Fifth Avenue Forum

Not a zoo, but The Wilds in southern Ohio is incredible. Spring for the tour where you get to ride in the back of the truck. It's absolutely worth it.

Taking the kids to King's Island and Cincinnati zoo end of month. Anyone ever been to Cincy zoo and got tips (outside of don't go to Ohio or Cincy)?

Make a lot of Harambe comments, maybe wear a t-shirt. I'm sure they get a kick out of that.

I have a spare Harambe Obey shirt, plus one with cut off sleeves if you're looking for real trashy lol

Taking the kids to King's Island and Cincinnati zoo end of month. Anyone ever been to Cincy zoo and got tips (outside of don't go to Ohio or Cincy)?

I went to kings island about 15 years ago and some of those roller coasters were painful. It was pretty nice though.

Enjoy that drive, especially the stretch between Columbus and cinci.

Taking the kids to King's Island and Cincinnati zoo end of month. Anyone ever been to Cincy zoo and got tips (outside of don't go to Ohio or Cincy)?

I went to kings island about 15 years ago and some of those roller coasters were painful. It was pretty nice though.

Enjoy that drive, especially the stretch between Columbus and cinci.

HELL IS REAL and it's Western Ohio

If you are so inclined, one of the country's best beer (and specialty foods) selections is at Jungle Jim's International Market. The only thing I know to compare it to is Stew Leonard's in Connecticut, but on steroids. And with a better beer selection.

This trip to Jamaica can't come soon enough....just a few days to go.

Don't forget to phone your in-laws the night before and ask them to watch your dog.

Don't forget to phone your in-laws the night before and ask them to watch your dog.

Like responsible pet owners we made a reservation to have Murphy boarded at camp even before we booked out trip lol.

Places to stay/avoid in San Fran/San Jose if I'm going to the 49er game? I know the stadium is in Santa Clara, but I'm trying to figure out best place to stay that will give us other places to go to the other days we are there. Japantown seems to be coming up alot as a good place to stay.

Japantown, as in the city proper of SF?

Japantown, as in the city proper of SF?

I believe so? I'm a total noob, I just saw that name come up and Hotel Kabuki when I was searching stuff. I know nothing about any of the areas around there....I'm just trying to find stuff for us to do other than go to the game on Monday night.

Might as well stay in Tijuana

My wife wants to see the Golden Gate Bridge and other touristy things (besides going to the game). I think we are going from a Sat-Thursday (haven't booked it yet)...so we should have Sunday/Tues/Wed and part of Monday to do thing with Monday afternoon being the game.

there's a night time Alcatraz tour that always comes up as a must-do. they have day tours too but I've heard that you want to do the more expensive one that includes a docent or Park Ranger leading the tour.

We stayed in the Hayes Valley area in 2016. Great central location to everything imo (although we weren't going to Santa Clara).

The Alcatraz tour is 100% a must do, IMO. Make sure you actually get the legit tour that gets you onto the island, and not one of the ones where you just sail around it. https://www.cityexperiences.com/san-fra ... /alcatraz/

Yeah the Alcatraz thing is something I've seen highly recommended everywhere so its on our to do list.

We spent three days of our honeymoon in SF. We stayed in the Union Square area and had no issues. Plenty of restaurants and shopping within walking distance. Would also recommend the Alcatraz tour. Fisherman's Wharf is super touristy. The only thing I enjoyed there were the sea lions. You should see it, but I wouldn't plan on spending much time there. Another touristy thing we did was walking Lombard street. I would advise against driving it. The people we watched drive down looked stressed af. Oh and we booked a tour of
Coit Tower, which has some great views of the city. My favorite thing we did was rent bikes to ride across the Golden Gate Bridge. That was super fun/terrifying at times. We also rode through Presidio park mostly because I wanted to see Lucasfilm.

I'll largely echo nocera, though out GGB bike ride was a Griswold level mess. Golden Gate Park is cool. Painted Ladies, Japanese Tea Garden, Cable Cars, Pier 39, Muir Woods if you're willing to make an excursion outside the city. It's all pretty "touristy", but was still fun and worth it.

Also, why the **** do the 49ers play in San Jose?

Fun story, I just learned a couple months ago that the original plan was to build the new stadium in the shadow of Candlestick, but the city was being difficult. So they took their stadium plan - including the physical design that was meant to offer curated views of downtown SF - and moved it to reclaimed salt flats 50 miles south where the side notches now serve no functional purpose and half the seats bake in the sun in the early season.

Lots of SF has simply not recovered from the pandemic, many shuttered businesses. So bear that in mind.

Japantown is near Hayes Valley and Civic Center. If we were younger and dogless and interested in apartment renting we probably would've wanted to live near there. So many excellent restaurants.

Pier 39 is awful, it's like Applebee's but with more sea lions.

Golden Gate Park and Cal Academy of Sciences are great. The Yoda statue at Lucasfilm is in a public area (selfies!). Chinatown and Little Italy/North Beach/Nob Hill is cool. Two of the best tiki bars in the world (Tonga Room and Smuggler's Cove) are in SF if that's your thing. The Ferry Terminal is maybe the one place I actually miss and feel nostalgic about, despite being overrun by tourists.

If you stay in SF it's will easily take at least an hour to drive to Santa Clara, realistically more like 2 hrs. You might want to check into train options, or even staying in SanJo for one night.

Lots of good info. Thanks all. Lots to think about and plan.

Does anyone actually call San Jose SanJo

Only when they're on their phone at work and can't be arsed to type it out.

(that 'se' at the end is a real bugger)