Crissy Field and other San Francisco, CA Off The Beaten Path Tips

If it's a nice day out (and even if it's not so nice - as long as it's not raining or totally foggy), you should try an easy hike through Crissy Field. It begins below and around the Golden Gate Bridge and affords visitors some of the BEST VIEWS not only of the Bridge itself, but of the surrounding neighborhoods, hills and bay area. (click on all of my photos at left, to "get the picture")

The trail is a little over 3 miles to and from the entrance, and is FREE - open to walkers and cyclists alike. Take note that this area is near the Presidio and is the vantage point from where you see many of the famous "Bridge" photos - so do yourself a favor and take at least 2 hours to really savor this place. You'll be glad you did.

To get there: you basically go west down Marina Blvd. Where Doyle Dr. separates from Marina Blvd, continue straight onto Mason. Look for the East Beach entrance on the right.

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Website: http://www.bahiker.com/sfhikes/crissy.html

For those of you beat lovers, "City Lights Bookstore" was established by Lawrence Ferlinghetti back in 1953 and was the very first all paperback bookstore in the United States. Best known for promoting the local Beat authors and culture (think Jack Kerouac, Alan Ginsberg, et al).

Today it still has some of the best collections of poetry and political tomes in the city (poetry room upstairs, with a special Beat section of course!).

Be prepared to feel claustrophic inside, but it's all good and definitely worth a visit.

Located at 261 Columbus Ave., in the North Beach area

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Phone: 415-362-8193

Yeah, I know it sounds like a crazy suggestion for an activity, but what better way to pass a lovely (or not so lovely, depending on SF's notoriously fickle weather) Sunday and see where the locals live, but by attending open houses at some of the most gorgeous homes in the Bay Area?! Best of all - it's FREE! Nobody is going to put a gun to your head and force you to buy one of these mansions!

In my case, we only had an afternoon so we picked an area (Pacific Heights) and concentrated on the homes there. Some of them were breathtaking, with views of the bay and Alcatraz in the distance; it got to the point where by the fourth or fifth home, I was beginning to think that $3.7 million dollars seemed like a pretty good value for the buy.

That's when I knew it was time to call it a day.

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