San Francisco

If you were going to the San Francisco Bay Area, what would you do?

I have thought this through, and decided for both TC and I that we want to take a trip sometime in July to San Francisco (assuming all works out for us to take such a trip). The following activities are on my list:

• Eat several times at In-N-Out because it is yummy, and absence makes the desert-dwelling, In-N-Out deprived heart grow fonder.


• Hit fabric outlets in San Francisco, because I MUST have more fabric.


• Go to Alcatraz, because although I grew up in the area I have never been, and neither has TC. And what's not to love about a remote prison island surrounded by hypothermia-inducing, shark-infested water?


• Go to Carmel Valley for our super-secret discount place that sells super-secret stuff (ties).


• Go to Berkeley, because TC and I have never been and we will likely travel with my good friend Kacy, who lived there and can show me all the cool stuff that Berkeley has to offer.


• Hit the old neighborhood in the 'Vale.


• Eat at Tia Juana's in Sunnyvale on Duane Avenue because it is the most delicious Mexican food ever, by which I measure all other Mexican foods. Unfortunately for TC, he does not have the palate to appreciate (endure) the kind of spicy-hot-burn-off-your-taste-buds-and-set-your-pants-on-fire gastronomic delights that "La Tia" has to offer. But he loves me, and I will personally ensure that he has a keg of water at hand to put out the fire.

So that's all I have in mind. I know I could check out tripadvisor.com or some other such resource, but since several of my friends are currently living there, and others have recently traveled there, you tell me: what would you do if you were going to spend a week in the Bay Area? I'm not above doing the touristy cheesy "visit the Full House street of row houses" type of stuff. And I also appreciate the insider scoop side of things.