Oh my last post is still here...
Is travelling soon. There are loads of museums and things in Cal. I was looking at the rankings (like how I decide about universities) it seems that San Diego zoo is best and museums in SF and LA are worthwide. Aquarium is best in Monterey, but I might not go there so I think San Diego again for the aquarium?
Any ideas?
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University of Wisconsin Madison
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University of Wisconsin Madison forget Cali
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Hmmm...what kind of things are you interested in?
I can definitely recommend Monterey Aquarium...it is a magical place and Monterey is a magical city IMO...it is my favorite place in the world though so I am quite biased....if you like Steinbeck you can go to Cannery Row and also the Steinbeck museum is 25 minutes away in Salinas...less than an hour to the south is Big Sur which is breathtakingly beautiful ...there is the famous 17 mile drive in Monterey that begins in Pacific Grove and ends at Pebble Beach...going north you can drive along the coast from Monterey and stop in Santa Cruz which is 1/2 hour and then another 45 minutes along the coast you will be in San Francisco...lots of places to stop along the way.
If you like museums SF really has some great ones but also consider the Berkeley and Oakland Museums as well as Jack London Square in Oakland and the San Jose Tech Museum...all very interesting and all within an hour of one another...easy train and mass transit accessible if you dont' have a car.
I am in love with San Francisco and pretty much all of the Northern and Central California Coast so I am biased but depending on how long you stay you may want to experience a walk across the Golden Gate...Chinatown (but go off the main street where the Chinese Locals eat for the best food...great hidden Dim Sum restaurants)....you may want to check out Castro...take a trip on a Cable Car...Lombard Street and Golden Gate Park...
If you have any specific questions let me know..I have been to Southern California many times but am mostly familiar with Northern California and the San Francisco and Monterey Bay Areas...whatever you decide to do...Have Fun!
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There are alot of museums between San Francisco, Berkeley, Oakland and San Jose and of course there is Stanford, Berkeley and UCSF....we have mass transit in the form of commuter trains and also BART that can transport you quite easily to pretty much any of the destinations.
Certain areas can be dangerous...find out where they are or if you are in the area or know where you want to go leave a message here and I will try to tell you where to avoid going for safety reasons. I don't want to scare you at all but whenever you are travelling anywhere it does help to know the areas a bit ahead of time. I'll be glad to assist if you need me to.
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Here is a list of local museums....
Asian Art Museum - San Francisco
Bedford Gallery at Lesher Center - Walnut Creek
Berkeley Art Museum Pacific Film Archive - Berkeley
Cartoon Art Museum - San Francisco
Cantor Center for Visual Arts - Stanford
De Saisset Museum - Santa Clara
de Young Museum - San Francisco
Junior Center of Art and Science - Oakland
Museum of Art & History - Santa Cruz
Museum of Children's Art (MOCHA) - Oakland
Museum of Craft and Design - San Francisco
Museum of Craft & Folk Art - San Francisco
Oakland Museum of California - Oakland
Palace of the Legion of Honor - San Francisco
Palo Alto Art Center - Palo Alto
Peninsula Museum of Art - Belmont
Quilt Museum - San Jose
Richmond Art Center - Richmond
San Francisco Center for the Book - San Francisco
San Francisco Children's Art Center - San Francisco
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art - San Francisco
San Jose Museum of Art - San Jose
Santa Cruz Museum of Art and History - Santa Cruz
Triton Museum of Art - Santa Clara
Cultural Museums
Center for African & African American Art and Culture - Oakland
China Town - San Francisco
The Contemporary Jewish Museum - San Francisco
Hakone Garden - Saratoga
Hayward Japanese Garden - Hayward
Japanese American Resource Museum - San Jose
Japanese Friendship Garden in Kelly Park - San Jose
Judah L. Magnes Museum - Berkeley
Marine Museum of the American Indian - Marin
Mexican Heritage Plaza - San Jose
Phoebe A. Hearst Museum of Anthropology - Berkeley
Rosecrutian Egyptian Museum - San Jose
San Mateo Japanese Garden in Central Park - San Mateo
Science & Technology Museums
California Academy of Sciences
Chabot Observatory & Science Center - Oakland
Exploratorium - San Francisco
Lawrence Hall of Science - Berkeley
Intel Museum - Santa Clara
Junior Center of Art and Science - Oakland
Lick Observatory - San Jose
Morrison Planetarium - San Francisco
Nasa Ames Visitor Center - Mountain View
Santa Cruz City Museum of Natural History - Santa Cruz
The Tech Museum - San Jose
Youth Science Institute - Los Gatos
UC Berkeley Museum of Paleontology
Historical Museums (see Historical Fun)
Nature Museums (see Animals)
Natural History Museums (Dinosaurs!)
California Academy Natural History Museum - San Francisco
Children's Natural History Museum - Fremont
Pacific Grove Museum of Natural History - Pacific Grove
Santa Cruz City Museum of Natural History - Santa Cruz
UC Berkeley Museum of Paleontology - Berkeley
Train Models & Museums
California State Railroad Museum - Sacramento
Golden Gate Model Railroad Club at Randall Museum - San Francisco
Golden State Model Railroad Museum - Point Richmond
Niles Canyon Railway Museum - Sunol
Cable Car Museum - San Francisco
Golden Gate Railroad Museum - San Francisco
Barron Park Garden Railway - Palo Alto
Market Street Railway - San Francisco
San Francisco Cable Cars - San Francisco
South Bay Historical Railroad Society - Santa Clara
Railroad-Ferry Depot - Tiburon
Western Railway Museum - Solano
Walnut Creek Model Railroad Society - Walnut Creek
West Bay Model Train Association - Menlo Park
Specialty Museums
Behring Automotive Museum - Blackhawk
Burlingame Museum of Pez Memorabilia- Burlingame
Charles M. Shultz Museum - Santa Rosa
Hiller Aviation Museum - San Carlos
Pacific Coast Air Museum - Santa Rosa
Pacific Pinball Museum - Alameda
Ripley's Believe-It-Or-Not - San Francisco
Rosecrutian Museum - San Jose
San Francisco Fire Department Museum - San Francisco
Santa Cruz Surfing Museum - Santa Cruz
Wells Fargo Museum - San Francisco
Winchester Mystery House - San Jose
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I have actually been to most of these...my favorites are the Hakone Gardens in Saratoga which is a living museum I suppose...The Palace of the Legion of Honor, The Rosecrutian Museum (Egyptian), The de Young, The Tech Museum in San Jose and Monterey Bay Aquarium....
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Thank you so much. Right now I'm thinking I'll be dragging my suitcases and with my back pack most of the time which is not very cool. I have so many places to stop by, the first week i planned to cover only sf and berkley then the second i'm left with palo alto/san jose, santa cruze for the aquarium, LA, palm spring/UC San Diego. I kind of forget how the check in system worked. When can I check in and when can I check out? Umm and the transport. Like to LA is a big one which takes a night. Is it safe sleeping on a bus?
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And very importantly, should I plan this all out and very specificly and book or can I 'see how it goes'. If I book a bus or a hostel like 1-2 days before I guess for this winter season is fine right?
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LA history and science museums are the buisness i highly recommend them
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Best of California?
There are several things I wanted to explore 1. Gay Scene 2. Universities 3. Museum/Tech/Arts/Zoos 4. Local people.