interrogator

Ok, so I travel quite frequently to the San Jose, CA (the Valley area). I'm tired of heading to Monterey only to get a fog-in & no sunset. Carmel does nothing for me (and nor did SF).

Can anyone recommend anything, a little on the fun side, with perhaps some local history? I've seen Stanford and the sites in SF, but am looking for more of a "local's" tour.

k

Cynthetiq

I love the aquarium in Monterey... but staying in San Jose....

haven't been there in years...but I always like the Winchester Mystery House... more hype than it is anything more than an oddity...

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interrogator

Ya---done it twice. I picked up more oddities the 2nd time around, but even then, was more hype.

The Japanese tourists liked it though

numist_net

next time I'm around, Ill take you around.

the local secret is that when santa cruz is fogged in, monterey is usually clear. the reverse is also usually true.

The same works for half moon bay and pacifica, and they always fit that equation.

Pt Reyes is good in a national park sense, but if your going to be a tourist, SF is really one of the only bay area places to do...

Rodney

Kelley Park in San Jose is pretty cool, if you're historically minded. It's essentially a small town made out of old buildings (1800s-early 1900s) that were moved to the site from other locations around town when they were in danger of being torn down. There's a streetcar track down the middle of "town" with free rides on historic streetcars on weekends, and you can tour a big shop where enthusiasts restore old streetcars. Weekends are the time to go, because they have a lot of docents, historical recreations and such going on. And you can go into some of the houses and stores, which are fully furnished to the period. Haven't been in years, but it was pretty cool. Fun and historical, but also like walking through the world's largest-scale model railroad layout :-). Here's a URL

http://www.historysanjose.org/visiti.../history_park/

If I were you, I'd also take a long drive down Highway 1, from Santa Cruz to San Francisco, or vice versa. 1 is a great road that parallels the ocean alongside undeveloped farmland and rolling hills, and there are a lot of little towns and beaches off it that are worth stopping at: Half Moon Bay, Pescadero (stop at Duarte's for cream of pepper soup, and visit the old-time fruit stand/roadside attraction nearby, or just hang out in this ancient farm/fishing town), Davenport (some funky artisan's shops, including a massive glassblowing operation), and others. And between Santa Cruz and the San Mateo County Line, especially, there are plenty of wild, undeveloped beaches that you can't see from the road but can hike or climb down to with little difficulty. Gorgeous, chaotic cliffs and rocks, totally unlike Southern California beaches. Just pull over wherever you see a couple of cars parked by the road (they're probably surfers) and follow whatever path you find. You'll get there. It's all more or less public land, but they lease a lot of it to farmers, so don't walk through the middle of any crop fields you find unless you want to risk a snoot full of pesticide (they spray).

dylanmarsh

California Academy of the Sciences in Golden Gate Park is really cool. Lots of interesting exhibits and people.

Have you checked out the coast? Look under Tilted Photography for pics.

bobw

Just outside Half Moon Bay (a couple miles) is a little town called Princeton. Off of Pilar Point in Princeton is Maverics. Awesome view of some of the largest waves in the world...nobody even dared to surf them until the 60s or so... from the shore is just an awesome view of the breaking waves. Within a couple miles is Moss Beach Distillery, which is a restaraunt/bar with sub-par food, but a great deck outside with lounging chairs and complementary blankets to keep warm while looking out onto the ocean... a great place to bring a date. I usually get a warm Irish Coffee and relax ...

interrogator

Thanks for the suggestions. I hope that next trip out there I'll either get a day or two to explore the coast either with camera or on bicycle. Either way, Route 1 is my calling.

Spent a week on the Jersey shore and the ocean must be in my blood .

Thanks all,

-k