Favorite picture of San Francisco trip

I took 320 pictures while in SF, with the vast majority featuring bridges, Alcatraz, or water.

The one above- taken with my camera phone- is my favorite for the fact that the poor cameraphone lens unintentionally blurs the view to produce a soft, almost impressionist view of the city and Alcatraz. (Click on the picture for a full view.)

What do you think?

Heck of a weekend (#3)

Saturday was a spectacular day weather-wise in the Bay area (60's, partly sunny), so I set out to see as much of the city as possible.

Mission accomplished! Here's a depiction of the day's route per Google Maps. By my reckoning, I hiked ~12 miles all over San Francisco on Saturday.

(You have to imagine a ferry ride from San Francisco to Suasalito - I can't mix and match walking and public transportation on the same map.)

Here's the highlights of the day:
-a tour of AT&T Park, including a visit to the clubhouse, dugouts, and on the field.
-a ferry ride from SF to Sausalito. (Sausalito is a tourist trap, btw.)
-scenic visits from Vista Point, overlooking the Golden Gate Bridge and SF.
-a walk across the Golden Gate Bridge.
-views of the Marin Headlands from Fort Point.
-a walk through the Presidio to Fisherman's Wharf.
-Tasting 6 very nice California wines at Pier 39
-Hiking back to my hotel via Chinatown, but the highlight was an unplanned stop in Little Italy for a dinner of homemade penne.


I also took something like 200 pictures, the majority of which either came during the ferry ride across the Bay, or the walk across the Golden Gate Bridge. I'll share them as soon as I get them uploaded, which firstly relies on me getting home!


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Another scene from SF

I took a guided tour of AT&T Park (home of the San Francisco Giants) on Saturday, with time on the field (where this was snapped), in the dugout, and in the clubhouse. really enjoyed it, but I'm pretty sure the bus full of Australian teenagers didn't get a darn thing out of the tour.

What a weekend!

While in SF, I caught up with a bunch of buddies from Darden (grad school). It always amazes me when our Darden class gathers how smoothly and positively we connect. You wouldn't have known that we all had ever split up after school or gotten older,,,,unless you checked hairlines!

Pictured below are 4 of the 5 guys who made it out Friday night. To the right of me in the picture are Ed Berkowitz, Rob Hayes, and Brian McCracken. (Steve Berreman left before picture time.)

I'd love to tell you that this picture represents >$100m in net worth, but Mr. Slingbox couldn't make it.

Also making the night enjoyable were the activities. We started at a fine Irish Pub (Foley's) and finished with a trendy restaurant ("oola," or something like that,) located in the SoMa district.

Quick shot from SFO.....

One of the many reasons that I like San Francisco is how a great view is right around every corner. I was riding the cable car back to my hotel tonight and looked up to see this view of the Transamerica Tower with the Bay in the background. This picture doesn't do the scene justice.

Day 2: Roaming SF

After a big day of business (and seeing an old friend,) I set off walking to explore SF and find some dinner. I ended up walking 3 miles to Fisherman's Wharf, where I had some chili - served in a sourdough bread bowl - very nice, and very SF. The walk finished at Ghiradelli Square, where I hopped a cable car back to my hotel.


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Scene from a San Francisco institution - Lefty O'Doul's

After seeing the band with the digeridoo while scouting for a spot to grab some dinner, I looked up past the band to see a sign for Lefty O'Doul's.

Lefty's - located 1 block off posh Union Square - is a tavern opened 51 years ago by guess who, Lefty O'Doul. O'Doul was an interesting character - he made the major leagues as a pitcher, then as an outfielder, then managed for a while developing players like Joe DiMaggio. He also was instrumental in the creation of the Japanese professional baseball league. (Learn more at Lefty's wikipedia page.)

His place was kind of dive-y, as you can see in the picture, but in true San Francisco style, the place was very memorable. The walls are a virtual San Francisco baseball hall of fame (covered with pictures of O'Doul and other San Francisco baseball icons), the food was good, and Lefty's had a two person jazz band playing. I'm not sure if any other city would have a dive-y sports bar with live jazz located 1 block off of the most expensive real estate in the city, but I sure appreciate San francisco even more for it.

OK, it's not all work.....

While in SF I caught up with an old buddy, Bob Harrington, in his native environment (anywhere alcohol is served.) This time, it was the very excellent Thirsty Bear.

Bob is a Bay Area native, which is easy to tell once he starts talking ("dude," "rad,)