San Francisco Bound

[baconburner]

My wife and I are celebrating our 30th Anniversary and at the same time travelling to San Francisco from Vancouver for the wedding of our nephew and his bride to be on the 28th of October. We are in no rush as we travel down, four to five days is probably what it will take. Any suggestions from you re "Don"t Miss" to accommodations that are not Motel 6 would be appreciated. Budget is not in the French Laundry Catergory. The one area is that my wife and garlic are mutually exclusive. (Unfortunately)

Any tips or experiences would be appreciated.

Thanks

Malcolm

[James Kendal]

Hi Malcolm,

This thread may get moved due to the content but I will recommend the following itinerary for you::

Day 1 Vancouver to Portland

Portland Hotel 5th Avenue Suites

Restaurant= Blue Hour

Day 2 Portland to Rogue River (southern Oregon)

Hotel = Tu Tu Tun Lodge

Day 3= Travel to Healdsburg

Hotel = Hotel Healdsburg

At Hotel Healdsburg you can eat at Charlie Palmers Dry Creek Kitchen

From here you are only a couple of hours to San Fransisco.

I have stayed at these hotels and they are excellent.

Hope this helps

[jahvay]

Ofcourse highway 1 is a must, especially through Oregon. The sand dunes at Coos Bay are a must.

Mendicino, Ca is a beautiful town on a clif overlooking the pacific. It is a little bit touristy in a nice way. The Cafe Beaujolais is a classic, run by Ruth Baer Fox. It is well worth a stop. Check out their website.

[mkjr]

Day 3= Travel to Healdsburg

Hotel = Hotel Healdsburg

At Hotel Healdsburg you can eat at Charlie Palmers Dry Creek Kitchen

From here you are only a couple of hours to San Fransisco.

Hope this helps

←

If in Healdsburg, also consider Bistro Ralp. I also forget the name of this little mexican restaurant just off the main plaza that was fantastic and cheap. Make sure that you try some Tandem Winery Pinot's while at the little local plaza shop on the west side of the square and Tip Top liquor is a good stop for some interesting wines. I suspect that you may need to post in Cali and other forums to get the musts. So many places to choose from a so little time. I would die to do the trip that you are going to again. Keep in mind also that I would stock up at Larry's in Seattle (or Anecortes to you probably know where) with wine on the way since it shall be much cheaper that the BCLDB.

[baconburner]

Thanks for your replies.

We did a trip down the Coast 6 years ago on the way to Arizona. Our stops were hit or miss. As this is a special trip the info is muchly appreciated.

Malcolm

Hi Malcolm,

This thread may get moved due to the content but I will recommend the following itinerary for you::

Day 1 Vancouver to Portland

Portland Hotel 5th Avenue Suites

Restaurant= Blue Hour

Day 2 Portland to Rogue River (southern Oregon)

Hotel = Tu Tu Tun Lodge

Day 3= Travel to Healdsburg

Hotel = Hotel Healdsburg

At Hotel Healdsburg you can eat at Charlie Palmers Dry Creek Kitchen

From here you are only a couple of hours to San Fransisco.

I have stayed at these hotels and they are excellent.

Hope this helps

←

[christabel]

I did some quicky reviews when I was in SF a couple of months ago, at a variety of price ranges - check out my SF page on the Little Piggy

[mkjr]

Thanks for your replies.

We did a trip down the Coast 6 years ago on the way to Arizona. Our stops were hit or miss. As this is a special trip the info is muchly appreciated.

Malcolm

←

If this is special then I would definately post in the Pacific Northweat forum and California forum also. I find the locals can debate the best of much better than I could in the Vancouver forum (I have done the drive about 10 times but still does not make me an expert in each area). For example, when I go to the bay area I go to http://www.zacharys.com/ Zacharys pizza, which I think is the best, although that is just my view and I have not been to all of the places that claim to be the best. I am sure they would debate the issue to the point where you can choose one and be happy (but you might be unhappy if you went to the one I suggeseted). Cheers and enjoy the trip.

[canucklehead]

I think Zachery's is great too - especially since you can't anything remotely related to Chicago style pizza in Vancouver. I remember going and seeing these thick pizza's that had small diameters - and thought I could a whole one on my own. I think I can get through two slices.

At the other end - I would be curious to hear about the thin Neopolitan style pizza's being made at Delfina's. I am a big fan of Delina's - and I suspect their pizza's would be top notch.

[samasutra]

Not sure where to recommend on the way down but I know where to stay once you get there. The Palace Hotel On New Montgomery Street. It was first built in 1875, burnt down and rebuilt in 1909. It is gorgeous. It is the first time I have ever been able to sleep in a hotel, the rooms are so quiet and the beds so comfortable with down quilts. I wanted to take the beds home. Luxury and beautiful furnishings in real mahogany. If you can afford the brunch in the garden room, worth it to just sit in the domed crystal room..we could not afford it as were on a shoestring budget...we peeked at the brunch...it looked incredible.

We had reservations at a boutique hotel a few blocks over but the thing about San Francisco is most of the hotels do not have air conditioning which we did not know before we went there. I have MS and have to have air conditioning if staying during the summer which we were and it was hot! So they let us out of our reservations because they could not provide air conditioning because I had a health condition. We checked several hotels in area and no air conditioning. I was quite surprised that no one provided it. I just assumed fact of life.

The Palace has been renovated re plumbing,electrical and has air conditioning. Anyway, the hotel was one of the nicest I have ever stayed in. Not sure how much it is for regular folk. Was with my daughter and got her agents rate.

A really fun place to eat downtown in SF is the Cheesecake Factory. We really enjoyed it. Big portions though and the desserts is great. The Chinese Chicken Salad is great. Warning , usually big lineups. On top on Macys Dept Store. Lineups move well though. Good, friendly service. We really liked it and I think it is worth one try.

We never had time to do any gourmet dining when we were there nor the budget.

This place has moderate prices.

Of course, we ate at Fishermans wharf. I can never do SF and not do Fishermans wharf as I am a fish hound.

Sure wish I was going on your trip. I have always wanted to drive down. I hear it is a beautiful drive.

good luck and do avoid the Motel '6's. Have heard grim stories about break ins.

Also, heard stories about Doubletrees and how they use information they encode on your key to your door. There was some security issues. Not sure if urban legend or not but it pays to be safe and maybe avoid them as a hotel.

Pretty sure I read in a newspaper or mag about some security issues. Cannot remember. Maybe check it out at snopes.com if urban legend

samasutra