So, if you happen to be stumped for things to do with your own on-loan teenager in San Francisco, here’s what I discovered…

Male Teenagers Like:

• Hard Rock Cafe

• Amoeba (on Haight Street)

• Haight Street in general (especially stores that sell things with pot leaves on them)

• Driving down Lombard Street and imagining what it’d be like to go down on a skateboard

• Walking around the Italian neighborhood of North Beach

• 826 Valencia’s Pirate Store

• Paxton Gate (a strange brew of taxidermy store and garden center. they also sell loose teas.)

• Alcatraz (reserve your tickets beforehand, least you find yourself coping with a disappointed teen)

• Joe’s Cable Car Burger

• Chinatown’s many stores and little old ladies who shove you out of the way

• Golden Gate Park for its impromptu swing dancing, roller disco, De Young Museum‘s observation tower (skip the actual museum…BORING! the tower is free!), walking around Stow Lake looking for turtles, watching a musician perform underneath the giant windmill out by the ocean

• Sea Lions at Fisherman’s Wharf (they fight and smell bad. what’s not to like?)

• The view of the Golden Gate Bridge from Marin Headlands (we were close enough to see people standing on top of the northern tower. just glad he didn’t ask me to take him up there!)

• Musee Mecanique

• Little Nepal (this was the one “weird” restaurant we took him to and although he sited a blister on the roof of his mouth from the spiciness, overall it was a hit)

• Hanging out with Aunt Betty’s two hot girlfriends and the always cool, Travel Boyfriend

• Marriott’s Rooftop Lounge for awesome views

• Pointing out every cool old car and motorcycle in SF (of which, I discovered, there are many)

Male Teenagers Don’t Like:

• Aunt Betty pointing out where she and Travel Boyfriend made out during first date (this is not a reflection on Washington Square Park itself)

• SF Mime Troupe (Nephew decreed “Nobody wants to hear about the war.” Don’t worry, I’m working on him.)

So, as you can see, even though experts may tell you differently, it really isn’t that hard to make a teenager happy. Especially in a city as amazing and diverse as San Francisco. Who knew?Looking for even more ideas on what to do with your kids in San Francisco?

Fodor’s Around San Francisco with Kids, 2nd Edition: 68 Great Things to Do Together (Around the City with Kids)

Frommer’s San Francisco with Kids (Frommer’s With Kids)

Another Betty blogging about teen travel in San Francisco:

Bay Area Back Pages

Drag a bar stool up to the piano and soak in the atmosphere of the oldest building in the French Quarter. It’s been standing since around 1772. And with Mike Hood on the keys you’re be sure to remain entertained until well past when you fall off said stool.

Travel Betty Basics

Lafitte’s Blacksmith Shop
941 Bourbon Street
New Orleans, LA

It’s just a little room with benches and a stage. That’s it. Like a puppet show theater, except with oil paintings of jazz musicians on the wall and no puppets. When we got there, the musicians were already on stage and just about to bust out with their Dixieland stylings. Once they started, I felt angry that I was never exposed to this as a child. I used to play in my high school jazz band. But in tight, white suburban Ohio I never saw the passion. We played “When the Saints Go Marching In” and “In the Mood” and all sorts of jazzy ditties like that, but to me it was all about playing the notes right. I don’t think I ever felt the soul. At Preservation Hall you feeeeeeeel the soul. It exudes.

And it wasn’t even that the performers played perfectly. In fact, sometimes it sounded a bit sloppy, but you could see the passion for jazz in their faces. Their instruments looked like natural extensions of their bodies. And the audience seemed like an afterthought. These guys were going to play no matter what or who showed up, making me feel even more grateful to be there. And don’t think enjoying the Preservation Hall Jazz Band is limited to humans. Halfway through the show, a cream-colored cat sauntered in for a better listen. He stayed through the set and then as the crowd cleared out, hopped up and laid on one of the benches with his paws hanging lazily over the edge. Like, “See ya, suckers. I’ve got a backstage pass.”

If you go, know that the shows are short (ours lasted about a half hour). Also, they don’t serve drinks (although you can bring your own in—gotta love New Orleans!). And there’s no bathrooms (PB4UC ). And sometimes there’s a long wait. But it’s all worth it.

If you can’t make it down South, but still need your Dixieland fix, try these:

The Best of Preservation Hall Jazz Band

  Marching Down Bourbon Street

Travel Betty Basics

Preservation Hall
$8 cover charge (a steal!)
726 St. Peter Street in the French Quarter
New Orleans, LA

Other Betties Blogging About Preservation Hall

Made In New Orleans: A Preservation Hall Blog
The AALL Second Line Blog
Aisle Be Seeing You…

I didn’t have my video camera on me during the show, but I grabbed this off of YouTube so you can get the vibe:

Travel Betty’s Egyptian Soundtrack
Here’s my iTunes iMix of traditional Egyptian music, Nubian music, music I listened to while in Egypt, music Travel Boyfriend and I joked about on our trip and funky electronic and dance music with an Egyptian theme. Enjoy!

We came upon this gentleman playing his rababa for us outside the temple of Medinet Habu in Luxor, Egypt. Go ahead and enjoy half a minute of his musical stylings. You just might feel compelled to give him some baksheesh.

Orbitz: Don’t you deserve a little TLC when you travel?