SF trip gone bad

Twisted

Twisted

Premium Member
Well spent the weekend down there in sanf francisco and sadly didn't get to hit one fish store. Spent the whole time trying to keep my daughter and another couple we were down there with entertained.
I don't know how you guys drive down there daily I would have a bad case of road rage!
All in all I love hitting the stores down there, but I missed out this time, so left there empty handed, trying to plan an over night trip this summer with just me and my wife to hit as many stores as I can in one day.

Anyways I tried to hook up with no luck, maybe in a couple months! Take it easy Bay Area!
 
Dude, I lived there for 8 years. The parking is so bad that I parked my car in a garage FIVE blocks from my apartment for $250/month. The car was new when I moved there, and after years of parking, it was full of dents and scrapes.

My motorcycle had been knocked over about 12 times, and once I found it IN THE MIDDLE OF THE ROAD (though with a note on it). Several times, the bike had been picked up and MOVED TO THE SIDEWALK.

I've paid about $1000 in parking fines even with my $250/month parking. Including one time I parked in front of my apartment, ran in to use the bathroom, and came out to find a $250 parking ticket (the car was obstructing an access curb, which is not good, but I literally ran in and out of the apartment).

San Francisco is NOT a car friendly place. Sadly, it's not particularly pedestrian friendly either, since the public transit sucks (no buses at a bus stop for about 45 minutes, then suddenly 3 FULL buses will appear). Though the hills will build you calves of iron.

Rant over...

I will refrain from mentioning the pan handlers and people peeing in the streets. Oh, and that time my friend was walking home and came across an actual dead guy...

V
 
I like SF ... and I hate it... don't mind where I live, but I understand what you mean about being car unfriendly. 25 cents for 7.5 minutes of parking at a meter, and the city acts like they're being gracious and it only cost $2 per hour. *sigh*

Of course the city ordinances allowing people to build almost without limit and worst of all, removing any parking requirements for new residential buildings really means you're not going to be happy in this city. Which is why I try to stay out of the busier parts of the city.

Lucky Ocean, hard to find parking but it can be done. Aquatic Central, easy if you know where to park and don't mind walking a half block. Ocean Treasures, ughhh that place is impossible to park around, luckily for me that means less money spent though :)
 
I been commuting there for work for about 10 years now. I drove the first two during the dotcom boom 50 miles one way. Yeah traffic sucks, I finally gave in and now I take BART from Concord so I can get some ZZZzzz's. :)
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9940048#post9940048 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Lordhelmet
thats why one trip to the city a year is all i can handle. i hate driving there.
Click to expand...


Exactly!
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9941543#post9941543 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by -=Zepplock=-
Exactly!
Click to expand...

While driving in the city might be a pain to the weak at heart ;).. I personally think driving to other cities in the bay to be much more stressing on the freeways to/from those cities.

Downtown SF traffic is nothing compared to 580 traffic in the east bay.
 
I agree with Mike... if you know where to go / what streets to take, it's not bad at all.

My favorite streets are Pine and Gough for example. Timed lights, given nobody's trying to parallel park, you're pretty much guaranteed speedy passage through SF.

You just have to be slightly aggressive with a calm mood, and you'll be fine =)
 
Pine for East to West
Bush for West to East

Gough for North to South
Leavenworth isn't bad for South to North

Never take Van Ness if you are in a hurry...

Parking? Just pay the $20 for parking, it's cheaper ...

V
 
Fell and Oak do a good job as well, if you're going towards Masonic etc.

We should put together a "best streets to take in san francisco" list =)
 
Well I was staying in a hotel on south airport blvd, saturday I had to find crissy field, internet map directions got us lost, but I found embarcadaro and followed it around.
Then from crissy field to the zoo I went to lamardo to 1 to sloat or something like that.
Then got lost getting back to the hotel.

Sunday went back to pier 39, easy to find, got lost from there to the exploratorium <can only enter from one direction I guess>
By the time we did the warf and the exploratorium it was 6pm and I figured most of the fish stores were closed, and it was already going to be 9pm by the time I drove home, so I went home....no fishy stores for me! <sorry self pity is bad>

So anyways my wife and daughter had a good time, I felt a bit rushed the whole time trying to get all the stuff in for everybody, but we did it, the aquarium at the wharf is a bit nicer then I remember.

Kinetic what is that fish in your avatar a smiths goby?
 
Ahh...you were trying to go from one end of the city to the next. Yeah, you have to try to find all the speedy streets if you want to cross from one end to the next.

Weekends are just tarded' there are too many people who just can't drive and shouldn't drive. I once spent forty-five minutes just trying to get out of city up to Marin. It can take half a hour just to get to the Bay Bridge, and that's without crazy 5-6 traffic going eastbound.

Hint: next time post where you want to go and maybe we'll be able to map it out for you. :D
 
Well, I think the biggest problem I had were the road signs, no left turn betwenn 7am and 3pm? huh? or following the exploratorium signs along the road, you are commming up to a part of the road that doesn't just turn left or right, but basically splits, left two lanes go left, the right two lanes split right, and the next sign showing you which way to go to the exploratorium is after the split, so you have no time to change lanes if you need to.

Anyways, the place has some great attractions, and I am sure my next visit will be much more fun to me, like I said mainly fish stores, maybe I will manage to get one of you BAR guys to lead us around!
 
Don't you guys have NAV system in your car?? :D

I always get lost before I bought a van with a NAV system. Before if I wanted to go to China Town, I just printed out a map to Pier39 and I would end up in China Town for some reasons :D . I hate SF's streets.

Even walking in SF, you have to know which street you should take. Some streets are loaded with homeless. They pee, s**t and sleep right on the street.
 
kinda OT, but now-a-days verizon phones and probably other carriers have built in navigation for $10 / month. If you use it often it may be worth it?
 
Having lived in the Bay Area my entire life, I have a certain respect for SF and the people who are brave enough to navigate the streets within the city. I have a few streets that I will attempt to drive and a couple sections of the city were I will drive the rest ...... park and take a taxi! To be honest 90% of the time that I drive to SF, its usually to get to Sonoma or Healdsburg.

But one huge feather in the hat for SF and its residents, there are some great places to eat and some fantastic architecture and museums. Just avoid the traps like pier 39!

tyler
 
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