Need someone from San Francisco...

[tzuhouse]

I'm sure I'll have many questions as I go about this, but...

At Pier 39, is there a restaurant where my family could have a good dinner and see the sea lions at the same time, or should we just go to Bubba Gumps? My husband and both boys love love love shrimp.

We will be driving in from Yosemite, probably leaving Mariposa, about 11:00am. Assuming we'll be getting to San Francisco around 2:00pm. By the time we check into the hotel and unload our stuff, it'll be 5:00pm or so. I would like to get several things knocked out that evening, since we are heading 30 minutes south the next morning for a while, doing a walk at Ano Nuevo and visiting the Redwoods before heading back to San Francisco, sometime early afternoon. We'll have to be leaving early the next morning, so whatever we haven't completed will need to get done then.

The things I want to make sure we do are:
cable cars
Golden Gate Bridge
Pier 39 sea lions
Coit Tower?
Steiner St/Hayes
Lombard Street
Seal Rock?
beach walk (if not too cold)

Boys will be 9 and 7. Anything we need to do that isn't on that list? We won't really have a lot of extra money, so we need to do things that are free or don't cost much.

If we parked somewhere at 5:00pm on day 1, could we get on a cable car and somehow make our way to Pier 39 to have dinner and then ride cable car back to where we parked. Of the list above, what things do you think should be done in the same day, because they are close to each other or something like that?

Thanks in advance for help. I wish we have more than this amount of time, but we don't.

Mary

 

[mamacatnv]

Where is the hotel in relation to Pier 39?

Cable cars are a ton of fun. They can be time consuming, we have learned from the locals. Don't try to get on at the ends of the line with the rest of the tourists, the lines can be huge. Follow the route, walk a couple of blocks and then get on. There are cable car stop signs along the route, just like a bus stop. Be prepared to hustle on and be friendly with your neighbor.

Pier 39 has a ton of restaurants. For "inexpensive" we like the pizza/sour dough bread bowl place near the entrance to the pier. Boudins Bakery and Cafe. The sea lions can be viewed all along the pier.
Here is a link that might be helpful, this takes you to the sit down restaurants, there is also a eateries and treats section that has more of the casual dining.
http://www.pier39.com/Dining/Restaurants/index.htm

When you say things you want to do, do you mean drive/walk by and see? or get out and explore?

Personally, Coit Tower can be viewed, Lombard St. can be driven, walked or just viewed as you drive by.

The bridge would be at the top of my list. Drive over and park on the view point on the N. side and then walk onto the bridge. The view is amazing and something I think your boys would enjoy. (It scares the bejeezes out of me, but I sucked it up and went with the kids, glad I did)

Sounds like a whirlwind SFO tour - AAA has some really good walking tours, but I honestly do not know if you will have the time.

Happy planning

 

[grizbuzz]

Wow, that's a lot of stuff in not a lot of time! Where is your hotel? That's going to make a difference in how much you can do and how you can do it.

I'd take Coit Tower off the list. You can look at it, but to get to it, you need to drive. And if you want to do the cable car, well then it's just an extra hassle you don't need. I also might take Golden Gate bridge off the list, since that will also require a car. But I've been on that bridge so many times (used to commute daily), I may be missing some of the allure of walking/driving on it.

Last time we went to Pier 39, we walked over to the seals and watched them and then went to dinner at Bubba Gumps. We couldn't see the seals from Bubba Gumps, but there was a view of the Bay and we'd had our fill of barking seals after 10 minutes. I also recommend Boudins Bakery at Fisherman's Wharf if you're looking for something less expensive -- LOVE the clam chowder bread bowl.

Cable car ride is really going to depend on where your hotel is...so you know from where to where...I think there is a Lombart stop on one of the cable car lines. Be aware that cable cars can be very busy and may require a wait to get on...so build that time into your schedule as well.


You could take a little beach walk at the beach towards Ghiradelli Square.

If you started at 5pm, I think that just getting to Fisherman's Wharf (on the cable car if that's convenient from your hotel) and then spending the evening in the Fisherman's Wharf area would be a great plan. You could start at one end - like Ghiradelli Square and make your way to Fisherman's Wharf.
Have fun! And find some way to spend more time in SF

 

[tzuhouse]

Our hotel is the Best Western Lighthouse Hotel in Pacifica. I know that we did Coit Tower when I was there last, quite a few years ago. It was an awesome view, which is why I was going to take my family. None of them have been to California.

I'm going to sit down with AAA online and try to plan out which things to try to do at one time and which ones to do on the other day. We may not be able to check in to the hotel until several hours after we arrive, so we may go do the driving things like Lombard Street and Steiner St., then go unload and then head back out to park somewhere and walk or catch the cable cars.

Thanks!
Mary

 

[mamacatnv]

The cable cars do not run to Pacifica

Perhaps check out BART to get into the city and from there Cable Car, Muni and Taxi to get around http://www.bart.gov/

 

[tzuhouse]

I didn't really think that the cable cars would run out there. We just want to ride on one for a little bit. Twice I've been to San Francisco and neither time could I convince my Mom and Aunt to even consider it. Now I'm the planner and I'm riding a cable car. : )

After looking on AAA at the locations for these things, here is what I'm thinking.

We will be driving over the Bay Bridge from Mariposa about 2:00pm, so I think we'll head straight to Telegraph Hill and maybe go up in Coit Tower. We can do it in shifts so that we don't have to worry about someone breaking into the car with all our stuff in it. By doing this then instead of later, it starts checking some things off the list, before we even check in to the hotel. Then we'll head over and drive Lombard St. which my boys will love. We'll drive the Golden Gate and my DH and the boys can go walk out a little ways, while I take pictures from the car, guarding our gear again. I'm scared of heights, so I'm not sure I could step on that bridge anyway.

We'll leave there and go hit Alamo Square so that I can take pics of the painted ladies and show my family Mrs. Doubtfire's house, which is a movie favorite. Then we'll head to Pacifica and drop all our stuff off at the room. Depending on what time it is, we'll either find food for supper locally and then walk the beach, or drive to Pier 39, have dinner at Bubba Gumps and see the sea lions.

The next day, when we get back into SF we'll go park somewhere and hop the cable cars, maybe go to the Cable Car Museum, go to Pier 39 if we didn't make it the day before and finish anything else we didn't complete. Then we'll have dinner at the Cliff House Bistro and head back to start packing. We'll be heading out early early the next morning to Monterey, for our first whale watch.

Mary