
Ask HN: How can I experience SF and Silicon Valley in two weeks? - imgyuri
Hey HN.<p>We&#x27;re two hackers from Korea, visiting SF from June 13 to June 24.<p>Our current plan is to just jump around good cafes and parks, while doing Kaggle competitions.<p>Any recommendations on places to visit? Things to do? Cool meetups?<p>What&#x27;s the best way to experience the Bay Area?<p>On the small chance that anyone is super generous enough to give a tour around their HQ, I&#x27;d be greatly appreciative. (email in profile)
======
_w7am
Good lord, so much snark in this thread, so here's some actual suggestions if
you want to enjoy yourself (note: I moved out 3.5 years ago).

Get coffee at Four Barrel, Ritual, Sightglass, Blue Bottle, Philz

Get tacos in the Missions at Taqueria Vallarta, Taqueria Cancun

Go to Noisebridge, Sudo Room, Hacker Dojo

Hike at Hawk Hill, Skeggs, Muir Woods, Mt. Tam

Look up local concerts at funcheapsf.com. There's so many fantastic gargage
bands that should have record deals. $5 can get you an amazing show

Have a picnic at Lake Merrit

Walk around some of the university campuses (I quite like Berkeley)

Look at the street art on Clarion Alley

Go to Nightlife at the California Academy of Sciences

To the Conservatory of Flowers

Drive up Twin Peaks on a foggy day and watch Carl roll over the city

Walk around Haight-Ashbury (possibly buy drugs) and check out the shops and
food

Walk around Telegraph Ave in Berkeley (possibly buy drugs) and check out the
shops and food

Drive CA-1 to Monterey. Stop in Santa Cruz.

~~~
vforgione
Thank you for this. As someone interviewing with a handful of companies in SV
and considering relocating, this whole thread reenforces a whole host of
misgivings I have of the area. Maybe I'm too Midwestern, but most of the
comments read as a big "eff you - don't even bother." Does everyone hate it
there so much? I know it isn't perfect, but what city/metro area is?

~~~
malnourish
This is 100% anecdotal.

I'm from Minneapolis as are a number of my friends. Some of them moved out to
CA (Irvine) and some later moved to Seattle.

They /can't wait/ to move back to MN. For a while, I didn't understand them
(usually, when they tell me this in the winter). But the music scene, culture,
and comparative lack of traffic make a big difference.

I've yet to go to CA outside of layovers, but I still want to experience it
for myself.

~~~
DaniloDias
Midwestern pride (and Minneapolitan pride in particular) is far stronger than
most areas.

To me, it presents itself as a kind of Stockholm syndrome. It develops because
your brain is aware of the fact that the weather there is capable of killing
you 3 months out of the year and it has to find a way to justify the fact that
you're not leaving. Obviously there must be something really great about this
place when it's not 20 below.

Minnesotans are unusually aware of the primacy of their bike paths, healthcare
coverage, skyway'd cities and educational system. They talk to each other a
lot about how great each of these things are, reinforcing the special shared
status of this land of hardship, but good working folks.

In my experience, most people don't speak so highly of their hometowns as
Midwesterners- Minnesotans in particular. When you move to a place where
everyone sees the bad stuff and doesn't try to sugar coat it, it can be
offputing. If you don't get enough milage between you and the cult of the
midwest, you inevitably return to a land where people endure because everyone
talks about how good it is when it's not too bad. It could be worse!

-Former Minneapolitan.

~~~
adjkant
Don't forget about Chicago, which is worst of all in the brainwashing
department. I can't find the source sadly, but there's a crazy statistic about
girls who grow up in Chicago being somewhere around 10x more likely to return
to their hometown compared to their counterparts anywhere else in the US.

~~~
selectodude
Well that's because Chicago is the best city in the world.

------
sjg007
Sit in traffic on the 101. Take Caltrain to SF between 6am-10am or the other
way from 5pm-7pm. Walk around Soma, east some food. Take Bart. Drive East
across Dumbarton bridge between 4pm-6pm (actually go West and look at the
traffic the other way). Drive by Facebook, drive by Google.

Walk around downtown Palo Alto.

Also there is Hacker Dojo in Mt. View which is a good place to meet others.
You can also walk around downtown Mt. View.

There are some good hikes around the coast. Also go see the Golden Gate
bridge. Santa Cruz is nice for a beach day.

*EDIT: Alternative lock yourself inside AirBnB for the whole trip, code, code, code, more code, order groceries from Instacart, takeout using DoorDash, sleep under desk. You could also stay at one of the AirBnB hacker mansions on your trip as well.

~~~
Tloewald
Don't forget to eat a $15 lunch special in Palo Alto and for bonus points get
a parking ticket for failing to parse the insane special case parking signs.

A lot of people like to take selfies at the Facebook sign if you can get to it
without being run over.

~~~
toast0
If you go to the Facebook sign, be sure to take a selfie with the Sun
Microsystems sign on the back, too

------
beat
More serious than my first answer... the Bay area is really one of the most
interesting places in the world to visit.

Go to some tech meetups you're interested in and just meet people. You might
be able to catch someone who is a personal hero speaking. If there's someone
you really want to meet (especially if it isn't a pitch!), try just emailing
them and asking for lunch! You might get lucky.

Take a day to go north to Marin county. Experience Muir Woods and other
natural wonders. Another day to visit Napa is good too, if you like wine.

If you can, I'd really recommend a trip south to Monterey Bay. See Santa Cruz
and Monterey, and get to Carmel-by-the-Sea in time to enjoy a beautiful sunset
on the beach. (this is really a two day trip). Another possible road trip is
Yosemite National Park. But these are ambitious and time-consuming.

Visit the Computer History Museum (must-see!). Walk around the Stanford
University campus. Drive up Sand Hill, and admire how much all the VC
buildings look like dentist's offices. While you're in Silicon Valley proper,
eat at Buck's.

San Francisco itself is tourist heaven. There's _so_ much to see and
experience there.

edit: I'm not a local. I've just visited. These are things that worked for me!

------
pmoriarty
* Alcatraz (very touristy, but very cool. get tickets well in advance! make sure to take the audio tour, consider taking the night tour)

* Exploratorium (I recommend Thursday evenings when they serve drinks and there aren't any kids running around)

* Muir Woods (a forest full of gigantic redwoods, 20 min drive North of SF)

* Bike or walk across the Golden Gate Bridge

* Day trip South on Route 1 to Monterey to see the aquarium (the views on the way are stunning)

~~~
vanilla_nut
I second the Alcatraz night tour- not only is it a much cooler way to
experience Alcatraz, you also get stunning views of both SF and the bridge. I
really love your list, even though I don't know what the Exploratorium is.

~~~
pmoriarty
It's a science museum... the most amazing one I've ever seen by far. It's
super geeky and full of interesting exhibits and gizmos, most (all?) of them
made by hand on-site. It's an absolute must for anyone interested in science
or technology. Go see it!!!

Interesting fact about it that I only recently found out:

The Exploratorium was founded by Robert Oppenheimer[1] ("the father of the
atomic bomb") after his forced resignation.[2] If you keep an eye out, there
are some plaques talking about this history at the museum, and there's also at
least one uncaptioned atomic-bomb-related photo (of the first milliseconds of
an atomic bomb explosion) on the walls.

[1] -
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Oppenheimer](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Oppenheimer)

[2] -
[https://www.exploratorium.edu/about/history/frank](https://www.exploratorium.edu/about/history/frank)

------
corysama
To find meetups, search meetup.com

A good park is Lands End. Or, take a bus up to the redwoods in Muir Wood. Or,
enjoy the drive up to Hog Island for oysters.

A good cafe is Caffe Trieste in North Beach. While you are in NB, stop by
Molinari's for a North Beach or South Beach Special sandwich.

Visit the NoiseBridge hacker space.

Contact Stanford and see if the audio lab (or any lab) will give you a tour.
Do the same for Berkeley. I hear San Jose State has a really fun VR lab.

Contact companies located in The Vault coworking space and see if you can get
one of them to give you a tour.

You might get lucky and find an event here
[http://sf.funcheap.com/category/event/event-types/geek-
event...](http://sf.funcheap.com/category/event/event-types/geek-event/) or
here [https://www.eventbrite.com/d/ca--san-francisco/geek-
events/](https://www.eventbrite.com/d/ca--san-francisco/geek-events/) I miss
the Laughing Squid calendar...

Go see a random show at Bottom of the Hill. Just go in with low expectations
;) But, you might get lucky and see a band you end up liking.

Take the Anchor Steam brewery tour. Get a drink at Tommy's Mexican, Mikkeller
Bar, Bourbon and Branch, Smuggler's Cove.

Avoid Pier 38 and Haight Street. They're tourist traps. The Castro is still
fun. The Mission is still dirty, but delicious. The Tenderloin between
O'Farrell and Market is still sketchy.

------
eb0la
Visit the Computer history museum and try to resist the impulse to hugh the
Cray-1.

The tech in San Jose is also interesting.

Try to visit a state park or natural reserve nearby. Visit Carmel and point
lobos (2hr drive from SF), Half Moon bay...

~~~
cjauvin
I googled "hugh verb" to see first if I wasn't missing some slang (not a
native English speaker).. it seems not so.. I wonder in what way is the Cray-1
particularly huggable? (genuinely curious)

~~~
mendeza
Probably the impulse to hug is out of pity because our phones in our pockets
have way more computational power xD

~~~
cjauvin
I admit I'd probably be tempted to sit on the 2001-Space-Odyssey-style bench
around it.. but hug it?

------
jrmg
To understand Silicon Valley, you really need to see the peninsula and the
South Bay.

I’d spend a day, start with breakfast at Hobees in Sunnyvale or Cupertino,
check out 1 Infinite Loop, drive around the Google campus area, _maybe_ stop
at the NASA Ames visitor center.

Drive down to San Jose to see that peculiar city, and have lunch at yeh newish
San Pedro Square Market or SoFA market - or the classics like Henry’s Hi-Life
or Original Joe’s.

Maybe check out the old-school tech beomoths like Intel.

Spend some time at the Computer History Museum (and the food trucks there on
Friday evenings!). That could be a day trip in itself.

Skip the Tech Museum in San Jose (it’s a great museum, but its not something
unmissable if you’re short on time).

End your day with a trip to one of the peninsula city centers and have a meal
at a place with good Yelp reviews. I’d recommend Dish Dash in Sunnyvale.

That’s not the most touristy or startup-focused of trips, but you’ll see the
Silicon Valley that’s really lived in by the people that make their homes
here.

~~~
jrmg
Oh, and if you’re interested in pre-SV history, check out a local museum, like
the Sunnyvale Heritage Park (I’d recommend this to anyone who lives here and
doesn’t know how we got to where we are too).

------
jngreenlee
SF: Spend a night doing coke with the ladies at Mitchell Brothers O'Farrell
Theatre, bring lots of money...stumble home stepping around the street relics.
Don't loose your phone. Goto some snobish coffee shops while hung over. This
is about as SF as you can get.

(spoken from experience)

San Jose: Rent a car and park on the 101. Cruise the suburbs and price snap
houses for shock and entertainment!

~~~
cynicalbastard
don't forget about the irish coffees and overpriced mediocre croissants. or
pretending not to be alcoholics at brunch the next morning, with 5 of your
closest enablers, slamming bottomless mimosas and bloody marys. do this while
talking about work, and how drunk you got last night, and how amazing the
benedict is while posting pictures of it to instagram, even though you can
barely taste it after waiting 90 minutes in line for the privilege of paying
$75 per person not including tip and the foodservice healthcare surcharge.

------
pdkl95
Best way to quickly experience the _Bay_? That would be the 1:1000 horizontal
scale, 1:100 vertical and temporal scale _model_ [1][2] just across the Golden
Gate in Sausalito, built by the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers. Ok, maybe not the
most interesting place to visit in SF, but it's an amazing feat of engineering
history built about 20 years before Silicon Valley _existed_.

As for food, SF is full of great places to eat of all types. If you want roast
_meat_ at very reasonable prices (for SF), I've always liked Tommy's Joynt[3].

[1]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S._Army_Corps_of_Engineers_B...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S._Army_Corps_of_Engineers_Bay_Model)

[2] [http://www.spn.usace.army.mil/Missions/Recreation/Bay-
Model-...](http://www.spn.usace.army.mil/Missions/Recreation/Bay-Model-
Visitor-Center/)

[3] [http://tommysjoynt.com/](http://tommysjoynt.com/) (warning: horizontal-
scrolling - their food is much better than their website design)

------
driverdan
One suggestion I haven't seen is doing an SF bike tour. I did a 5h bike tour
around SF years back and it was the highlight of my trip. You get to see many
parts of the city and it's far more personal than the buses. The ride was
pretty easy, it was designed for people who don't ride often. Do it early in
the trip to get a feel for the city.

------
ginkgotree
Grab a Getaround or Zipcar and get north of the Golden Gate Bridge. Everyone
only goes as far a Muir woods - don't it's packed of tourists with visor caps
and selfie sticks and you'll get annoyed. Drive a little further and Hike
Mount Tam - amazing views of the bay. Go to Sonoma for wine, not Napa.

~~~
hocuspocus
Not sure you can sign up for Getaround as a tourist. Zipcar is possible
though.

+1 for Sonoma county for wine, and arguably the best brewery in the world too
(Russian River ;)

------
fallingmeat
[https://www.evernote.com/shard/s11/sh/136ff1bb-957d-48b7-a99...](https://www.evernote.com/shard/s11/sh/136ff1bb-957d-48b7-a998-7c153c35257e/2f79f88894e4d96116438481e321dd15)

------
mudil
Go to Filoli. It's a formal garden, an estate, and an oasis of beauty.

[http://www.filoli.org](http://www.filoli.org)

------
derfnugget
Sign up for the Meetup.com event at Google HQ on June 23rd. They've put a
cover on the event($10) but I've been to many of these and can confidently say
it will be worth it. Plus, they serve food, beer, and wine. I just signed up
and I'd be happy to meet you there. (HN lurker and FrontEnd Dev in downtown
SF).

------
danso
If you do make it to Stanford, I'd be happy to take you up to the Hoover Tower
(it's free for employees).

------
ransom1538
* Dolores Park [buy ice cream at Bi-Rite / get lunch on valencia]

* Bike across golden gate [$50 for a bike] / ferry back

* Check out an amazon loft meeting [https://aws.amazon.com/start-ups/loft/sf-loft/](https://aws.amazon.com/start-ups/loft/sf-loft/)

* Computer History Museum (If going south, otherwise skip)

* Presidio picnic is really fun [https://offthegrid.com/event/presidio-picnic/2017-6-11-2pm](https://offthegrid.com/event/presidio-picnic/2017-6-11-2pm)

* See comedy show Cobbs sf

* Take San Francisco cable car to Hyde and Union walk & get a slice of pizza at ZA - then walk to lombard and hyde

------
lukewrites
Go get a sandwich at the Molinari Delicatessen
([https://www.yelp.com/biz/molinari-delicatessen-san-
francisco](https://www.yelp.com/biz/molinari-delicatessen-san-francisco)).

------
alecmgo
Here's a list of nerdy sites to visit in Silicon Valley:
[http://siliconvalleyguide.org/](http://siliconvalleyguide.org/)

Disclaimer: I made this.

------
playhard
Rent a bike from SF , explore the city and travel to Salsalito

------
itomato
Ignore the populist suggestions.

Get a Zipcar account and use your instincts.

You will meet people and many of these suggestions are a guaranteed wait in a
queue for no real good reason.

------
vram22
Surprisingly few food-related recommendations in this thread. I did see some,
but for a trendy and multi-cultural place like the Bay Area, would have
expected more.

Edit. - to highlight what the area can offer - on the food front. I mean.
Double edit: to make it more clear - all the other activities are great too
(okay, not necessarily all :), don't mean to imply that they are not and that
only food is.

------
jmcgough
If you want tours of tech companies, go to a meetup (through meetup.com) and
ask for a tour from one of the employees after the talks finish.

------
db48x
The symphony is amazing:
[http://www.sfsymphony.org](http://www.sfsymphony.org)

~~~
Danihan
Saw Ben Gibbard in the Davies Symphony Hall last night. ;)

~~~
kzisme
Really jealous - I assume it was wonderful :D

~~~
Danihan
It was, yes. Amazed at how young he is. He's 40 and I remember really enjoying
his music almost 20 years ago..

------
Hernanpm
I went there for training, I recall I bought a two day ticket for hop-on, hop-
off tour that was more than enough for SF, and regarding the bay area I took
the Caltrain and I went to one stop each day from SF to San Jose. I was lucky
to visit FB at Menlo Park thanks to friend that is working there.

------
Xorlev
Watch Silicon Valley. Ride the Caltrain.

------
gtaylor
Feel free to give me a buzz (DM @gctaylor on Twitter) if you want to do lunch
at Reddit HQ and have a peek.

------
joejerryronnie
Make sure to catch a Giants baseball game if you can - AT&T is the best park
in the major leagues.

~~~
ghaff
Boo. Boo. :-) It may well be the best of the newer parks though.

~~~
joejerryronnie
Fair enough :)

------
ww520
On a Sunday afternoon, go to open houses in some city to see how the typical
homes for sales are like.

------
crawdog
If you are looking for public spaces to work - the lobby of LinkedIn at 222
2nd is very nice and has access to free wifi/coffee.

Adding to places to visit: * SF Museum of Modern Art * Hike Point Reyes - get
some oysters in Tomales Bay on the way back * SF Cable Car museum - Free!

------
kajecounterhack
Two weeks isn't a ton of time, so I'd stick around SF with some short trips
down to the Peninsula. Here are some ideas:

SAN FRANCISCO

1\. Mission

Get off at 24th st BART and start at Ritual Coffee. Walk down Valencia street
toward 16th st BART station and stop into the variety of stores. At lunchtime
go to 18th street and grab a sandwich from Bi-rite -- eat it at Dolores park
nearby. At night go to The Chapel and see what's playing, you might be able to
get tickets. If not, try stopping by Noisebridge (google it!)

2\. FiDi

Start at Philz (300 Folsom) and walk to the Google @ Spear St. If you know
someone there you can get a tour. If not, you're now standing near the base of
the Bay Bridge and it's quite beautiful. Mozilla is right next door as well if
you want a tour. They have a nice monument outside their office. Walk away
from the Bay Bridge toward the Ferry Building, and get lunch there. Take the
Ferry to Sausalito and work from there in the afternoon -- get dinner there
and catch a ferry back to SF. Alternatively you can stick around downtown. If
you know someone at Salesforce they are right in the area as well.

Night: Try hitting up some local bars for drinks. Some popular ones include
Local Edition, Novela, and Rickhouse.

Bonus: Go see a giants baseball game. It's super cheap and really fun.
[https://seatgeek.com/san-francisco-giants-
tickets?oq=SF+gian...](https://seatgeek.com/san-francisco-giants-
tickets?oq=SF+giants) \-- the cheap seats high up are the best. You get a
great view and you can eat stadium snacks while watching an inconsequential
baseball game.

I'm assuming others will give you more tips about San Francisco + tourist
stuff, so I'll move on to the Peninsula.

PENINSULA

1\. Palo Alto

Take Caltrain from 4th and King in San Francisco to the Palo Alto station. Get
off and walk down University Avenue. There are lots of coffee shops you can
work from (Philz is popular here). There's also lots of good food options. If
you know someone who works at Palantir, their office is right here. Paxti's
deep dish pizza is a local favorite and they have reasonable lunch specials.
In the afternoon you can stop by Stanford Campus (it's on the opposite side of
the Caltrain -- head back to Caltrain from University Avenue and walk down a
palm-tree lined road). If you know someone there you can tour the insides of
the buildings, otherwise the outside of buildings is nice too.

Night: Rose & Crown is an English pub that has pretty yummy food and is
something different after a day of Palo Alto.

2\. Mountain View

Get off Caltrain and walk down Castro street toward Red Rock Cafe. This is a
non-profit cafe with free wifi and is a fantastic place to get some work done.
For lunch there are myriad options -- just walk down Castro street some more,
you can't quite go wrong.

If you have friends at Google you should ask for a campus tour, as there is a
free shuttle from the Mountain View Caltrain to the Google Campus. Even if you
can't get a tour inside the building, go to the campus and walk around. You
can bike to Shoreline Park (there's a small lake there) and rent paddleboats /
kayaks.

You can also visit Y Combinator HQ (320 Pioneer Way) but I'm not sure there's
much to see.

For dinner I'd stay around Castro street as well. There are tons of great
options. Afterwards try getting drinks at St. Stephen's Green or Tied House.
Make sure you catch one of the Caltrains back to the city (they stop running
at a certain time in the evening, probably around 11pm is the last train up
from Mountain View).

3\. Sunnyvale

When you get off the Caltrain head to Philz for morning work. Then for lunch
go over to S. Murphy Ave -- if you don't know what you want to eat, Dish Dash
is a local favorite. If you have friends at LinkedIn you should ask them for a
tour here.

There's not much in Sunnyvale -- it's pretty suburban.

4\. Menlo Park

I'm running out of steam so the basics here are -- Santa Cruz Ave is their
downtown and there's a number of coffee shops to choose from. If you know
someone at Facebook, get a tour, but it's not quite walking distance from
Caltrain; I'd take an uber once you're in the downtown. Their campus is pretty
cool...and their food is ridiculously yummy. Another interesting thing would
be to go to Sand Hill Road and walk down -- you can see all the VC firms
there. Not sure that's an interesting tourist thing to do, but it's something
you can if you're interested.

------
jasondc
\- Hang out at Coupa Cafe in Palo Alto for a few hours

\- Visit the coffee shop in the AirBnB lobby, to at least check out the HQ

\- Buy a day pass at a co-working space, such as WeWork or Bespoke and talk to
everyone there

------
jeffreygoesto
Visit Antonio's Nut House and finish in Bert's Alibi

------
kazishariar
Also be sure to visit the Hall of Heroes I think it was called. Watch a
western sunset, absolutely stunning if you're from any other coast, err -the
east.

------
acpk
Where will you be staying? When you're in Palo Alto, I highly recommend
staying at or at least visiting StartupEmbassy. I'm happy to make an intro.

------
IWillScoop
Visit the Mission District and get a nice, big burrito.

------
nicklonz
A historic house to visit in San Jose:

[http://www.winchestermysteryhouse.com](http://www.winchestermysteryhouse.com)

------
ada1981
LSD / forage for & consume magic mushrooms in Golden Gate Park. Hike Mt. Tam.
Jog the Golden Gate Bridge. Palace of Fine Arts. Presidio.

~~~
itomato
You can't forage psychedelic mushrooms in Ggp

~~~
ada1981
You mean I can't or you can't?

There are numerous reports of folks who have found some great magic mushrooms
in the park.

There are even folks who will guide you around and show you where they are.

Here is one such field report.
[https://www.shroomery.org/forums/showflat.php/Number/1364950...](https://www.shroomery.org/forums/showflat.php/Number/13649507)

~~~
itomato
Generally speaking, psychedelic species are uncommon in Northern California,
and at Golden Gate Park in particular.

This report found one elusive group of only _five_ mushrooms.

There are peak times are certain species are certainly psychoactive, but the
average person isn't gonna walk around and 'get lucky'.

~~~
ada1981
^This is mostly incorrect, save the reference to peak harvest times.

 _Psilocybe allenii_ has been hunted regularly since at least the 1960's in
Golden Gate Park, previously under its informal name _Psilocybe
cyanofriscosa_.

According to Psychedelic Society of San Francisco lecturer and mycologist Alan
Rockefeller, _Psilocybe allenii_ occurs from BC, Canada to Los Angeles, and is
_common_ in San Francisco.[1]

Allenii is also one of the strongest psychedelic mushrooms known, possibly
taking second place to _Psilocybe azurescens_.

Allenii is not alone in the Park either, " _Psilocybe cyanescens_ is also very
common in San Francisco. It is almost as potent. If you go to Golden Gate Park
in December you will see hundreds of hippies looking at the wood chip
landscaping for _Psilocybe cyanescens_ and _Psilocybe allenii_." says
Rockefeller.

The average person _shouldn 't_ be walking around hunting mushrooms, period,
as there are several species that will kill you from ingesting even a small
amount. However, there are a number of commercial services and recurring
events[2] that offer to take folks on "day trips" through the park and point
out where to find these mushrooms.

Relatively speaking, however, psychedelic mushroom species have a high
concentration in the Pacific Northwest and CA in particular. [3]

Appreciate the chance to brush up on my mycology!

[1] Golden Gate Park magic mushroom finally classified, just in time for high
season [http://48hills.org/sfbgarchive/2012/12/18/golden-gate-
park-m...](http://48hills.org/sfbgarchive/2012/12/18/golden-gate-park-magic-
mushroom-finally-classified-just-time-high-season/)

[2] IN THE WILD! Mushroom Hunt and Identification
[https://www.meetup.com/psychedelics/events/95388602/](https://www.meetup.com/psychedelics/events/95388602/)

[3] Map of Psychedelic Mushroom Concentrations
[https://www.shroomology.org/uploads/monthly_10_2012/post-1-0...](https://www.shroomology.org/uploads/monthly_10_2012/post-1-0-74297600-1349142665.jpg)

~~~
itomato
Interesting stuff, but anecdotes about people searching non-native
environments don't change my position.

Speaking as an amateur mycologist with first hand experience hunting GGP.

~~~
ada1981
What do you mean "non-native enviroments"? Wood chips? The mushrooms are
native to the area for at least decades, probably millennia.. they are common.

Did you miss the part where the full blown _professional_ mycologist says that
the mushroom is common -- his words -- in GGP? As does the Psychedelic Society
of San Fransisco?

Did you read _any_ of the links I provided?

Who should we listen to? The self styled amature? Or the experts and people
who discovered the mushroom?

------
weston
Rent a car and drive down to Santa Cruz and walk along the beach. Also, go
hiking in Big Basin State Park, which is very close to Santa Cruz.

------
nicklonz
Take the nighttime tour of SF on a Segway.

Have an Irish Coffee at the famous Buena Vista where it was invented.

Take a 1AM ride on the cable car trolley thru the fog.

------
paulsutter
Apply for jobs and attend interviews. Interviews will give you a more
realistic sense of companies compared to a walkthrough/visit.

Skip meetups

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hiphipjorge
> Skip meetups, they're mostly for people on the outside trying to get in

Wow. Unfortunately, I think this is mostly true. A lot of great meetups out
there, but unfortunately the people "on the outside trying to get in" have way
more of an interest/time to be able to do this.

My favorite meetup ever was the VIM meetup. The fact that it didn't seem like
a plausible way to get a job meant that only people actually really interested
in going went and so there was tons of cool people.

~~~
paulsutter
It's true that some meetups are really useful, you're right

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paultopia
Philz FTW. Go to the In-n-Out on Rengsgtorff.

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chrischen
Amazon Startup Loft, Joy's Place Cafe, both good free places to work with
internet.

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hntag
Hit a few dive bars. Seriously. Old SF colliding with new SF.

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imgyuri
Wow, definitely did not expect this to blow up like this.

Thanks everyone!

OP

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beat
Two weeks should be plenty of time to propose "Uber for ____", get it funded,
get front-paged on TechCrunch, run out of money, and be forgotten.

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Simulacra
Work for a startup.

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muninn_
Rent a car, drive 3 hours to Yosemite. Idk why others haven't suggested that.

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WalterGR
Because it's neither in SF nor SV.

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muninn_
So what? It's something you can do from there, and they are in the area for 2
weeks.

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VectorLock
Binge watch 'Silicon Valley' from your AirBnb.

