Nick Edwards: Greetings all! This is Rough Guide author (various bits of USA, Greece and India) welcoming you to our chat from chilly Pittsburgh. Please feel free to send any further questions on northern CA.

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Delray Beach, Fla.: I will be flying in from West Palm Beach to San Francisco on May 15 returning on May 18 as my son exhbits his art and sculpture work and receives his master's degree from the San Francisco art institute. other family members will be flying in from San Diego. I would like to know where in San Francisco I can find a bakery or cake artist that would design a specialty cake or a restaurant that is capable of doing this for a celebration.

Nick Edwards: Check out butterflycakes.com

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Boston, Mass.: We will be visiting SF in April. We want to drive some of PCH but are not sure where to start and how far to go. We can dedicate a day, but not an overnight to this. Question is where does PCH start in San Fran and how far should we go and what should we see before we turn around?

Nick Edwards: : As you no doubt know, the Pacific Coast Highway is Rte-1 and you have the choice of heading north or south for a day trip. Hard call 'cos both directions are beautiful.
Going south, Rte-1 leaves straight out of South SF and the first decent stop is Pacifica (good snack/meal choices). There are then a series of lovely beaches and the quaint seaside town of Half Moon Bay. You could certainly aim to reach as far as Ano Nuevo State Reserve (around 50 miles from SF), where there might still be some elephant seals hanging out after mating season. Santa Cruz is not much further.
On the north side, via the Golden Gate Bridge (US-101), you can bear west and hug the Marin Headlands, then skirt through a couple of beaches to the extremely impressive Point Reyes National Seashore. Beyond that Rte-1 itself hugs the shore, passing Bodega Bay (where Hitchcock filmed "The Birds"), Jenner and Fort Ross en route to Mendocino, though the latter is a bit far for a day trip.

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Silver Spring, Md.: I used to live in the Bay Area, so I know my way around as far as driving a rental car. To save money on ticket prices, should I use San Francisco airport or Oakland airport?

Nick Edwards: There's really very little to choose between SFO and OAK in practical terms for arrival. Different airlines offer deals to both, so it's a case of doing some online research for the dates you want.

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San Francisco, Calif.: I am a huge fan of trolley cars. Do the trolley cars still run on Market Street on the weekends?