Catching up the week

Yikes, lest anyone think we're still in San Francisco, we're home!

I spent day four in sessions all morning, with the Certified Archivists business meeting in the evening followed by a reception. Bryan and I snuck away during the afternoon to hop the ferry to Alcatraz and take the audio tour. This is an impressive island, with many historical layers of construction. We climbed the hill to the cell block and actually it was smaller than I expected. The cells are only 5 feet x 9 feet and the two long sides are concrete - very claustraphobic. The audio tour includes the sounds and noises that were common while the prison was active, and the tour guide is a retired guard, with commentary from other former guides and inmates. I could do an entire, lengthy, post about all that we learned on Alcatraz. It's a "must-see" if you visit SF.

In the gift shop, there was a former inmate (1959-1963, for bank robbery) signing copies of his autobiography. (Of course I bought it!)

Friday morning we watched McCain announce the fantastic news that Alaska Governor Sarah Palin would be his running mate. It appears to have shocked everyone, but I was thrilled! I had noticed her a few weeks before in an article of possible women. She wasn't high on the "considered" list, but I thought she had everything McCain needed to get people excited about this election. You really couldn't hear me screaming from San Francisco?

I had arranged to meet a friend, Gerri, from 10-noon to visit before our section meeting. Gerri moved from San Antonio to Maryland last year. Traditionally we buddy up as roommates at conferences, but we haven't for the last two so we haven't caught up. She wanted to get out of the hotel, so we hopped a cab and rode to Golden Gate Park. The cabbie dropped us off at the DeYoung and we wanted to see the Pacific, so we started walking and talking. An hour later, we absolutely had to go back to the hotel, but were still deep in the Eucalyptus. So we called the cabby and left Bryan with the camera to find the Pacific, which he did and then he took the bus back.

Section meetings and sessions again all afternoon. Then Bryan and I headed out to the Oakland A's game by taking the BART underground. The stadium is nothing special to look at from the outside, and while older, still perfectly functional inside. We had fantastic seats in the bottom level, row 17. Unfortunately we appear to be a jinx to the MLB home team. The A's lost to the Twins 2-12. I shot a quick video of Jack Cust at bat (since his bobblehead was the giveaway that night) and he hit a homerun, bringing in the guy on 1st; their only score of the entire evening.

Saturday was a long travel day, and then we came home to an empty house, since Mom and Dad took the girls to SBR for the weekend. This was the first time we have been away from one of the girls on their birthday - even though we skipped the last day of sessions to fly home on Saturday for Brenna, she wasn't here! We'd just spent the last week walking all over SF, and Sat. we just sat on the plane, so we thought we'd get out and bike to our favorite place. We quickly discovered why you can't walk or bike comfortably in Houston. Humidity, Heat, and Mosquitos.

Got the girls on Sunday. Let Brenna open her presents on Monday. Went back to work Tuesday. Celebrated Cameron's 9th birthday. And here it is the end of another exhausting week. Brenna's birthday party is tomorrow afternoon.

So there - all caught up? If I ever upload the photos I'll be sure to post a link.

Wild City

San Francisco is a very NOISY city. Even from our room on the 40th floor you can hear the sirens quite often. At night, like now, when we're sitting with the windows open (yes, the windows open on the 40th floor) you can hear fire trucks, police cars, all kinds of emergency vehicles.

Today I sat in the ACA Board meeting from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. We accomplished all our agenda items and had a nice visit during the breaks. Bryan spent the day wandering around picking up gifts for various people. He rode the F-line back to Pier 39 for something we saw there in a window for Brenna, ate lunch at a touristy crepes place, then walked through Chinatown again for some inexpensive gifts. He said he really enjoyed the day.

We attended a Cuadra reception for their clients that was a little on the quiet side, then decided to go back out for dinner. San Francisco is very busy at night. We left about 7 p.m. and walked back to North Beach. I wanted to take the cable car, but Bryan suggested walking since I'd been sitting all day. Uncle Jack and Chi say everything is walking distance, but I'm not so sure. Bryan selected Michaelangelo's Caffe on the corner by Washington Square and we enjoyed Caprese and Lasagna sitting in the open window looking at Coit Tower and St. Peter and Paul church.



After dinner we walked UPhill a block and half to Market and hopped on the cable car to ride back to O'Farrell. When the cable car approached the O'Farrell stop, part of the intersection was blocked by police cars. When we exited, we could see yellow police tape blocking off the entire block south of Market right in front of Macy's (and a nightclub next door?) We didn't linger, but while walking back the three blocks to the hotel we saw two men fighting in an alley next to a parking garage entrance. Two other men were failing to separate the men and the tourists were starting to watch. Our hotel entrance wasn't much farther, so Bryan approached the SFPD officer talking to the doorman and pointed out the fight - as the police officer started that direction, two women walked up pointing in the same direction.

Bryan wonders how San Francisco compares with New York City in terms of the sirens, the noise, the crowds, the people, the urban-ness of it all. He's still standing at the window watching the fire engines. While I've been typing this he's seen 2 police cars, 1 fire truck, and heard an ambulance. He said last night there was something driving by about every five minutes.

There is a lot of different people here - you can't walk a block without hearing a different language being spoken. Some by tourists and quite a bit of Chinese. I've heard Spanish, but it's not loose slangy Tex-Mex Spanish, it's a different sounding Spain-Spanish, and maybe Portuguese. Russian. Indian.

There's been a good deal of talk among the archivists about Hurricane Gustav today. The Society of American Archivists met in New Orleans in 2005 and ten days later Hurricane Katrina blew in. I'm just hoping that Gustav doesn't decide to visit Houston instead.

Tomorrow I have some interesting sessions to attend in the morning and then we have tickets for Alcatraz in the mid-afternoon. We have to be back in time for the ACA general business meeting followed by the reception co-sponsored with SSA.

SF Day Two

Thanks to the time difference, we woke up around 6 a.m. (Pacific time) and had plenty of time to get ready for the day. The Executive club offers a continental breakfast, which was plenty of food and very crowded! The view from the 45th floor is of the Oakland side, the other side from our room.

We left the hotel a little before 8 a.m. and headed for the Muni to catch the F-line to Fisherman's Wharf. We hopped off at Pier 39 and walked around enjoying the views. Because of the early hour, nothing was open! Apparently they don't open the shops until 9:45-10 a.m. and we were there at 8:45. So we watched the Seals (noisy) and Bryan took some phone calls from work. Pier 39 is just a big outdoor tourist area with restaurants and shops. Kind of like Baltimore's Inner Harbor, but all outdoors and more quirky.

We walked farther down the Piers and saw the Blue & Gold vessels, the Blazing Saddles bike rentals (tempting), saw the WWII submarine and Liberty ship (but didn't pay to go aboard), then ate at one of the many places along Fisherman's Wharf. We shared a *very fresh* steamed crab and sourdough bread. This seems to be the "local fare" here. Then we walked through over a dozen little tourist shops. Girls, you did NOT get a magnet, a t-shirt, or some other silly little trinket from San Francisco. Sorry!

We walked down Hyde Street Pier and saw the many historic boats and vessels there. Then we crossed to Hyde and Beach to search for any possible marker of where Michael Stuckey was killed. Lisa thought there was supposed to be a plaque there, but we couldn't find it. We bought some chocolates from Ghirardelli (only to discover them cheaper at a store 2 blocks later). Then we stood in the "tourist line" to ride the Powell & Hyde cable car. (We could have walked back to the hotel via Columbus in this time.) But we did really enjoy the cable car ride up and down Russian Hill and Nob Hill. It's a good value to ride from Hyde to Powell. We hopped off at the cable car museum - the active work house. The big sheaves turning the cables were very impressive, but extremely noisy.

We walked down Nob Hill to Grant St. and walked through Chinatown on the way back to the hotel. Once in the hotel, I checked in with the SAA registration and kept running into people I knew. But we had a tight schedule to get to the Giant's game. We took the N line - underground Muni - and it was very crowded with people going to the game.

ATT Park is beautiful - opened 8 years ago - and the tickets were fabulous (thanks Uncle Jack!) club level with interior food area. After walking all around the park, standing for a while in the bleachers to maybe catch a batting practice ball, we went up to the Club level and shared a Hot Mozzerella Panini (delicious). Bryan got popcorn and a hot dog, but I had to try this intoxicating smelling concoction called "Garlic Fries". Oh I wish Lisa had been with me, she would have appreciated the yummy fries covered with finely chopped roasted garlic and parsley. This was rich, but too much to eat alone - spicy and stinky.

We left in the 8th inning because we were a little chilly sitting still, and the Rockies had blown open the game leading 7-2. We wanted to get on the Muni ahead of the crowds, which we did, and get back to the hotel. It was after 10:30 p.m. and our bodies were tired.

So - this morning I'll be in the ACA board meeting all day. Who knows what Bryan will be doing? Tune in tomorrow to find out.

PS - two things. We'd heard that SF would be foggy and cold, but it was VERY warm during the day - over 75 and we are both sunburned on our noses/face. Also the hotel has no cold water. Well, I'm sure there is cold water somewhere, but when we come back in the evening and turn on the cold water it is HOT. Taking a shower is a tricky business of not scalding yourself.

SF Day One

Day one begins like any other travel day - going to the airport. Luckily we had very little traffic, whisked right through security, and enjoyed an uneventful flight with one quick stop in Phoenix.
We saw wind turbines somewhere in West Texas from our 34,000 ft cruising altitude,

The Super Shuttle in SFO picks up until the van is full, then pulls over, cuts off the engines and quizzes everyone about where they're going. That part took 20 minutes, but finally we were on our way, and because the driver dropped off at two residential addresses, we were able to see Courtland St. in Bernal Heights, Church St. and some other area in Noe Valley.

Finally we arrived at our hotel and checked in. We're on the 40th floor and have an awesome view of the Golden Gate Bridge. Since we hadn't eaten since breakfast (and it was now 5 p.m. central time) we grabbed a bite at a Lori's Diner. After walking around and finding Union Square and the Powell Muni/BART station, we went back to the hotel to get ready for dinner with Uncle Jack.

Uncle Jack and Chi took us on the trolley to a lovely local Italian place in North Beach Trattoria Condatina. Yum! We had a really nice visit and then walked all the way back, through North Beach and the Financial District. Chi pointed out buildings and local sites. We saw City Lights Bookstore, the Coppola-owned building, the TransAmerica Tower, beautiful bank buildings, and Lotta's Fountain, which I'd read about while on the plane.

We crashed about 10 p.m. last night - too tired to do anything other than load some photos onto the Picasa Web album. Check there for photos each day.