Bay Area Members--Lend me Your Wisdom

[JPatrick]

In a few weeks I'm going to turn DS loose on San Francisco for spring break!!
He is going out to see his sister who moved there a short time ago and really doesn't know that much about the area yet.
I'm not familiar with SF, but she lives fairly close to China Town.
They are thinking about a hockey game (somewhere near??), biking across the bridge, checking out the redwoods, and Alcatraz.  DS will want to visit the county hospital cause he is a future EM doc.
So what would you recommend for a 25 year old single male.  He is athletic so he would even go for a run if there is a spectacular place for that, loves the outdoors, idea of a fun night is going to a decent dance club, and loves scoping out new places, be it the city or country.
How about a good Chinese  or steak place that won't break the bank.
All help appreciated. 

 

[Nords]

So what would you recommend for a 25 year old single male.

Hmmm... when I was that age, it was anything that wasn't recommended by my father!

I suppose that locals wouldn't be caught dead down on the piers with all the visitors. And I wonder if there are still harbor/bridge booze cruises.

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

Muir woods - hike the path.

Bike across the golden gate to the marin headlands, and keep going.

Sutro Baths is an interesting sightseeing trip, and theres a path that runs from there around the south headland to the base of the golden gate bridge on the south side.

Boat trip to alcatraz with a walking tour of the island is very cool.

San Jose Sharks would be your hockey game. They suck.

Walking tour of the city is doable, but a lot of work. You can cover most of it in a day.

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

Oh yeah...tommy toys in SF for chinese. Although almost any place in chinatown will do. Just never look in the kitchen.

Izzy's for steak.

 

[J-Lu]

I don't live there anymore, but I used to...
Biking across the Golden Gate into Sausalito or Tiburon and then taking the Ferry back is a fun trip. You can rent bikes in the Marina District. Marina district has some good bars if he's into that. Italian Food in North Beach is fun, and that's near China Town.

 

[kramer]

Biking across the Golden Gate into Sausalito or Tiburon and then taking the Ferry back is a fun trip.

Doing this was probably my best Bay Area day trip ever. Have leisurely lunch and coffee on the Tiburon side after that long ride. Ferry is the funnest form of modern transportation.


You can take Cal Train from San Francisco to see the San Jose sharks but most of the time the train ride takes 1 hour and 36 minutes if you don't get one of the rush hour Express Trains. So bring some reading material and a friend. The San Jose Cal Train depot is across the street from where the sharks play. Go out to dinner in downtown SJ before or afterwards (walkable from there). It is very pedestrian friendly and compact, I love it.


Going to Palo Alto to see Stanford and then downtown Palo Alto is fun. Seeing Stanford can be done on foot or on bike.


One kind of food that seems to be much more available and better in the Bay Area than elsewhere is Indian food. Shalimar in the Tenderloin (the worst most dangerous district in SF) is generally regarded as having the best Indian food around. It is a total dive, but an experience. Be sure to finish off with the free Chai tea, it is the best around.

Kramer

 

[mb]

Some athletic type stuff follows.  Being married (25+ yrs) with kids I no longer make a meaningfull contribution to the other interests of a single, 25 year old male.

- Run in Golden Gate Park or the Presidio.  (They have a group of nude roller bladers in GG Park on Sunday morning if he wants to get up early.  I was there once warming up for a 10k when they skated by.  Kind of got me psyched for the race 

- When in a new city I sometimes plot a "running tour" on the map and go out for an hour or two stopping at the various sites.  SF is a great place for that (or a walking tour) because it is very compact.  (I attemped to prove the ugly american tourist stero-type once  and tryed to get into Notre Dame in only slightly sweaty running clothes but they stopped me at the door.)

- This may not be of interest if he is only there for a couple of days and wants to do the tourist stuff but SF is great city just to walk around and look at the different neighborhoods.

- If you want to continue the bike ride past the GG bridge, I recommend biking through Sausalito to Tiburon and taking the ferry to Angel Island.  You can take bikes on the ferry.  There is a dirt road that goes around the island but you can do it on a road bike.  Great views of the city.

- Mt Tam in Marin county is the supposed birth place of mountain biking if he is a mountain biker.  Unfortunately they have had to close most of the trails to mountain biking and I hear (I don't bike there) there has been something of a "war" going on between the bikers and the anti-bikers that has gotten bad enough that there has been booby traps set up for the bicyclists. (Such as wires strung across trails.  The bicyclists of course aren't innocent either.)

- If you go to Berkeley, I recommend taking BART.  The station is only a block from campus and every think is within walking distance and parking there is terrible.       

- They used to have a place near the St Francis Hotel where you could get half price theater tickets starting at noon.  I assume they still do it.  DW worked in the city while I was in grad school and she would go down there at lunch and get tickets for us.

- Within a short drive you also have Napa, Monterey and Santa Cruz all of which are worth a day.

MB             

 

[JPatrick]

Hmmm... when I was that age, it was anything that wasn't recommended by my father!

I suppose that locals wouldn't be caught dead down on the piers with all the visitors.  And I wonder if there are still harbor/bridge booze cruises.

It's about reverse psychology Nords.  I recommend he go to a rockin bar and out of spite he'll spend the night in the library  :
Actually, I think Hawaii has the booze cruise market cornered. Got em all- - -Gospel Booze cruise, dolphins booze cruise, sunset over Diamondhead booze cruise, snorkel booze cruise, catamaran booze cruise, maita'i booze cruise.  You folks need to find something else to do with your water.
Fact is, DS was born on the island, but he left before attaining the mandatory legal drinking age of 15 

 

[JPatrick]

CFB- -J-Lu- -Kramer- -MB

Thanks for the excellent ideas!
Wow,  nude roller blading    But what is with the early Sunday morning start time?    Don't these people know anything about marketing? 
(note to self) Make sure DS packs a camera.

If you have any more ideas please fire away.
Hopefully, I'll be able to provide you all ya'll with photographic evidence of a good time.

 

[Nords]

You folks need to find something else to do with your water.

I think I'd have a hard time finding a local who's done more than one booze cruise in the last decade... and I think the TV show "The Office" has killed that form of entertainment!