California Dreamin’
Kick ass. Mike and I are being sent by the benevolent employer out to the San Jose/San Francisco/Bay Area region for a MySQL conference. We’ll be there officially from 4/23 to 4/26, but can probably swing a few personal days on the head and/or tail of that week.
So, anyone have any input on things to do to maximize the time while we’re out there? I’m sure we can find something better to see than the Apple Store and the Intel Museum (rolls eyes…)
Getting there early enough for some 420 shows has been suggested, and so has been staying later for the San Francisco International Film Festival. Both are possibilities, but neither rocks my world … any suggestions from the peanut gallery?
Topics of interest — hippies, punks, goth/industrial (wasn’t 21st Circuitry & Xorcist from there?), Hunter Thompson (and/or porn — is the club that he used to manage still open?) … lsd, zen, Berkely … hell I don’t even know where to begin… anything bubbling up from the underground. The seedier the better, maybe.
I’ll try to leave the place in shambles for you.
The seedier the better? HA! I love it!
I’ve never been to San Fran, so I have no suggestions. But have a great trip!
A day of zen on the front side of the trip and a day of LSD on the tail end of the trip.
I have always wanted to go to SF. I know I would make it a point to eat a lot seeing as some of the best food in the country is supposedly there.
I am seething with jealousy.
Ha! @ jaxn — yeah, I wish I wasn’t kidding about the lsd. Unfortunately I realized long ago that I’m about one dose away from needing to be tucked safely away in Syd Barret’s old room for the rest of my life : )
(Still, if there’s a Timothy Leary museum or something…)
But you’re right, food will have to be a priority, I do hear they have some of the best particularly ethnic & vegetarian food around. Oh! That reminds me, I do have another online friend from another forum who lives in those parts, maybe I can talk her into playing tour guide.
If you are a garlic lover, there is a place called the Stinking Rose whose menu is all garlic dishes.
“The seedier the better.” — Don’t miss the Jelly Belly factory tour.
My mom loves the Stinking Rose! I am intrigued by the thought of garlic ice cream.
note(s) to self:
The Avengers w/ Pansy Division, April 21
SF Zen Center (also: place to stay extra nights?)
Events Guide
511.org - Transit Planning & other info
Chinatown
all-about Chinatown tour
wok wiz tour
Alcatraz
tours
checking that mysql “see & do” link, the rosicrucian egyptian museum is the only one on the list that looks really interesting. i’d like to go wander around chinatown and, of course, take some pictures of the golden gate bridge both at dawn and dusk, if i can pull it off. maybe on 4/20, i’ll just go wandering around downtown. i still need to do some research, but i’m not going to adhere to an iternary and i’m most certainly going to try not to look like a tourist. so, to recap, it looks like my plan is to wander. lol.
Ditto on the Egyptian museum, Chinatown, & the bridge. That segway tour your sent (http://san.francisco.eventguide.com/events/e100748.htm) looks pretty cool but I don’t know if it’s $65 worth of cool. But I am thinking about trying this one:
http://www.hauntedhaight.com/
heh, it was mostly a joke. if i want to see the waterfront, i’ll just walk. while it would be neat to see just exactly how them newfangled gyroscopic sleds work, supporting the segway is a stigma in my book.
btw, the haunted haight looks moderately interesting, though it could easily be wildly disappointing.
The Haunted Haight walking tour is really good. The guy who runs it is a ghost hunter and it is a real serious look at ghosts not like some of the other tours here that are really tourist traps. You also get a goodee bag and that was really neat.
Damn, I’m sorry I missed it. I was hoping to squeeze it in but ran out of time. I will have to try and make a return trip :)