I have been to SF a few times. If you're looking for sights to see in SF: 1. Coit Tower - great view of the city 2. Peir 39 - lots of sea lions and a pretty nice aquarium 3. Lumbard Street - just a 5 minute drive down a very curvy road in the middle of the city 4. Cliff House Restaurant - delicious and its right on the beach and overlooks a cliff. 5. Buena Vista Cafe - only suggest this place if you want to get an amazing and somewhat expensive irish coffee. 6. Alcatraz - book in advance, they sell out quick. This was a little less adventursome than I cared for, but it has interesting history and i'm glad i saw it 7. Golden Gate Bridge - you can take a water tour that's less than an hour and REALLY see it. 8. Redwoods - really about an hour drive north of SF, Muir Woods is nice 9. Hiking - north of SF and near the redwoods areas, there are a few mountains that you can hike on. You can also just drive to the top and it gives a really nice view of SF (peir 39) (pic from coit tower looking at lumbard street) If you're going to be in Santa Cruz, its a nice drive up highway 1 - really beautiful and there's some really nice hiking/views along there if you're into that. Monterey/Carmel is nice too, but its kind of a relaxing vacation spot rather than something you would be disappointed to never have the chance to see. I TOTALLY agree with going to Yosemite. I've been there in April after a blizzard rolled through and we hiked as far as we were allowed to in about 2-4ft of snow. Saw half dome but it was closed for the weather. It is amazing! If you like hiking, there's some great views around Lake Tahoe. I wanna say this was Angel lake or something like that off of highway 50? One of my trips I drove to death valley, and if that interests you at all, I'll tell you all the awesome places you can visit. Its actually one of my favorite places. (racetrack playa - rocks that "move on their own")