San Francisco

This last week I was in San Francisco receiving some training with a couple of my coworkers on the Ext.js JavaScript framework. Our flight to California, which was less than 3 hours long, was delayed by 5 hours, so rather than get an evening in San Francisco, we got to hang around DIA watching the playoff games and waiting for a flight that seemed like it would never come. Finally we arrived just after midnight. We were staying on the border of the Financial District and Chinatown. We heard a bunch of firecrackers going off when we got out of the cab. That's when we realized it was the Chinese New Year. So those firecrackers continued well into the morning. I fell asleep around 1:30 AM, but John said they went longer. Then they started up around 7 the next morning and would intermittently punctuate our time there for the rest of the week.

It was fascinating to walk through Chinatown. It felt like being in a different country where all the street names were in English. Most of the conversations I heard though were all in Chinese. There were stores and restaurants that were unlike what I've seen in the States before. In the morning I could see old women doing tai chi in the park across from our hotel. There were restaurants with whole roasted ducks in the window. Pretty wild. Our first morning there, there was a celebration at the hotel complete with dragon dancers and the mayor of San Fran.

We had some great food while we were there. I tried raw oysters for the first time at The House, which in general was quite good. I had escargot for the first time at Cafe Bastille, accompanied by an absolutely excellent cassoulet with duck confit. We had some really great Italian food at Perbacco, too. And we got great sandwiches from Molinari Delicatessen, which felt like it was lifted from Italy or some other decade. Of course we also had some good Chinese food, though we did not stop at the restaurant with the ducks with their heads still on.

One morning I decided to hike up to the Coit Tower atop Telegraph Hill. Unfortunately, I chose a rather foggy morning, and I only got a few glimpses of the bridge. I did see and hear the wild parrots of Telegraph Hill though, which added to the feeling of being in a different country. Despite the cool weather, I was well drenched in sweat as I descended the hill and went to the training. I stood outside for a while to try to cool off, but I think I was still getting condensation from the moist air.

 Thankfully the trip back was much, much smoother than the trip out. I was glad to get back to Colorado and my lovely wife, who managed to finish up a lot of the nursery while I was gone. Now it is complete with border, crib, and changing table! San Francisco was fun, but I love my wife and am glad to be home! You can see a few more pictures in my gallery, if you like. Below is a sneak preview of the nursery!