San Francisco/Oakland

[drxman1]

This whole thread was just a giant troll for Chad to show off his hot girlfriend.

Well played...

 

[wcc31]

Great rundown, thanks for sharing. SF is also probably my favorite city I've visited, but would prefer to live in SD. And this summer me and my wife are planning a trip to Boston as well, so sounds like I'll be waiting for you to make that thread!

Yeah, they're both awesome towns with ridiculous scenery, SD has much more of a relaxed vibe.

Where are y'all staying? We have reservations for the Boston Park Plaza, which I believe is near Boston Commons. I'm even more ignorant about that town, but that's where she went to college so she'll know where to go.

 

[Mime-Is-Money]

For lunch, we got a burrito from La Taquiera in the Mission district and it was delicious. Then, we roamed around Mission, hitting some shops and such before going to Chinatown. I wasn't too impressed, but the dim sum was terrific and ridiculously cheap.

- Had dinner in the Mission district at some vegan sushi place. My girlfriend loved it. I need meat. Rolled over to some bar which was across the street from a porn studio. Ended up getting hammered. Good day overall.

Sounds like you hit up Shizen on 14th. Incredible place, even for carnivores. I think the bar across the street from The Armory (block sized porn studio owned by Kink.com) you hit up is Armory Club. Fun place with decent cocktails, a burlesque vibe with a few bondage portraits.

If you're in the Mission again looking for another burrito I'd recommend Papalote on 24th and Valencia. From the sounds of it you'll be back if you have family in Oakland.

Happy to hear you enjoyed the trip! The weather has been great over the last month which certainly helps. Only a few days of thick fog / marine layer in the northern parts of town from what I can remember.

 

[wcc31]

Sounds like you hit up Shizen on 14th. Incredible place, even for carnivores. I think the bar across the street from The Armory (block sized porn studio owned by Kink.com) you hit up is Armory Club. Fun place with decent cocktails, a burlesque vibe with a few bondage portraits.

If you're in the Mission again looking for another burrito I'd recommend Papalote on 24th and Valencia. From the sounds of it you'll be back if you have family in Oakland.

Happy to hear you enjoyed the trip! The weather has been great over the last month which certainly helps. Only a few days of thick fog / marine layer in the northern parts of town from what I can remember.

Yep- those were the places. My girl loved Shizen so much, she and her brother went back on Sunday. I wasn't that hungry, so I just pounded $4 Anchor Steams and caught a buzz. Can't beat that- especially in SF. My only regrets were:

1. Wasting time- even a few hours- at Fisherman's Wharf.

2. I didn't really hit up many bars/pubs. Was hoping to run into a few strolling around Mission, but we didn't come across any. Must have been on the wrong streets.

3. Mistakenly wore jeans on our Muir Woods hike and was miserably hot on the way up. Fine on the way down, though.

 

[wcc31]

Also hit Delores Park (really cool place), Berkeley (grabbed a burger), saw the Painted Ladies (Full House house- although the park was under construction and closed) and tried to drive down Lombard Street, but there was a massive car fire right at the top so we bailed.

 

[Ron Mehico]

Where are y'all staying? We have reservations for the Boston Park Plaza, which I believe is near Boston Commons. I'm even more ignorant about that town, but that's where she went to college so she'll know where to go.

No clue yet, we are planning on going in August so we haven't decided/I haven't looked into it enough yet to figure it out. The whole northeast and northwest are a mystery to me, I used to live in Tucson so I know California pretty well, but haven't made it up to Seattle/Vancouver area yet, or anywhere north of NYC.I don't know a thing about Maine/Vermont/Toronto etc. After Boston I want to do a whole Seattle/Vancouver thing which I've heard is awesome.

 

[Mime-Is-Money]

My only regrets were:

1. Wasting time- even a few hours- at Fisherman's Wharf.

2. I didn't really hit up many bars/pubs. Was hoping to run into a few strolling around Mission, but we didn't come across any. Must have been on the wrong streets.

3. Mistakenly wore jeans on our Muir Woods hike and was miserably hot on the way up. Fine on the way down, though.

Yeah, Fisherman's Wharf is a joke, as is Chinatown. The Wharf is maybe good for cynical bar hopping, nothing else unless you're just really into wax museums and overpriced sea food. Gold dust lounge is fun for its awfulness. Have some drinks there and make fun of the tourist crap on Jefferson.

Weird re: not hitting bars in the Mission. They're about 3 per block on Valencia between 15th and 21st, and also along 16th. Y'all probably strolled down Dolores Street, which is a nice, palm tree lined boulevard leading to Dolores Park, but is all residential. If you go 2 blocks west you're in the Castro, with tons of mostly gay bars, or 2 blocks east on Valencia, with tons of mostly straight bars. There are also some great dive spots on Mission as well, 1 block east of Valencia. There are 4 to 5 areas in the city with a thriving night life with Mission being one of them (others are Polk St, Marina, Haight, North Beach and 9th and Irving in Inner Sunset).