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Top Spots In And Near San Francisco To Say Goodbye To Summer

Twin Peaks (credit: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

We don't need a famous quote about the "coldest winter I ever spent" or tweets from Karl the Fog to remind us that saying goodbye to a San Francisco summer is one thing on the pages of a calendar and an entirely different thing in reality. It's more like saying hello to summer -- which just happens to arrive in September and October. While the temperature soars around the city, the fog keeps San Francisco's mean summer temperature at a chilly 61º F., which the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration cites as the coldest among 51 US cities. So, goodbye summer and hello sunshine...because October typically brings the best weather of the year throughout the Bay Area. In addition to AT&T Park for a Giants game, here are some other spots to say goodbye to summer.

Twin Peaks
501 Twin Peaks Blvd.
San Francisco, CA 94114
(415) 831-2700
www.sfrecpark.org

At 922 feet, Twin Peaks quite possibly provides the very best views of anywhere in the city. And, it's free. Pick one of those clear and sunny September or October days to appreciate panoramic views of the entire city minus the fog. Or, time your visit to coincide with sunset for a bonus. While the uninhabited 30-acre mini-mountaintop is always windy, it's always worth it. Best advice: arrive with warm clothing, sturdy walking shoes, and a full battery for plenty of picture taking. Drive, walk, bike or hike up. The Muni bus line 37 Corbett skirts around the edges of Twin Peaks, and you can walk uphill from there.

Trinchero Winery, Napa Valley (credit: Laurie Jo Miller Farr)

Trinchero Winery
3070 St. Helena Highway
St. Helena, CA 94574
(707) 963-1160
www.trincheronapavalley.com

With fall on the horizon, thoughts turn to wine grape harvest in this part of the world. Drive two miles up valley from downtown St. Helena to Napa Valley's newest tasting room. With Spring Mountain to the west and Howell Mountain to the east, Trinchero Family Estates has one of Napa Valley's prettiest views. From 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily, walk-in guests may choose from an assortment of tasting flights featuring small-production, single-vineyard wines. Step out onto the veranda with a fire pit and bocce court, or enjoy a casual tasting at the main bar with custom furniture, antique mirror, gleaming brass and a tooled leather wall. Book ahead for "Taste of the Terroir," a horizontal tasting of four single-vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon wines with cheese plate, an educational seminar, and a tour of the immaculate winery.

Sausalito Art Festival (credit: Laurie Jo Miller Farr)

Sausalito Art Festival
Marinship Park
Sausalito, CA 94965
www.sausalitoartfestival.org

Sunny Sausalito's big art show is super popular. For the past 64 years, this Labor Day Weekend outdoor event has been a harbinger of summer's end in the Bay Area. Known as America's premier waterfront fine art festival, this year's attendance is once again expected to top 30,000 over three days on Sept. 3-5, 2016. Some 260 juried artists are competing for awards, exhibiting works for sale in over a dozen different mediums. Nonstop entertainment attracts crowds to the Stella Artois main stage for a 2016 lineup including Jimmy Cliff, Tower of Power, Taj Majal, Jackie Greene, Tommy Castro and Pete Escovedo and a smattering of tribute bands. Daily general admission is $25, sold in advance online or at the gate. Free shuttles operate from the downtown ferry landing to the festival grounds.

Oktoberfest Beer (credit: Laurie Jo Miller Farr)

Oktoberfest By The Bay
Pier 48 near AT&T Park
San Francisco, CA  94158
(888) 746-7522
www.oktoberfestbythebay.com

Get out your dirndls and lederhosen, ladies and gents. If you can't get to Munich, join in some traditional German-style singing and dancing to the Bavarian oompah-pah bands closer to home. In late September, Oktoberfest beer hall parties with pretzels, bratwurst and beer boots are in full swing around the world and across the Bay Area, with our biggest one at Pier 48 for three days on Sept. 23-25, 2016. There's plenty of hearty food and German beer for clinking your mugs and saluting the season with a "Prost!"

Treasure Island Music Festival (credit: Live 105)

Treasure Island Music Festival
Avenue of the Palms
Treasure Island
San Francisco, CA 94130
www.treasureislandfestival.com

Celebrate a bittersweet 10th anniversary of the two-day music festival with the ferris wheel on the magical manmade 568-acre island in San Francisco Bay. This will be the last hurrah for Treasure Island Music Festival -- at this location, in any case. Headlining the Oct. 15-16, 2016 performances are Sigur Rós and Ice Cube as well as James Blake, Sylan Esso, Mac DeMarco and many more to entertain festival goers numbering around 20,000. Tickets include a complimentary shuttle back and forth from Bill Graham Civic Auditorium in San Francisco.

This article was written by Laurie Jo Miller Farr via Examiner.com for CBS Local Media
 

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