If you're going to San Francisco... we are!

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
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1 and 2 - once you get off a Cable Car, you have to pay full fare when you get back on. Besides, why don’t you take the antique trolleys (the “F” line) from Market Street to Pier 39? Those do accept normal MUNI bus transfers.

1a and 2a - exactly, unless you’re willing to settle for one ride each.

3 - it is my experience that finding a seat is always a problem on a Cable Car, especially if you don’t board it at one end or the other.

As for BART, unless you’re interested in going to the University of California (and if you are, keep in mind that a significant portion of it is uphill) or have tickets to an Oakland A’s baseball game, I don’t see why tourists would want to bother with it. (IIRC, the MUNI Light Rail service, which serves the same stops as BART on Market Street, can be accessed with MUNI passes and transfers.)

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Wally’s Hot Springs, Genoa Nv, at the base of Kingsbury Grade. 2 other hot springs close by, less “resorty”, Markleville and Carson
Nevada State Museum, Carson City
Virginia City, if you like “touristy” type stuff. Fake mine tours, cheesy museums and all the fudge and hat stores you care to visit
Some “mild” off-roading in Tahoe if you are slightly more adventurous
Thunderbird Lodge on the East shore of Tahoe. Pricey, but cool.

If you are staying on the South Shore, I would drive up US 50 instead of 80.

I’ve got an Entertainment book, and never use the “non-food” discount coupons. If you want the ones for the local atractions, let me know. I’ll shoot them to you in the mail, or drop em off at the cabin.

Also, highly unlikey for snow in early Oct. Not impossible, but highly unlikey. Used to snow before Halloween almost always but not lately. (I hope I’m wrong, for a change. Early snow means early skiing! Maybe…)

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Thank you all for your advice! Can’t wait for October!

We’ve actually decided on Japantown over Chinatown. We have a sizable Chinatown in Honolulu, anyway. And I’ve always enjoyed Japanese food more (Okonomiyaki…mmmm) Seeing the stores on Yelp with Totoro figures was the clincher for the little ones. Oh, and the Godzilla figures :stuck_out_tongue:

Our Tahoe cabin is off Carnelian Bay, so we’ll be North. I appreciate the coupon offers, but we’ll be eating in the cabin. We plan on visiting Emerald Bay and Taylor Creek. Parking shouldn’t be too crowded in early October?

San Francisco can get cold, would jeans and sweaters be enough in October, or should we go warmer?

And perhaps the big question. How does October rank in the tourist season? We’ll be in SF on Sat-Sun-Mon, which includes Columbus Day. Big lines and crowds for places like the Cable Cars and Exploratorium? Parking trouble at Golden Gate Bridge and Golden Gate Park?

Here’s a strange question that I wasn’t able to get at the Muni site, so I’ll appeal to the locals:

I did read I could purchase 1-day Muni cards on the cable cars themselves. Cash only, or debit/credits cards okay? We’ll probably start from the California Line after the Ferry Bldg Saturday market

Parking meters: Are they usually the card type, or quarters? I read that you have to pre-pay for a $20 card to slide in the parking meters. I don’t plan on driving all that much. What happens if I don’t use it all?

Parking near Filbert Steps: look for street parking on a wing and a prayer?

On a more humorous note, we’ll be visiting the Castro district. I asked some of my gay buddies if they could recommend a place. One said The Sausage Factory. Yeah, no. But we settled on Orphan Andy’s. We showed the kids some pictures: “Cool! A Rainbow store!”

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The Sausage Factory is just a pizza restaurant! Pretty good. It’s like the least gayest place in the area. Just “rustic” decor, no dancing guys. Unless it changes late at night…

Weather - depends on your personal comfort. For me it would be enough; it’s not bone biting cold, just gets breezier and ocean-colder than people expect.

Japantown is basically a mall. Cool stuff in there. Chinatown is a Chinatown, some historic things but Japantown is cleaner and all. I don’t think I’ve been to Chinatown often though, just in Oakland. There are a few Korean places near Japantown too. And the Fillmore is across the street if you feel like catching a show.

I believe there are all types of parking meters? Never heard of that card. You could craigslist it at least. Not sure about Columbus day either, there is a parade which partially goes down (bumbabum… wait for it…) Columbus Ave.

Carnelian: I don’t think parking should be a problem. Some parts are less hospitable for walkers (e.g. no sidewalk). And you could look for awhile but I don’t think it would be a problem.

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Don’t waste your time hoping to get on the cable car a block or two up from the start of the route. If there’s a line at the turnaround, the cars will leave packed full.

I can’t i imagine that they could take anything but cash on the cable cars.

If you can get past the name, the Sausage Factory has good Italian food. Nice to hear that the orphanage is still going. They’ve been there forever. Seriously, 35 years is an eternity in restaurant years, especially in SF, where most new restaurants don’t see their second birthday. Although, the SausageFactory is also doing something right as they’ve been at it for 44 years.

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Thirding the Sausage Factory. Real old-school Italian/psuedo-Victorian/San Francisco decor and great pizza and pasta. Go to their website castrosausagefactory.com for Tony singing “I Left My Heart In…”

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But if you really need a pretext to enjoy the BART experience, there’s the Oakland Museum near downtown Oakland, just a block or so from the Lake Merritt BART station. Three museums in one: Natural history on one floor, Calif history on one floor, and are (mostly contemporary local are) on one floor. Worth a trip, if museums are your thing.

ETA: It’s been a while since I’ve been in that area. IIRC, I’m pretty sure it’s near the Lake Merritt station.

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It’s like 2-3 blocks from Merritt. 12th Street (towards downtown) is reasonably close too, under 10 blocks I think.

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How does October rank in the tourist season? We’ll be in SF on Sat-Sun-Mon, which includes Columbus Day. Big lines and crowds for places like the Cable Cars and Exploratorium? Parking trouble at Golden Gate Bridge and Golden Gate Park?

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Enjoy! Did San Francisco and Tahoe for my honeymoon 7 yrs ago in May. Hands down the best holiday I’ve ever had.

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If there is snow in October it may only stick at the higher elevations rather than at the side of the road. To improve your chances, try taking the Aerial Tram at Squaw Valley. Even if there is no snow, it might be fun for the kids.

Another cool place that is close to SF is Muir Woods. Massive redwood trees and some easy walking trails.

As far as wine country, I would vote for Napa. All of the wineries are on one road ( Hwy 29 ) and some of the architecture is outstanding. I am not a wine drinker so I can’t comment on the quality of the wines.

Finally, one restaurant in San Francisco I would encourage you to try is The Stinking Rose. Good food and a neat interior, although vampires should probably stay away. :stuck_out_tongue:

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California being California, I think all year is tourist season, so I would come expecting big lines no matter what. If you really want the cable car experience without waiting in line, it runs until around midnight and the crowds thin out well before then. But if you’re with a young kid being out that late may not be an option.

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It really isn’t too bad in Oct as opposed to the summer, but that weekend will be more packed than usual in the North Beach area. We have a big parade for Columbus Day. Too bad the parade is on Sunday, all those people with no place to get focaccia since Liguria is closed. (Hint-get there early on any other morning because they close when they sell out.)

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OMG, can’t believe we forgot to update this thread. This weekend was the perfect storm of events- Fleet Week with the Blue Angels, Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival, Giants and A’s Playoffs, 49ers game, Columbus Day parade, America’s Cup, Castro Street Fair and a whole bunch of “minor” activities. I hope you weren’t trampled in the crowds.

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Well, we’re back, and had a total blast! Thanks for all your advice. The weather was perfect and we did make the most of our break from island fever!

Somona Valley: We explored historic Sonoma Square for a while and picked up a picnic lunch at the Sonoma Cheese Factory, although the kids probably filled themselves up with the cheese samples. We chose the Benziger Winery, as it had a playground and tractor ride tour. Wine was terrific, and the kids loved drinking water through the fancy wine glasses. Grapes were tart and had seeds, like you predicted.

Reno: I liked this place when I lived here before, and thought the kids might like the bright lights , but was unprepared for how empty it would be. Las Vegas is called Hawaii’s 9th Island. If so, Reno would be a deserted island in the middle of the ocean. Still, the kids had fun at the buffet (endless gelato) and especially Circus Circus.

Lake Tahoe: alas, no snow. However, that did not bother the kids one bit. We had a terrific North Tahoe cabin and we kept our exploring to a minimum, since we’d rather stay there and relax. We never ate out, choosing to cook all our meals at the cabin. We took a trip down to Emerald Bay and the views were nothing short of spectacular. It seemed like I was taking a picture after every step. The chilly autumn alpine lake did nothing to prevent Anya from taking a dip.

San Francisco: One tiny quibble to get out of the way: I had no idea it was FLEET WEEK! None of my research (from online or the library) revealed the Blue Angels were in town. Oh, and that’s the day I thought about Fisherman’s Wharf and crossing the Golden Gate. We ended up revisiting both, so no biggie in the big picture. Plus the kids thoroughly enjoyed watching the jets roar overhead. Still, could’ve done without the crowds trying the catch the F Market line back to our parking garage. (Sandra Battye: I see the Fleet Week warning now)

Other than that, San Francisco was terrific! We saw it all, from Lombard Street to Coit Tower to Alamo Square. We rode all the cable car lines and crossed the Golden Gate Bridge. Neighborhoods like Cow Hollow, North Beach, Japantown, and Chinatown were attacked by our little ones. But that was nothing compared to the Exploratorium!

I’ll let the pictures tell the story
(I take lots of pictures, so there’s an overview section)