Silicon Valley and the San Francisco Bay Area
Near Sunnyvale/San Jose
Sights:
Tripadvisor.com
has a good summary of the San Jose area, including links to popular
travel guides such as Fodors, etc.
Mountain View
Mountain View is the home of popular web companies such as Google
and Yahoo! Downtown mountain view is a great place to go for restaurants,
and most are located on or near Castro Street.
Palo Alto
HP
Garage: The garage where Hewlett Packard was founded. Map
Stanford University
Recommendation: Go to University Avenue for restaurants and bars.
Restaurants on or near University (casual):
| Gordon Biersch brewery |
Nola's (fun atmosphere) |
Empire Tap Room - nice outdoor seating, a little more formal |
| Darbar Indian Cuisine |
Patxi's pizzeria - deep dish Chicago style (takes a long
time to cook) |
|
San Francisco
See the San Francisco page on Trip
Advisor
Some additional sightseeing recommendations:
| 49 Mile Drive - good self guided overview of the city |
De Young Museum (free observation tower) Nice location
in Golden Gate Park with parking underneath. Part of the 49 mile drive. |
Sutro Park near the Cliff House - part of the 49 mile drive |
| Twin Peaks - part of 49 mile drive |
Chestnut Street - local street near the Marina with many
good restaurants & bars. |
Golden Gate Bridge (walk or bike across it - bring a jacket
no matter what!) and Marin Headlands |
| Cable Car Barn - offers free admission. |
Geocaching - really fun in the city and you will probably
discover hidden views and parks |
Do some sort of water tour - or go to Alcatraz |
| Ruby Sailing Charters - real sailing on the bay |
|
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Here are some restaurants that I've been to a few times (Casual):
| Gordon Biersch - at the base of the Bay Bridge |
Beach Chalet Brewery - at the base of Golden Gate Park |
Magnolia Brewery - in the Haight Ashbury, with many choices
of beer. |
| Hotei - near Golden Gate Park great Japanese Udon soup and
sushi. |
Marny Thai - casual and reasonably priced (south of Golden Gate park) |
Cha Cha Cha - in the Haight Ashbury area |
California Information
The About.com website has information that may help you plan
a vacation "further afield" in California, including
a page with driving distances between major attractions. Note
that you can find some additional information about cities like
San Francisco and San Diego in the California section that you
won't necessarily see in the topic pages for those cities.
Activities:
Nearby parks/hikes include Shoreline
Park, the Stanford Dish,
and the surrounding
open space.
Great America is a theme
park with seasonal hours.
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