2000 Vacation in the San Francisco Area

by Frank Marshall

Our family enjoyed a week in and near San Francisco during the summer of 2000.  This report was written, unfortunately, five years later. The photos are scanned from prints made in 2000.

Note -- click on the thumbnails below to see larger images.
Note -- markers below can be found on this interactive Google map.

Saturday, August 5th, 2000

We flew nonstop on United Airlines from BWI to San Francisco (SFO) ($1712 for the four of us). For some reason, getting our rental car took a very long time. All the rental agencies had recently been moved to a building a couple of miles from the airport, and it was complete chaos. It must have taken more than an hour to get a car from when we arrived at the building. We drove to San Jose to see an old friend. His mother and my mother were dear friends when I was growing up in Florida, and I visited his family frequently in Barstow when I was going to graduate school in California. It was fun seeing him for the first time in many years. Afterwards, we drove back to San Francisco, but took a slight detour on Route 92 over to the coast. I bicycled this road in 1974 as part of a SFO to Los Angeles bike trip. I had turned south at Half Moon Bay, but we turned north to drive along the ocean until we got to the city. Our plan was to spend two nights in at the Hilton San Francisco Fisherman's Wharf  hotel (Marker A on the map), then spend 4 nights in Marin County, and finally a night near the airport..

Sunday, August 6th

Powell GiftsWe did the usual tourist things in San Francisco. We rode the cable cars, explored Fisherman's Wharf and watched the seals frolic at the water's edge. We toured Alcatraz ($48 total) and walked through Ghirardelli Square. Powell Gifts at 1101 Powell St. (Marker B, near Chinatown) (photo at left from 2006) was a highlight for Patrick because it had a great selection of the latest Gundams (Japanese action figures), while only a few models were available on the East Coast. We ate an inexpensive lunch at the Kay Cheung Restaurant in Chinatown (615 Jackson St.).

Monday, August 7th

On Monday we made the transition from San Francisco to Marin County. On our way out of town we explored a bit of Golden Gate Park, had lunch at Bill's Place (Marker C), a neighborhood eatery a few blocks north of the park that has been serving burgers for 40 years, and had a great time at the Exploratorium (Marker D). We then drove across the Golden Gate Bridge. I took the opportunity to walk across the bridge. It is only 1.7 miles and the views are terrific. We stayed at the Holiday Inn Express (Marker E) in Mill Valley, which is located about 5 miles north of the bridge. It was a nice hotel, but the ambiance was very relaxed compared to the bustle of San Francisco.

Tuesday, August 8th

We spent all Tuesday touring the wineries of Sonoma and Napa Valleys. Since we had to drive back to Mill Valley at the end of the day, we had to imbibe in moderation. We toured (and bought wine at) the Clos Pegase (Marker F) and Kunde Estate wineries and several others. It was a most enjoyable day.

Wednesday, August 9th

We mostly relaxed on Wednesday, but in the afternoon we drove through Sausalito and had lunch in Tiburon with a nice view of Angel Island.

Thursday, August 10th

LighthousePoint ReyesThursday we explored the largely undeveloped Pacific coast of Marin Country. We started by walking through the redwoods at Muir Woods National Monument. We then drove along the San Andreas Fault to the Point Reyes National Seashore and out to the Pt. Reyes Light Station (left photo, Marker G)), which juts about 10 miles out into the Pacific Ocean. The beaches were wild and windy with very coarse sand (right photo).We chilled out for most of the afternoon at Stinson Beach. That evening we had an enjoyable dinner at the Restaurant Italia in San Rafael.

Friday, August 11th

Hall of ScienceWe packed up and left Friday morning to stay near the airport that night. so that we could easily make our flight early Saturday morning. On the way we crossed the Bay to visit the Lawrence Hall of Science (right photo, Marker H) on the UCB campus, and then strolled along Telegraph Ave. in Berkeley. We then took the Bay Bridge back to San Francisco, which gave Patrick one last chance to stock up at Powell Gifts.

It was late afternoon by the time we reached the Clarion Hotel (Marker I) at 401 E. Millbrae Ave., which is just south of the San Francisco Airport. We had a light dinner at Max's Opera Cafe in the very large Stanford Shopping Center in Palo Alto, and then in the evening relaxed in the outdoor hot tub at the hotel.

Summary

A very enjoyable week.