Please share your California mini getaways.

Why not play tourist in one of our beautiful local towns that you don't normally visit? We used to do this quite a bit but have slacked off in recent years. My DH is working long hours but will be retiring in the next 12-18 months so we plan to start it up again. I'm sure we'll use many of the ideas here!

We like the urban scene, so would suggest day trips to those places that most tourists forget to see, but are a wonderful spice to living in the Bay Area.

When we lived in SF I loved taking visitors to San Jose. We would go to the Rosicrucian Museum, the SJ Rose Garden, and sometimes throw in Winchester Mystery House. The Vietnamese food in SJose is incredible; it's got the largest population of SE Asians in the Bay Area.

In SF there's so many things to do, it's amazing for a tiny city you can walk across in a day. Have you ever taken the hike through the Golden Gate National Recreation area, starting from Eagles Point in the Seacliff neighborhood, all the way out to Lands End? Have lunch at the Park Chalet or Beach Chalet - one's in back, one's in front, but I prefer the Park end. Much more mellow and relaxing.

Have you taken any of the free City Guides tours of SF? Seen the metal rings in the sidewalk of a downtown alley, where they used to tie their horse's reins in Gold Rush days? Or take the Mission Dolores tour, and then make a stop at Joseph Schmidt chocolates right down the street. Walk the length of the Embarcadero on a Tuesday, when a smaller Farmers Market shows up that is a pleasant change from the madhouse tourist crowds on Saturdays.

There are free City Tours of Oakland as well. Take the Chinatown one, but eat at gorgeous MoNO or Bistro Soizic in nearby Jack London Square. Go on a spin through Berkeley - a tour of the University, or a gourmet shopping spree at Walnut Square, with a wide choice of fabulous restaurants nearby. Even the takeout at Gregoire is better than most restaurants can offer, and you can sit and watch the world go by. There is no better bakery in the East Bay than Masse's on Shattuck Avenue. Or stroll down Fourth Street in Berkeley for shopping and more eating, where, as the SF Chron guide to neighborhoods points out, you go to buy things you WANT instead of things you need! There is nothing like lusting after the offerings on display at The Gardener to make you want to toss everything out of your house and start all over again (but only if you have the proverbial blank check, LOL).

Walk Solano Avenue in Albany, where you can visit The Bone Store and a lovely little Tibetan handicrafts shop, amongst a bevy of small neighborhood stores. Again, many nice little restaurants along the street. Drive down University Avenue and go walking along the Berkeley marina - unparalleled views on both sides! Then drive a little to have lunch or dinner at Sea Salt on San Pablo Avenue, my hands-down favorite of the Krikorian local restaurant empire.

If you do the Berkeley Marina/Fourth St. thing, a really exotic experience for visitors is exploring the Indian shops on lower University, between Martin Luther King and Sixth St. There's sari shops and Indian grocery stores full of exotic ingredients. It's a great treat and something you can't find just anywhere.

Another good place to eat in the area is Venezia on University near MLK Way. It's open for lunch weekdays, dinner daily except Monday, and is a fun place with a unique decor. They make the best tiramisu and gelatos, house-made (their bourbon pecan gelato is incredible!).

Anyway, just a few suggestions on how we can all enjoy doing the "insider" things that make our local areas so special - that few visitors and even many natives ever hear about or do.

This message was edited Aug 23, 2008 9:15 AM

Jkom,
Thanks for the local regional travel tips.
I have family visiting from Boston and was drawing a blank at what to do in the Berkeley / Albany area.
I'm going to print out your suggestions, they'll be a big help next week.

Thanks !
Michelle

Michelle, you're welcome and have a great time with your relatives!

The Oakland city tours can be reserved at:
http://www.oaklandnet.com/government/cmo/walkingTours/default.html

SF City Guide tours:
http://www.sfcityguides.org/

Both are free. It's good to make reservations especially on midweek tours, since usually there's a minimum # of people needed for a tour to take place.

Wow Roberta, I am going to have to google Joshua Tree. Has a type of beauty I am not used to.

I second Michelle, Jkom. I have been to many of the places you mentioned but not with a tourists eye. It has been ages since I went to Solano. I have never been to the Berkeley, Marina. And I sure do not have a clue about the Krikorian local restaurant empire. One of my problems is that my husband has no interest in a wandering tour. He will tolerate a trip to a specific destination but not one just to explore. If I have him far from home I have more of a chance to get him out and about in a good mood.

Example, I would love to wander down 4th Street but he would hate every minute of it. Recently we went to eat at O Chame there. I wanted to look in the Gardener. He stood outside with such despair edged in hostility. LOL. Poor Tom. Or maybe poor me. LOL God forbid if I had asked to walk down the street. We go to the specified destination, do not look left or right and rush back home when it is over. So true. LOL I have tons of photos of Tom at our outings. He is always 10 to 15 feet ahead of me. I swear people must think I am in his servitude. He walks as fast as he can hoping it will all be over soon. LOL

Now in his defense, I do tend to drive people nuts. Another friend whenever we would go somewhere, would say every 5 minutes, "Kelley, I am walking" and off she would go.

There he goes, faster in, faster out.

Kell, some of these guys are just too much! Phil and I went to Longwood Gardens one year and he refused to even go in. He sat in the car the whole time I was wandering around - and it took me hours. He was happy as a clam; he had his XM radio, his laptop and his phone. What more could a guy ask for. LOL

I have been saving these ideas also, in case I ever get back to SF.

"Kelley, I am walking", hmmmm, will have to try that one next time we go shopping!

This was part of our last outing, in the Eastern Sierras near Mono Lake in the Jeep with friends. You can see the trail we just came up, thats' nothing, it got steeper. :-)

10,500 feet up to this pretty little lake

so down we go

And a stop for lunch (fish tacos) at Whoa Nellie Deli on the corner of 120 and 395. Simply awesome!
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2005/08/17/FDGPDE77C91.DTL

LOL Sue, that was Lali. She is a riot. She meant it too.

WOW what pictures. Your camera is really showing its stuff now and of course you too. Those are so incredible. That green water is too much. You are so lucky to get all around like that. What fun! Hey I sold another picture today, $50. Not even one I liked. LOL.

Hey Alice, love seeing you visiting us on this forum. I can't believe your husband. Longwood Gardens. Oh, in my dreams. I am dying to go to England on a garden tour. I need someone who is just like me to go with me. Fat chance I will find that, God only made one thank goodness. Actually, I need a sports guy and a garden gal to go with us. The guys can hang out all day and we all meet up for dinner. My husband I will want to eat our way thru any trips too. We are piglets.

Shoot Sue, I am starving and I just read that review. I was thinking of going tomorrow just for fun but it is 5 hours away! I am game for 2 to 3 hours away.

I was hoping Tom would break down and make dinner but it looks like he is going to out wait me.

I may be going to Kenwood in the next few days. Anyone have fun places to visit there if I go?

Just had lamb stew, made by my SIL, nice guy!! And good!

Lucky you. I ended up making dinner and it was barely edible. I so suck at cooking. I am now sipping a delicous red wine and relaxing after my hard hard day, NOT! LOL, what a good life I lead.

Go look at this thread.http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/893347/ Begonia bolivensis cultivars are suddenly all over.

OK, I have to go make reservations for a little trip we are going on with our boy. I am debating Yosemite or Mendocino. Maybe Aptos area. I may just rent a little house on the ocean. It would be so relaxing and he needs to relax. Last minute though, the kid is leaving SF in October to go back to NYC. I am so crushed. I finally got my way too, he loves living in San Francisco more than life in NYC which he fought against for so long. But as a securities trader he must work in NYC forever more. I liked it better when he was a lawyer. At least I had hope then.

Beautiful pictures Sue but my back hurts just thinking about coming down that trail in a jeep.

Congrats on selling another picture Kell. Just think, we have known you and admired your pictures since the days when you were an "unknown". Sorry about your boy wanting to move back east. My youngest just moved closer to home (5 hours) after being in CO for several years. We are thrilled to have him closer. Isn't the center of bond trading supposed to be in CA? Maybe he needs to consider a smaller switch to bonds from securities. Yeah right, try telling a kid what they should do.

Cool about the picture sale, who contacted you this time? I guess that's pretty much the going rate then as it's the same as what I got.
So Jr. has been in SF for a while? I didn't know he had switched careers after all that schooling.
Love that new begonia! And I want that Bonfire too and of course any of those new orange bloom offsprings!

Oh Alice, I have loved having him so close all summer. I am so sad he will be going back. 5 hours away though is not so great, get your boy to move even closer. If T stayed in SF we could see him as much as he wanted, which isn't much. LOL. We will see him for sushi tomorrow night. He is so busy, we are way down on his priority list but even a little is better than when he was in NYC. I can't even bribe him with great dinners out for he gets wined and dined now in the best places.

Do you believe it, Sue? He switched yet again. At least he is not going thru school again for this one and I am not paying for it. LOL. Being a lawyer lasted 6 months longer than his being a computer engineer which was done the day he graduated with his computer degree. He has not even been sworn into the NY state bar yet, been too busy. 25 years old and on his 3rd career. But he seems to be made for this one, loves it. Looks like he is going to get his own fund to manage too in January - so Alice I think he is staying put in NYC. Seems he is a natural. I have high hopes for a wealthy retirement for me! Go TT go! LOL If I can't have him, he better share all the $$. $50 for a picture is not going to go too far. LOL.

Sue, it was some tag place, I guess they sell tags to nurseries.

Mine was to a tag place too! Was the contact person Suzanne?

Sue Vargas, Sue.

So talking about our most cherished babies, how is your big handsome boy doing, Sue? Does he love married life? Are you going to have more beauitful grandkids soon?

Yep, same plant tag place, guess she knows where to find the images now!

Yes, he loves being married, he is so happy and twitterpated! Hopefully no babies for a while though.

I got Africam on in the background and one of the cams has lots of morning bird calls around the waterhole, sounds like a jungle in my office!
http://www.africam.com/wildlife/node

That Africam is just amazing. Imagine as I sit here I can be a voyeur in Africa in real time. Though all seems quiet there now.

Just watched the video of the leopards attacking each other and Mom leopard jump in.

So twitterpated, Sue? Is that Sue speak? LOL. Well that is just great they are doing so well.

Twitterpated! As in #3 here http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=twitterpated
You never watched the movie Bambi? :-0 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JXBbgzQmpJw

Well shoot, I want to be twitterpatered. Sounds so much better than being a twit. Though to be honest, I am often all atwitter.

LOL :-)))))))

Oh my, me too.