it was going to be chilly in California so two of them ran out of clothes to wear, had to find a laundry and spend 2 hours of our vacations doing laundry. By 11:00 we were done and started our drive to Point Lobos, spend 2 hours here, after we kept going to Julia Pfeiffer, the view was something out of this world stopped for lunch at River Inn in Big Sur, the place was so so beautiful we sat outside looking at everyone sitting by the river in the wooden chairs (I wonder how cold the water was?)
Got to Julia Pfeiffer and for some reason I thought we would be able to get down to the waterfall, a little disappointed once I found out we couldn¡¦t but it was still breathtaking. When we finished here we went back to Monterey Wharf to do some shopping and see the stores since we did not got a chance after we did our whale tour, spend about 1-2 hours here, and decided to walk to Cannery Row from the Wharf since I had read and heard that it was a nice walk, in deed it was went to a bar there and heard a live Jazz band playing.
06/03/06
Today we were heading back to San Francisco for our last four days, not in a hurry to get back so we made it in by 4:00 p.m. and went to do our check in at the Hilton Union Square, since I got it on Priceline and I had a car I had already looked around the area for cheaper parking and to my advantage I had one right across the street from our hotel for $20.00 per night, I know most suggested the a car was not necessary in San Francisco but, again I had rented it with priceline and I did use it everyday we were here. Anyway checked in, since we had parked the car decided to walk around and do some shopping.
06/04/06
Got up early and went to Muir Woods after walked the Golden Gate Bridge and visited the Japanese Tea Garden for dinner we went to Joe¡¦s crab shack.
06/05/06
Point Reyes, walked around and lighthouse here we come, got there one of the girls decided not to go down the 30? Not sure how many; the day was beautiful but it was very windy, when we finished and after seeing so many cows we were starving ate at the Station house (I think) the food was really good one of the girls was feeling brave and wanted to get a haircut so to the Castro we went for her cut, it came out ¡§fabulous¡¨ of course.
06/06/06
Today will be our last night here, so decided to go shopping during the day and early afternoon picked up the car and visited all those places we missed so here it goes started out at the Palace of Fine Arts from here we drove to the Ferry Building tried and I do mean tried to have dinner at the Slanted Door (Not sure if this is the name) but, no luck ended up two doors down can¡¦t remember the name something fish great Manager? (I think) her name is Joey and she was Great! And the food was good when we finished here we went to Coit Tower to take a last look at San Francisco during the night.
Hope this helped, those of you who like to have your own transportation, keep only one thing in mind parking is VERY EXPENSIVE other than that a breeze someone said the traffic is bad, (I never saw it, or they¡¦ve never been to Miami) also read that driving was a nightmare, personally driving was not a problem at all we did have a GPS perhaps this made a world or difference. Again thanks for all those who gave some great suggestions, I do have to add I am sure I¡¦ve left something behind for a fact I know I ate at a couple of places suggested here but, am at work now and don¡¦t have all the facts here but, if I can help please let me know I will look for what ever you need. Hope to check back with you guys soon, next year Hawaii here we come¡K.
Gina