Hi Tina:
Just got back from San Francisco three weeks ago, so my memory's pretty fresh.
Observations:
California Academy of Science, Natural History Museum at Golden Gate Park. Excellent. Spent two whole days there.
Napa Valley. Rent a car ($50/day for a Pontiac Grand Prix). The Robert Mondavi vineyards were very nice. Old. Big. Formal. Stagg's Leap is younger, brasher, friendlier. Need designated driver if you're going to do the wine tasting
Italian & Seafood resturant on Beach Street just east of the Holiday Inn Fisherman's Wharf north side of street. Don't remember the name. Green neon sign outside. Not a tourist trap. Local's joint.
Didn't like the Stinking Rose. I love garlic, but this place was over the top. We breathed garlic for two days after.
Ruth's Chris Steakhouse. Don't waste your time nor your money.
Monterey/Pebble Beach. Beautiful. 115 miles south of town.
Muir Woods. Cathedral-like redwood national forest. The drive is the thing along coastal highway 1. Beautiful.
Fisherman's Wharf. No trip to SF is complete without the wharf. If he's going to Alcatraz, he's gotta go there anyway to get the ferry. Good food overpriced, especially at Soma's.
btw, when I was there the eastern US was having a heatwave, with heat indexes of over 100. It was damn-near freezing in SF. Days in the upper 70s; nights in the low 50s. The micro-climate on the peninsula was shocking!!.
Chinatown is OK. 2,000 stores all selling the same junk at widely varying prices. Filthy.
Take plenty of money. Everything is expensive. A car is a liability. Had to pay 20/night to the hotel to park the rental. Gas is over two dollars a gallon. No car means lots of cab rides, so dinner for two is, say, $50. add cab rides both ways and, well, you know.
That's what I can remember right now.
Good luck.
Francois