At least everyone will still be able to check out the scenery on their
SF car break-ins top 3000 in one month and SF Residents leave their windows down in parked cars to avoid getting them broken by thieves
To which San Francisco says "hold my beer": Naked woman opens fire at cars near toll plaza
It may have gone down hill a bit since then: SF Area Freeway shootings more than doubled between 2019-2022
SF car break-ins top 3000 in one month and SF Residents leave their windows down in parked cars to avoid getting them broken by thieves
I'll have you know that was on the bridge, in OAKLAND, sir! 😉
Sadly or expectedly this is not new or different (regarding the past 5 years or so) around here.
I will say that tourists are a target for car break-ins, they tend to break windows to get into the trunk, actually. If you park your car anywhere in the area (don't assume the northern counties are safe) leave the trunk empty, and leave the seat-hatch to the trunk open so would-be thieves see there's nothing in there.
I would say the advice to leave literally nothing in your car is slightly exaggerated. Just don't leave anything that looks remotely worth stealing. A pack of gum, a loose USB cable, or a napkin are not risky.
I guess that statement gives you a sense of the situation in a nutshell.
BA 2023 is in in Petaluma, Sonoma County. Not San Francisco. Big difference.
Yep, for anyone that's hesitating because of SF, this is like an hour's drive from SF and you're going to run into maybe 1% of what you're worried about running into in SF. Great hiking and wineries around there.
Great wineries... hiking... near Petaluma, THAT is an understatement.
The Northern Coast is astounding and if you do it right, you load up with a couple of cases of good wine before heading North.
Hiking in the redwoods... extremely nice. A World apart from the mess that the SF Bay has become. Easy hikes... park the car, go out for a two hour walk, enjoy the place. Bring out a sandwich, fruits and cheese from the cooler, sit and sneak a glass of wine.
I figure we'll load up with four or five or six cases of wine before we head on South. ;-)
An amp too?
Oh.. anyone comparing NYC with SF... so what? Two Big Urban Dumps. So what if Detroit is worse? So what if the guy who broke into your car took a shower two days or a week ago? He still broke into your car.
IMHO, they need to build an interstate bypass around the Bay Area... you get on it south of Petaluma and you can drive to the I80/505 interchange or down to North of Gilroy on the 101. NO EXITS.
Same thing around Portlandia... Woodburn to Vancouver, WA.
The Northern Coast is astounding and if you do it right, you load up with a couple of cases of good wine before heading North.
Hiking in the redwoods... extremely nice. A World apart from the mess that the SF Bay has become. Easy hikes... park the car, go out for a two hour walk, enjoy the place. Bring out a sandwich, fruits and cheese from the cooler, sit and sneak a glass of wine.
I figure we'll load up with four or five or six cases of wine before we head on South. ;-)
An amp too?
Oh.. anyone comparing NYC with SF... so what? Two Big Urban Dumps. So what if Detroit is worse? So what if the guy who broke into your car took a shower two days or a week ago? He still broke into your car.
IMHO, they need to build an interstate bypass around the Bay Area... you get on it south of Petaluma and you can drive to the I80/505 interchange or down to North of Gilroy on the 101. NO EXITS.
Same thing around Portlandia... Woodburn to Vancouver, WA.
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Speaking of an interstate bypass, I always thought San Franciscans' viewed their city as the center of the universe. The highways lead to but not through SF. There has never been a freeway that went through the city, just to the city. It's ridiculous that drivers going either north or south on Hwy 101 are forced to take city streets to get through. Otherwise you are forced to go way around by driving through the east bay and then choose either the San Mateo or Dumbarton bridge to get to the penninsula.
Folks:
I expect to attend BA2023 and would love to hear your recommendations for reasonably short (say, under 2.5 miles) hikes anywhere in the vicinity. My wife will be joining me on the trip and she's dealing with back issues. Short(-ish) hikes are good, long ones and ones with significant elevation changes are bad. Yes, I can hunt on the web, but web reviews are spectacularly unreliable (Subways with 5 star Yelp reviews indeed). I'm willing to put more faith in the opinions of you people.
And while I'm begging for advice, if you know of any wineries that are particularly worthwhile (i.e., where the experience to cost ratio is unusually high), please do tell.
Regards,
Scott
I expect to attend BA2023 and would love to hear your recommendations for reasonably short (say, under 2.5 miles) hikes anywhere in the vicinity. My wife will be joining me on the trip and she's dealing with back issues. Short(-ish) hikes are good, long ones and ones with significant elevation changes are bad. Yes, I can hunt on the web, but web reviews are spectacularly unreliable (Subways with 5 star Yelp reviews indeed). I'm willing to put more faith in the opinions of you people.
And while I'm begging for advice, if you know of any wineries that are particularly worthwhile (i.e., where the experience to cost ratio is unusually high), please do tell.
Regards,
Scott
The hike reviews in the Alltrails app are actually pretty accurate, I have used it for a similar purpose (finding pretty, but easy hikes.) In general I have found hikes along the coast that are flat to be pretty rewarding, plus if you drive up Mt. Tam, despite being on a mountain, there are some nice and relatively flat hikes. Muir Woods is the big draw for redwoods in the area, and it's worthwhile but crowded. Very easy depending on how you do it, but there are other options. I personally like Lake Bontempe for a nice flat walk, you might see an osprey if you're lucky.
I'm sure there are lots of recs for wineries, but I like to recommend McEvoy Ranch for olive oil tasting, believe it or not. You can find wineries all over the place, but it's not often you get to try olive oil 100 yards from where it was grown, at least inside the US. They also have wine, naturally. 🙂
For any beer lovers, Lagunitas is based in Petaluma, (their tap room offerings are a lot better than what you see in the grocery store, and it's good vibes out there on the patio) and the legendary Russian River is not far away, in Santa Rosa. You can also check out a pretty cool Charles Schulz (Peanuts) museum there, if that's your thing.
I think what the SF haters don't get is we're willing to put up with a bit of nonsesnse to get the best of both worlds. We get the benefits of living in a city (public transportation, good food, nightlife, concerts, etc) plus we can drive to all this stuff I listed above in 30-60 minutes, enjoy the warm or cold weather as the case may be, and return to a year-round mild clime. We don't deal with anything people in NYC or Chicago don't deal with, but there is a lot of upside if you have a car. There are not many places in the US where you could surf and ski in the same day, this happens to be one of them.
Of course if you don't like city life, SF is best avoided at all costs, it's one of the most densely populated patches of land you can find. Different strokes...
I'm sure there are lots of recs for wineries, but I like to recommend McEvoy Ranch for olive oil tasting, believe it or not. You can find wineries all over the place, but it's not often you get to try olive oil 100 yards from where it was grown, at least inside the US. They also have wine, naturally. 🙂
For any beer lovers, Lagunitas is based in Petaluma, (their tap room offerings are a lot better than what you see in the grocery store, and it's good vibes out there on the patio) and the legendary Russian River is not far away, in Santa Rosa. You can also check out a pretty cool Charles Schulz (Peanuts) museum there, if that's your thing.
I think what the SF haters don't get is we're willing to put up with a bit of nonsesnse to get the best of both worlds. We get the benefits of living in a city (public transportation, good food, nightlife, concerts, etc) plus we can drive to all this stuff I listed above in 30-60 minutes, enjoy the warm or cold weather as the case may be, and return to a year-round mild clime. We don't deal with anything people in NYC or Chicago don't deal with, but there is a lot of upside if you have a car. There are not many places in the US where you could surf and ski in the same day, this happens to be one of them.
Of course if you don't like city life, SF is best avoided at all costs, it's one of the most densely populated patches of land you can find. Different strokes...
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Armstrong Woods is a bit of a drive, but well worth the effort if you want to visit redwoods. It's much less crowded than Muir Woods, which now requires a reservation because parking is very limited. A few minutes drive from BAF is Helen Putnam Regional Park in Petaluma. Other nice spots a little farther away are Jack London State Historic Park. Oh, and Point Reyes National Seashore with over 70,000 acres to explore and some of the most beautiful coastline to see is maybe 40 minutes away and FREE! 🙂
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Folks:
Lovely! Don't be afraid to pile on, but what's now on the table is all good.
Thank you,
Scott
Lovely! Don't be afraid to pile on, but what's now on the table is all good.
Thank you,
Scott
You only notice how crappy highways are in the Bay Area if you're driving up the Coast.
If you're driving North-South you stay on the 5/99 and bypass the entire Bay Area. Adios!
Portland, OTOH, is true PITA. They pretty much make you drive through the city and it's a royal PITA.
What we need in the Bay Area is an easy way to go from the I5 to the 101 at Santa Rosa. the South is sort of taken care of already. SR 152 and 46/41 do the trick nicely. We've taken SR37, and it's a complete PITA type of road... although it is picturesque alright. I really don't want to mess, if I can help it, with the 80 and 580. Been there, done that, PITA situation with terrible drivers and obsolete highways.
IMHO, those voters in the Bay Area should drive around the state to understand how well designed roads can move people around easily. Then they might stop trying to force mass transit on the rest of the State... which is suburban and rural...
Hmm... anyone been to Clear Lake?
The Bay Area has traffic?? San Francisco is a large city with the issues that come with that? OH NO!! What a shock! Someone call the cops!!
Let's get back to audio, shall we?
I'm still planning to bring a li'l headphone amp for the raffle. The only snag is that I need to make a video of me machining the chassis for it and have a few tasks ahead of that.
Tom
Let's get back to audio, shall we?
I'm still planning to bring a li'l headphone amp for the raffle. The only snag is that I need to make a video of me machining the chassis for it and have a few tasks ahead of that.
Tom
Well.... since Petaluma is North of SFO and you got to drive through SF to get to it ( unless you go down and up the East Bay... nuts.. ) then the traffic through SF is part of the BA23 experience.
And, to be honest, the traffic in SF sucks... compared to much larger cities that have figured it out... even LA has freeways that let you get through without taking surface roads ( ie: non freeways ).
Are you making the headphones from scratch? That's actually awesome... is there a thread for that?
And, to be honest, the traffic in SF sucks... compared to much larger cities that have figured it out... even LA has freeways that let you get through without taking surface roads ( ie: non freeways ).
Are you making the headphones from scratch? That's actually awesome... is there a thread for that?
Ah yes, when I was a teenager I pumped gas there at what is now the jet center...
You'll need a reservation, and it's a very easy walk: Muir Woods National Monument. It's always cold, always crowded in there, but if you have never done it...