Monday/Tuesday Bay Area Stuff to Do

October 25, 2009 9:20 PM

What else can I visit in the last 2 days of my Bay-area visit?

After dropping my wife off at the airport tomorrow morning, I have 48 hours to see as much cool stuff as possible. I realize that I'm getting awfully close to duping numerous "cool/geeky things to do in the Bay" questions, but the unique twist here is that it's Monday/Tuesday: most of the cool things (like Computer History Museum) are closed these days.

Can anyone suggest some neat things to drive by and take pictures of, see, or do? What's worth the drive time? Apple HQ? Netflix? Google? Yosemite National Park? Mythbusters/M5 Industries?

I've already seen the Exploratorium, and walked around Crissy field and Stanford.

Thanks!

posted by yellowbkpk to travel & transportation (12 comments total)

Weird Stuff and Fry's Electronics (South Bay)
The Nike Missile Museum just north of the Golden Gate Bridge
Santa Cruz Boardwalk and downtown
Stinson Beach / Bolinas and maybe the Pelican Inn along the way from SF for lunch or dinner
posted by zippy at 9:37 PM on October 25, 2009

Apple HQ. . . Kinda boo-ring. Apple has a lot of buildings now but if you don't know which teams are where it's kinda meaningless.

Google has a large campus but also boring.

Yosemite would be very cool but it's a five hour drive. Glacier Point is an awesome place to see the sunrise. The loop hike to Nevada Falls (take the J Muir trail part for a couple of hours, then take the direct descent back down) is a nice activity.

The state beaches along highway 1 south of Half Moon Bay are nice, and it's an easy cutover from SFO to HMB on Highway 92. The nicest point within easy driving distance is Pt Lobos just south of Carmel. Pacific Grove and Carmel are pleasant this time of year. Santa Cruz is a nice stopover on the way down. And on the way back you can take the infamous Highway 17 (caution: deadly) and search for Netflix in Los Gatos.

If you've got a rental car then the drive up & up (& up) Marin Ave is fun. It's like driving up the moon! Plus the views of the bay from the roadside on Grizzly Peak highway are really amazing when the weather's clear. Lawrence Hall of Science is nearby & open, and the view from their view thing is also very amazing. Telegraph Ave is a nice little daytime jaunt, too.
posted by mokuba at 9:39 PM on October 25, 2009

^ oh yeah if you dig residential architecture then the Berkeley Hills are golden. SOooo many wonderful houses I'd like to own up there.
posted by mokuba at 9:40 PM on October 25, 2009

Cable car museum! It's free, it's open every day, and it's really cool if you're into engineering and infrastructure and stuff. It's the nexus of all the cable car lines so you can check out all the machinery and see the cables moving underneath the street.

The Bay Model? I haven't been there myself yet but I've heard it's really cool, and something unique to San Francisco.

Unfortunately the Nike missile museum that Zippy mentioned is only open Wednesday-Friday and occasional Saturdays.
posted by autojack at 10:20 PM on October 25, 2009

The modern art museum is open Tuesday and it's a great collection, not the largest but pretty sweet.
posted by dancestoblue at 11:01 PM on October 25, 2009

Musee Mechanique! Pier 45, by Fisherman's Wharf. I made it a goal to play all the player pianos/wurlitzers.
posted by shinyshiny at 11:16 PM on October 25, 2009

Yosemite National Park?

Yosemite is indeed pretty cool, and hard to match in some ways, but Muir Woods is a wonderful outdoor experience and a lot closer.

Though I think that the best Bay Area view available might be from the south side of Angel Island.
posted by weston at 12:10 AM on October 26, 2009

If you haven't seen redwood trees, you should go see them.
posted by LobsterMitten at 12:17 AM on October 26, 2009

I vote Half Moon Bay or a North Bay Beach like Stinson and a leisurely ride back - maybe the long way through Fairfax? - the weather is nice.

And the SFMOMA is open Mondays.
posted by serazin at 3:25 AM on October 26, 2009

Can't get much more geeky than that Computer History Museum. I really enjoyed it.
posted by roue at 7:07 AM on October 26, 2009

Oh, there are so many things to do in that area! A few ideas:

Monterey Bay Aquarium is one of the best in the country. You could spend an entire day there. They have a kelp forest and some gigantic tanks where you can watch sardines and other schooling fish swim with sharks, a magnificent jelly fish exhibit and some adorable sea otters.

Santa Cruz has a great boardwalk, but most of the rides are probably closed for the season. However, there's terrific people watching to be had.

Winchester Mystery House in San Jose is very interesting. The widow of rifle maker Winchester went a little crazy and built a gigantic house, believing that as long as there was the constant sound of hammering in her house spirits killed by the Winchester rifle would not disturb her.
posted by fyrebelley at 11:54 AM on October 26, 2009

Sutro Baths and the Cliff House are a nice way to spend an afternoon.
posted by chairface at 6:39 PM on October 26, 2009