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Ask HN: How can I experience SF and Silicon Valley in two weeks?

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Re: Ask HN: How can I experience SF and Silicon Valley in two weeks?

#21

Post by Tloewald »

sjg007 wrote: post #6

Sit in traffic on the 101. Take Caltrain to SF between 6am-10am or the other way from 5pm-7pm. Walk around Soma, east some food. Take Bart. Drive East across Dumbarton bridge between 4pm-6pm (actually go West and look at the traffic the other way). Drive by Facebook, drive by Google. Walk around downtown Palo Alto. Also there is Hacker Dojo in Mt. View which is a good place to meet others. You can also walk around do…

Don't forget to eat a $15 lunch special in Palo Alto and for bonus points get a parking ticket for failing to parse the insane special case parking signs.

A lot of people like to take selfies at the Facebook sign if you can get to it without being run over.

Re: Ask HN: How can I experience SF and Silicon Valley in two weeks?

#23

Post by cjauvin »

eb0la wrote: post #2

Visit the Computer history museum and try to resist the impulse to hugh the Cray-1. The tech in San Jose is also interesting. Try to visit a state park or natural reserve nearby. Visit Carmel and point lobos (2hr drive from SF), Half Moon bay...

I googled "hugh verb" to see first if I wasn't missing some slang (not a native English speaker).. it seems not so.. I wonder in what way is the Cray-1 particularly huggable? (genuinely curious)

Re: Ask HN: How can I experience SF and Silicon Valley in two weeks?

#25

Post by vanilla_nut »

pmoriarty wrote: post #5

* Alcatraz (very touristy, but very cool. get tickets well in advance! make sure to take the audio tour, consider taking the night tour) * Exploratorium (I recommend Thursday evenings when they serve drinks and there aren't any kids running around) * Muir Woods (a forest full of gigantic redwoods, 20 min drive North of SF) * Bike or walk across the Golden Gate Bridge * Day trip South on Route 1 to Monterey to see the…

I second the Alcatraz night tour- not only is it a much cooler way to experience Alcatraz, you also get stunning views of both SF and the bridge. I really love your list, even though I don't know what the Exploratorium is.

Re: Ask HN: How can I experience SF and Silicon Valley in two weeks?

#27

Post by mendeza »

cjauvin wrote: post #23
eb0la wrote: post #2

Visit the Computer history museum and try to resist the impulse to hugh the Cray-1. The tech in San Jose is also interesting. Try to visit a state park or natural reserve nearby. Visit Carmel and point lobos (2hr drive from SF), Half Moon bay...

I googled "hugh verb" to see first if I wasn't missing some slang (not a native English speaker).. it seems not so.. I wonder in what way is the Cray-1 particularly huggable? (genuinely curious)

Probably the impulse to hug is out of pity because our phones in our pockets have way more computational power xD

Re: Ask HN: How can I experience SF and Silicon Valley in two weeks?

#28

Post by navbaker »

pmoriarty wrote: post #5

* Alcatraz (very touristy, but very cool. get tickets well in advance! make sure to take the audio tour, consider taking the night tour) * Exploratorium (I recommend Thursday evenings when they serve drinks and there aren't any kids running around) * Muir Woods (a forest full of gigantic redwoods, 20 min drive North of SF) * Bike or walk across the Golden Gate Bridge * Day trip South on Route 1 to Monterey to see the…

>>* Day trip South on Route 1 to Monterey to see the aquarium (the views on the way are stunning)

This is for sure a must-do. I would recommend going even further south than Monterey, at least to Point Lobos. This is one of the most beautiful places on earth.

Re: Ask HN: How can I experience SF and Silicon Valley in two weeks?

#29

Post by _w7am »

Good lord, so much snark in this thread, so here's some actual suggestions if you want to enjoy yourself (note: I moved out 3.5 years ago).

Get coffee at Four Barrel, Ritual, Sightglass, Blue Bottle, Philz

Get tacos in the Missions at Taqueria Vallarta, Taqueria Cancun

Go to Noisebridge, Sudo Room, Hacker Dojo

Hike at Hawk Hill, Skeggs, Muir Woods, Mt. Tam

Look up local concerts at funcheapsf.com. There's so many fantastic gargage bands that should have record deals. $5 can get you an amazing show

Have a picnic at Lake Merrit

Walk around some of the university campuses (I quite like Berkeley)

Look at the street art on Clarion Alley

Go to Nightlife at the California Academy of Sciences

To the Conservatory of Flowers

Drive up Twin Peaks on a foggy day and watch Carl roll over the city

Walk around Haight-Ashbury (possibly buy drugs) and check out the shops and food

Walk around Telegraph Ave in Berkeley (possibly buy drugs) and check out the shops and food

Drive CA-1 to Monterey. Stop in Santa Cruz.

Re: Ask HN: How can I experience SF and Silicon Valley in two weeks?

#30

Post by pmoriarty »

vanilla_nut wrote: post #25
pmoriarty wrote: post #5

* Alcatraz (very touristy, but very cool. get tickets well in advance! make sure to take the audio tour, consider taking the night tour) * Exploratorium (I recommend Thursday evenings when they serve drinks and there aren't any kids running around) * Muir Woods (a forest full of gigantic redwoods, 20 min drive North of SF) * Bike or walk across the Golden Gate Bridge * Day trip South on Route 1 to Monterey to see the…

I second the Alcatraz night tour- not only is it a much cooler way to experience Alcatraz, you also get stunning views of both SF and the bridge. I really love your list, even though I don't know what the Exploratorium is.

It's a science museum... the most amazing one I've ever seen by far. It's super geeky and full of interesting exhibits and gizmos, most (all?) of them made by hand on-site. It's an absolute must for anyone interested in science or technology. Go see it!!!

Interesting fact about it that I only recently found out:

The Exploratorium was founded by Robert Oppenheimer[1] ("the father of the atomic bomb") after his forced resignation.[2] If you keep an eye out, there are some plaques talking about this history at the museum, and there's also at least one uncaptioned atomic-bomb-related photo (of the first milliseconds of an atomic bomb explosion) on the walls.

[1] - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Oppenheimer

[2] - https://www.exploratorium.edu/about/history/frank

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