Monday, July 14, 2014

San Francisco: Part II

It took me 30 years to get to San Francisco, but in the last 6 months, I have been there twice.  The second time was much better because in February, it rained the entire weekend.  If the theme of last trip was, "You know, this would be really nice...if it weren't raining.", the theme this time was, "You know, this would be really nice...if I weren't working."  I was in Opower's San Francisco Office to do some third quarter planning with my team and, though I didn't have a lot of free time, it was still an interesting trip.

In keeping with the company's expense policy, I stayed at the historic Hotel Whitcomb, whose hallways were reminiscent of The Shining and the walk to/from work took us right along the edge of the Tenderloin, a rather shady part of town.

The first night, right before I collapsed into bed at 8:30pm PST, I toured San Francisco City Hall.  It's quite nice, but you have to walk by nearly 100 homeless people settling down for the night on the greens outside.

7-8-14 - Note the sign.  I was not allowed to play on the playground without my children.
City Hall



The second night, I took the BART train to Embarcadero and wandered around the Port of San Francisco Ferry Building.  That was neat, and I quickly spent a small fortune on three organic-local-artisan pieces of chocolate for Nathan and Alison, and then walked along the water for a bit.
Bay Bridge
Coit Tower
I was really happy to see my friend, Jossie, for lunch the next day, but wish I'd had time to do more.    Next time I think I'll bring the family and take some vacation.  Oh, and I'll also make sure that it's not raining.