San Francisco Bay Area: Your favorite things to do or places to go

[milliondollaz]

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i would just add that for those flying to sf, oakland is one of the 5 best airports in the us, sfo is probably one of the 5 worst.

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why? Oakland rocks but I haven't really had problems at SFO and I fly a lot.

I'd like to add Slanted Door to the list of good restaurants. Pricy vietnamese/fusion in the ferry building on embarcadero. delicious.

[/ QUOTE ]I was hoping you were talking about civilian flying! If anybody is interested in it, I'll be in the Bay Area around late April and I'll have a seat open. I plan on doing some flying into the SF area, but pretty much just an aerial vineyard tour and possibly, depending on what plane I get, some beach touring. Obviously, I would like to add that flying in the Bay Area and especially into the Napa Valley is absolutely incredible. I fly a lot faster and stupider almost every day, but I wouldn't trade a single minute of that stuff for my Bay Area experiences.

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are you offering a plane ride (from a presumed fighter pilot)???

what's this gonna cost?! sounds once in a lifetime...

[El Diablo]

Ja,

Slanted Door is great. Nationally acclaimed Vietnamese food.

Everything is great (only thing I think is just so-so is the ahi tuna entree), here are my favorites:

Crispy Imperial Rolls
Fresh Spring Rolls
Braised Beef Short Ribs

Chicken Claypot
Shaking Beef
Catfish Claypot
Roasted Seabass
Noodles w/ Dungeness Crab Meat
Steamed/Roasted Whole Fish

Spinach, Chard, Kale, Bok Choy, etc. all delicious
Lemongrass Tofu

If you don't have reservations, you can get to the bar early and eat there. The counter bar has a full menu. The lounge area of the bar has a small apps/rawbar menu.

If you want to have Slanted Door food but not pay for an expensive meal out, check out their to-go place Out The Door - they have locations at Ferry Building and the new San Francisco Center on Market.

They have cheap basic rice/noodle dishes that are great. Apps like the imperial and spring rolls, pork buns, etc. They also have to-go kits of some of the entrees like the shaking beef and claypot that you can take home and make. And my favorites, delicious Vietnamese sandwiches - the Saigon Roast Pork is so good. Great way to have their food at bargain prices.

[The DaveR]

The Tonga Room is awesome.

[suzzer99]

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My wife and I used to live at Mason and Clay,

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I used to live on Clay between Taylor and Mason. Sweet views but kind of pain getting around up and down all those hills, also not much street life. I moved to upper haight and liked it a lot better for all the easy stuff to walk to and good food.

[Analyst]

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i would just add that for those flying to sf, oakland is one of the 5 best airports in the us, sfo is probably one of the 5 worst.

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SFO is not even the worst airport in the Bay Area. That "honor", by a long shot, belongs to that 60s/70s throwback, SJC.

[offTopic]

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i would just add that for those flying to sf, oakland is one of the 5 best airports in the us, sfo is probably one of the 5 worst.

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SFO is not even the worst airport in the Bay Area. That "honor", by a long shot, belongs to that 60s/70s throwback, SJC.

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They really should level SJC, build adjoining baseball and football stadiums there (to relocate the A's and Raiders), and then rework Moffett Field into Silicon Valley International Airport (or whatever).

Favorite (public) golf course in the area is Cinnabar Hills in south San Jose.

Any night in the East Bay can be capped off by a visit to Fenton's Creamery in Oakland.

[Analyst]

Drive north to San Francisco on highway 280 in the late afternoon. It's a beautiful drive from Palo Alto, with the sun setting over the hills and the fog pouring in.

[cbloom]

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Drive north to San Francisco on highway 280 in the late afternoon. It's a beautiful drive from Palo Alto, with the sun setting over the hills and the fog pouring in.

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It's alright but there are so many great drives in the area. I love driving Skyline Blvd and Hwy 9 in the hills of the peninsula. I think it's "Saratoga" that's a cute little community you start in, you can head through to Santa Cruz then back on the 1. Take a nimble car and be prepared to do lots of passing (it's no fun if you get stuck behind slow people).

There's lots of little hikes throughout there, but the big daddy is the Skyline to the Sea trail. It's meant to be a backpacking trek, but you can do most of it in one day if you have someone to drop you off in the morning & pick you up at the other end of it.

[crashjr]

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Drive north to San Francisco on highway 280 in the late afternoon. It's a beautiful drive from Palo Alto, with the sun setting over the hills and the fog pouring in.

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It's alright but there are so many great drives in the area. I love driving Skyline Blvd and Hwy 9 in the hills of the peninsula. I think it's "Saratoga" that's a cute little community you start in, you can head through to Santa Cruz then back on the 1. Take a nimble car and be prepared to do lots of passing (it's no fun if you get stuck behind slow people).

There's lots of little hikes throughout there, but the big daddy is the Skyline to the Sea trail. It's meant to be a backpacking trek, but you can do most of it in one day if you have someone to drop you off in the morning & pick you up at the other end of it.

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That is almost 30 up and down (net down) miles. Makes for a very long day, but is definately doable.

[crashjr]

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My wife and I used to live at Mason and Clay,

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I used to live on Clay between Taylor and Mason. Sweet views but kind of pain getting around up and down all those hills, also not much street life. I moved to upper haight and liked it a lot better for all the easy stuff to walk to and good food.

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I wish. We moved to Sacramento. What a joke. Upper Haight >>>>>>> Sacramento.