Gonzo Blog

San Franciso

07.08.08 Posted in SFO, Travel by A. Ghodasara

Visited on 2007 Thanks Giving Weekend (11/22 – 11/25). Highlights: In SFO, drive a Segway around Fishermen’s Wharf, Rent a small skippered yatch/boat on the bay, and take the Fire Engine tour . Drive away from SFO for few hours for the majestic 17 mile drive on Pebble Beach!

Arrived in SFO in the afternoon

Took a Shuttle from SFO airport to Hotel. $15 one way / per person. Commute from SFO airport to Fishermen’s Wharf is 45-50 minutes with traffic.

Arrived at the hotel late afternoon. Best Western Tuscan Inn Fisherman’s Wharf / $231.70 inc of tax / 2 Nights. Walking distance to Pier 39 and other attractions at the Fishermen’s Wharf. Got a free upgrade! The Hotel staff, rooms, location, etc … was very good. We don’t advise renting a car if one is going to be spending time in SFO city only

After checking in headed to Pier 39 for a 90 minutes sun-set skippered yatch/boat cruise on the SFO Bay. Went under the Golden Gate Bridge and Alcatraz Prison etc …These boats usually have 5-10 people in it but when we took the cruise, we were the only ones + the skipper. I cannot re-call how much we exactly paid but it was around $70-$80 for the entire thing. Beer and Cola were on the house! The skipper (Mike) was very nice and professional sailor. I have his phone # and I am going to call him next time I want a cruise in the bay.

There are quite a few companies who charter skippered yatch/boats. For example : Adventure Cat on J-Dock (800) 498-4228 or (415) 777-1630 or (212) 209-3370 AND San Francisco “The Lady J” – // This is Small Boat. Office: 415.378.4887

After the bay excursion we roamed around Pier 39 and other areas of Fishermen’s Wharf. Cannot re-call where we had dinner but there are ample places around for variety of good food.

Next day morning skipped the breakfast at the Hotel since they do not serve eggs/omlette. There are ample of break-fast places at the Fishermen’s Wharf.

We then headed for the Fire Engine Tour. http://www.fireenginetours.com/ 75 minute tour / $45 / per person.

“This is an adventure you will always remember. Leaving Fisherman’s Wharf we go through the Presidio, to Fort Point at the base of The Bridge and OVER the Golden Gate Bridge. On to Sausalito, a jewel of a village with magnificent views of San Francisco across the Bay. Next, a photo stop at Fort Baker and then back over the bridge, through the lovely Union Street neighborhood and returning to the Cannery”

In the afternoon we took the Segway Tour http://www.sfelectrictour.com/. They train you for 30-40 minutes if you are driving the Segway for the first time. Then they take you on a 2 Hours guided / fully narrated Tour. $70 / per person / Total Time required 2 1/2 – 3 Hours inclusive of training. The tour departs from various parts of SFO (Fishermen’s Wharf, Sausalito, Night Tour, Crooked Lane etc ..). We took the day time Fishermen’s Wharf Tour.

Our tour featured: Municipal Pier and Aquatic Park, Fisherman’s Wharf and its picturesque fishing harbors, Cable Car turnaround, Ghirardelli Square home of delicious chocolate! National Maritime Museum and the historic sailing ships at Hyde Street Pier, Spectacular views of Alcatraz and the Golden Gate Bridge, Fish Alley, Fisherman’s Chapel, WWII Liberty Ship and Submarine Pampanito, Visit behind the scenes where the fishing industry, fleet and seafood processing are located. Saw the Dungeness Crab Stands in Historic Fisherman’s Wharf.

In the evening, we took the night time Double Decker bus tour. The tour was ok! Since it was cold and some key roads were closed because of the shopping spree in Union Square. However, we strongly recommend this tour for first timers. These tours are available from various parts of SFO. The one that we took was from the Fishermen’s Wharf. Also, most importantly ensure that you buy tickets for these tours directly from the tour company and not from any street vendors.

Next day morning took a cab to Union Square and rented a Car. Alamo Rent-A-Car / 750 Bush Street / San Francisco, CA 94108 / Union Square. Approximately 10 dollars from Fishermen’s Wharf to Union Square by taxi. We rented a Hybrid Toyota Primis ($65 a day with taxes and allowed to drop it off to SFO aiport)If one is stay only in SFO city, do not rent a car. The trams, buses, and cabs should do. Checked-out from the hotel and started driving towards Pebble Beach / Pacific Grove aka the 17 mile drive aka Carmel-by-the-sea / http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/17_mile_drive. It takes around 2 Hrs from SFO to Pebble Beach, CA

While on our way to Pebble Beach, we took a small de-tour to visit the wonderful and somewhat hippie town of Santa Cruz and had lunch at the Jumping Monkey Cafe. The food was ok, not spicy enough! but simple and hygenic. The service was excellent. It was being managed by two white young folks, who we found very passionate about what they were doing. And guess what? we saw a white men make Dhosa’s for us and you bet they came out perfect!

After lunch we continued our drive towards Pebble Beach / Pacific Grove aka the 17 mile drive aka Carmel-by-the-sea. Once you reach closer to Pebble Beach, there will be ample of signs for the 17 mile drive. Upon arriving, you pay apprix $10.00 for an unlimited tour of the 17 mile drive. There are ample of ‘points/scenic view points’ where you can pull over and stroll around, sit, and take pics. They also have a golf course and a small souvenier / food court / shopping area. When you pay the toll, they give you a nice map that explains all the points of interest. Above all, I strongly recommend this place for first timers and all timers to SFO.

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By the way, we did not get the time but if one does and the season permits — There is Whale Watching in and around the town of Monterey Bay — google “Monterey Bay Whale Watch”. There are small cruises that start from this place for half a day just for whale watching.

Early in the Evening, we started to drive back from Pebble Beach to Nappa Valley. One can go to Napa Valley via San Jose in 3 hours, but we decided to de-tour and go via SFO to have dinner in the city. It took us apprx 4 to 4 1/2 hours to drive from Pebble Beach, CA and Napa Valley, CA

We reached Napa Valley in the night and stayed at the Gaia Hotel and Spa. It’s Nappa Valley’s environmentally-sustainable hotel and spa! and a boutique style lodging. It costed us $97.00 per night.

In the morning, we took a guided Napa river cruise aboard a electro-motor boat. Seating is limousine-style and the wrap-around windows provide panoramic views from every seat. Luckily we were the only one that day on the boat. Over-all the cruise was ok! I was earlier under the impression that the cruise would show us the wine country but it rather took us around the run down parts of Napa Valley. .

We actually enjoyed somewhat because the skipper was very nice and informative. For example, we found out from him to our surprise that the township of Napa Valley is broke, one could charter a boat from Napa River and go SFO bay, and a small port/marina is being built so that it can handle bigger boats. Few years from now, don’t be surprised if there are boat tours/cruise from SFO bay to Napa Valley!

Since we are not that into wines, we did not tour the wine country just to taste wines. We were rather interested in seeing the grape yards, veraison, crushing, bottling, and then wine tasting. November is definately not the time to do that. Above all because of the time in the year, our trip to Napa Valley was ok. We realized we were better off spending the time in SFO. If we do decide to come back during veraison we will definately rent a bike and take the 3 hour long wine train.

In the afternoon we started to drive back to SFO airport. We were lucky that the traffic when crossing SFO/bay was not bad and we reached the airport with enough time in our hands.

Over-all, the trip was good. We are definately coming back to SFO. In that trip, we may comparatively spend more time in SFO itself. We may do the Segway again — definately. Probably stay around Union Square, and may rent a Go-Car that comes with a GPS.

Note:

• Download a summary of Tours (i.e segway, go-car, double-decker bus)that we took from here ..
• When planning for SFO, I googled for weeks and came up with an excel sheet listing points of interests by geographical categories. We were not able to see all these places, but I will definately use this when we go to SFO next. You can down this list from here ..
• View our SFO trip pics from here …