Seattle, San Fransico and Santa Cruz

[Lord Chrusher]

In the New Year I will be going to Seattle for about a week for a conference (in the same convention centre as PAX), to San Francisco for a couple days as a holiday and to Santa Cruz for a week to visit colleagues at UC Santa Cruz. I am sorry to say that I have not really spent any time in Seattle or San Francisco so I am looking for suggestions on what to see, do, eat and drink while I am there.

[JustAName]

SF: Do you plan to stay in the city proper, or do you have the time/inclination to cross to the East Bay? In SF there's always the Pier area; go down to the end of Market, see all the cool booths, visit the Musee Mechanique (sp?), and all the other neat stuff around there. You can also see Lombard street if you want (so curvy! but mostly just neat to see once in your life), go through Chinatown, eat at all the fabulous restaurants (I wouldn't even know where to begin with those, though), and of course stop by Ghirardelli Square.

If you'd like more, I can ask my actual native SF friends; I'm from the East Bay myself. Let me know if you plan to visit Berkeley - I've got lots of suggestions there!

[Lord Chrusher]

I was planning to stay in the city proper. I'm flying down from Seattle on the Friday and heading down to Santa Cruz on the Sunday so I don't have a ton of time in San Francisco.

[Metcarfre]

With one day in SF, you can breakfast wherever you're staying, head to Fisherman's Wharf for all the touristy stuff, then go to the Golden Gate for sunset. Head back into town for the evening.

Seattle demands at least a half day in the Market. Get piroshki at Piroshki Piroshki, mini donuts, dried strawberries in the greengrocers, amazing fresh yogurt with passionfruit, cheese curds or mac+cheese at the cheese place. Go to Seattle Coffee Works up the block and get a vacuum pot of coffee to take a break. Pizza at Serious Pie - the potato/rosemary is to die for. Glazed donuts at Top Pot. Catch a movie at Cinerama and enjoy their chocolate popcorn and local ice cream. If you have a meeting with uppity-ups you can expense, head to The Walrus and the Carpenter in Ballard and gorge on oysters, scallop tartare, and duck rillete.

[Keab42]

I enjoyed this place in Seattle. http://www.thecrumpetshop.com

The aquarium was good, as was the Boeing museum if you like planes.

The best place to go in Seattle though is obviously Card Kingdom.

[Lord Chrusher]

I have been to the Boeing Museum on a prevoius visit. I have been through Seattle or to places near Seattle a fair bit but I have spent hardly any time in the city proper.

The only thing I have seen in San Fransico is the Golden Gate Bridge. My track and field team went to Califorina when I was in grade eleven. We visited Santa Rosa (north of San Fransico) and the family we were staying with took us to walk on the Golden Gate Bridge.

I spent a week in Santa Cruz two years ago so I feel I know it decently.

[betsytheripper]

Regarding SF:

The Wharf and Pier 39 are great touristy stuff, and everyone should see them once, but they will be crazy hectic.

Union Square (downtown) is good for big chain store shopping and people watching, but again crazy hectic.

A quick BART or Muni ride down to the Mission has (in my opinion) some of the best food and best shops: pretty much all local, mom and pop stuff. Lots of character, lots of interesting things. Walk down Valencia from about 14th-15th to 26th or so, you'll definitely find something that strikes you. Brief list of shops I love here: Currents, Paxton Gate, the Pirate store, Borderlands Books. Brief list of food I love here: Curry Up Now, Paprika, Papalote, Creme Brulee Shop, Picaro.

My other piece of advice is invest in one of the Muni visitor Passports (http://www.sfmta.com/getting-around/transit/fares-passes/visitor-day-passes) as it will ease all travels within the city.

[Metcarfre]

If you want cool places to look at/shop for menswear in either, though, I can seriously help you out.

[Lord Chrusher]

Sadly I not have the money for that.

[KyrieEleison]

For San Francisco, I'll echo Pier 39, Fishermen's Wharf or Ghirardelli Square. If you're interested, there's also the Walt Disney Family Museum in the Presidio.

As for Santa Cruz, take some time to see the Boardwalk. It'll most likely be closed, cold, and windy, but it's just like the old-school boardwalks and is home to two National Historic Places (the 1914 Looff Carousel and the 1924 Giant Dipper roller coaster), as well as being a state landmark itself.

[Metcarfre]

Also, in SF I found Philz coffee much better than Blue Bottle (but I went to the original one in the Mission).

[betsytheripper]

Everyone raves about Philz, but they also say it's expensive. I also don't drink coffee at all, so I've never tried it.

I remembered the Disney museum earlier today, and on that note there's the Cartoon Art Museum in SOMA, and the de Young across the street from the Academy of Sciences in Golden Gate Park, which are also short walks to the Conservatory of Flowers, Japanese Tea Garden, and Botanical Garden.

And if you're ever stuck trying to figure out where to eat, Yelp is super useful around here.

I might remember more interesting things later, but that's all I have this round.

[Lord Chrusher]

I have made it to Seattle.

[mtvcdm]

I'd like to actually add myself to this request, as in the spring, probably May, I intend to roadtrip to Seattle myself. Officially for vacation, unofficially for potential relocation recon. So if it's May, you were trying to entice someone who's never been to Seattle to go live there, and you had let's say 3-4 days to do it, what would you be dragging them to?

[Lord Chrusher]