THIS...going down there, getting tix to alcatraz, checking out the piers....getting some beer and crab sammys..Check out street performers....Aquarium...I mean he IS a toursit...What the F should he do? Get a Job? LOL...Pick up litter?

Agreed about Tadich. We ate there. Wife still swears by the shrimp cocktail.

Downtown SF really is amazing. I absolutely despise most downtowns, but SF is actually quite lovely. Still busy, but not crazy (if you know what I mean).

Spend at least a half a day in Sonoma. Pack a picnic lunch, and go to Nicholas Ranch. The tasting is free, and you can just hang out on the property and drink. It's really relaxing. If you want to see Napa, go to Nickel and Nickel and make sure you sign up for the last tasting tour of the day.

I must have been in a different city. Lovely? Really?

Beautiful setting and surroundings, dirty, dirty city. Glad I visited, don't get me wrong, but I would definitely not describe it as lovely.

I don't expect any major metro downtown to be "clean." I think it helps that it's near water, mind you.

I found SF a "small" big city. We walked a lot of it. It's very accessible, didn't find it intimidating.

I'm sure living there would drive me crazy with its politics, not to mention the cost. But it's absolutely one of my favorite cities, and I'd love to go back. Lots more restaurants I want to knock off my list.

I would agree if he had more than a weekend...as a matter of fact I have written extensively about it here:

http://www.chiefsplanet.com/BB/showp...9&postcount=28

I just think if you have never been to SF , trying to cram in sonoma in half a day is too much.(when you want to see SF and only have a wekend) Come back again and spend a few days in sonoma..Ill hook you up.

(edit: I highly encourage anyone who HAS seen SF before to make that kind of venture though...)

We tried to book our trip 6 weeks in advance and couldn't get it done. It might be different in the Winter months though.

See the aquarium at Pier 39 if you can.

Drive down Lombard Street if you can. Also one block further away from the pier you can drive down Filbert Street, but be ready that is one steep slope.

Well, looking at the geography, they really don't have much of a choice. It's not like they have much option to sprawl (like Dallas).

One of my favorite places in the world is down near Santa Cruz (Aptos specifically). If you have a free day, go.

They could liquidate Oakland and take that over.

Sushi with Big Daddy!

This is SF outside of a very few very upscale restaurants no one bats an eye at jeans. Why? Too many tech millionaires and tech people aren't big fans of dressing up, so people tend to dress down. Granted this also makes shopping in SF more pleasant than say NYC. Since they can't tell by looking at you if you have money or not you tend to get great service.

So given what you've said, if I probably would not recommend the asian art museum. Both the De Young and the Cal Academy of sciences are across from each other in golden gate park(so you get to see a bit of the park too). While I haven't been there yet I've heard great things about the academy of sciences. It's natural history but alot of people have fun there. Here's the web site

http://www.calacademy.org/

If you want more classical fine art's the De Young is across the street.

http://deyoung.famsf.org/

It's charming, but it's far from lovely.

San Francisco residents think that the rich should share with the poor, but the houses there cost $5million each.

San Francisco residents think that it's important to live "green" lifestyles, but there's no grass, and the only trees you see are insets within the sidewalk.

San Francisco residents think that ebony and ivory should live together in perfect harmony, but the only blacks in town are Mike Singeltary and Frank Gore.

First off, thanks for all the great advice. You guys really came through when we spent our 30th anniverary in NE last year.

Holy cow, lots of good info here. I'm going to have to show this to the other couple and come up with a plan.

It sounds like picking a Union Square hotel was good luck seeing as there is lots of stuff to do downtown.

I want to see Alcatraz but I'll have to see if everyone else wants to. Can we get that done in half a day?

Any other tequila bars other than Tres Agave's? The women like to sip good tequila. They're kind of tequila snobs.