Convention calendar website?
 

We will be arriving on 5/21 at noon and departing on the redeye on 5/28. We are flexible and want to spend 2/3 of our stay in the city and 1/3 in wine country, Monterrey(1 afternoon maybe?) and to see the redwoods north. I dont want to get a car while we are in the city due to high parking fees. Will try and use priceline for the rooms, however dont want to stay in the city if/when the hotels have high occupancy. Ive been to wine country in South Africa, so would want a less pretentious wine area than what Im reading about Napa for the wife and will probably buy wine from wine stores. Should we skip Monterrey and go north to the redwoods/Sonoma area? This is a great forum. Any help would be apprieciated.

Although the Monterey/Carmel area is lovely and the Monterey Aquarium is fascinating and must be seen, I would save that area for another time.

My suggestion would be to start your vacation with your 2/3 time in San Francisco without the car. On the day you wish to leave the City, take the BART to SFO to pick up your rental car. Drive north back through SFO over the Golden Gate Bridge. Before seeing the Redwoods, check out the Anderson Valley wine region two hours north of San Francisco. You can go directly via Hwy. 101 to Hwy 128 west to the coast. (www.avwines.com has suggested accomodations).

It is a beautiful area, and not nearly as popular/crowded as Sonoma or Napa. The pace is slower and the scenery is stunning and more relaxing (with more of a country/casual feel than Sonoma/Napa). From there, you can drive as far north as you like into Redwood Country (the area around Garberville is really cool and there is great stuff all the way to the Oregon border). If you plan it right, you can return your car directly to SFO the day of departure before your redeye home, minimizing the rental cost. (I imagine that if you picked up a car in the City and returned it at the airport, it would cost more. S.F.-SFO via BART is less than $5 per person).

Good luck and enjoy May in Northern California!

As far as the nautical theme, we have been to "swim with the dolphins" in Bahamas, Mexico and Orlando. Theres a place in the Quintana Roo near Tulum called Xcaret (100 minutes south of Cancun)that is like swimming in a salt water aquarium. Her father was in Belize for 10 years and we came down 3 times. Spearfishing (in 91) while snorkeling with a guide and another couple for lunch in the coral gardens in 20-30 ft of water with coral heads that looked like trees to the surface was the best. We had a couple grouper/snapper in a bag which my wife was holding and a nurse shark was sniffing up 10 ft behind for I dont know how long. She nugged me as we were rolling ahead to give me the bag. Good thing we were close to lunch. I tried to accomodate as I didnt want any kind of panic. Best lunch I ever had! Nuff said.

From the SF official visitor/tourist email reply:

There are several conventions around that timeframe. There are 20,000 people scheduled to come between 5/21-5/25/05 for a convention, and several ones inbetween.

Looks like we will spend the latter part in the city. Guess I wil have to drop her off in town with the luggage at the hotel, return the car at sfo and use bart etc. to get back. Maybe I can get Enterprise when they are picking someone up close by downtown.
Maybe 5/21-24 out of the city. Any worthwhile festivals? Tried to check and only see $100 fundraisers for this time.

I dont know.

Maybe a place on the sonoma beachside since we will have a car will be the best. Utilize the wine tasting bars. She likes pinot (lite whites) and I like shiraz so any suggestions would be nice.

Or what is the best TOTAL value on a room over bidding for travel on priceline w/ one that has nice comped sonoma wine tastings, with breakfast, close by?

That is the +$69 (per nite or more) question.


Thanks.