Jennifer's 365 Project

Chris has a conference all day today which means lots of randomness for me to do. Or the potential anyway.

After we split up I headed back to the hotel to lay down a bit since my sinuses were bothering me and I was feeling lazy (waking up every day at 4am because you're on Eastern time still probably doesn't help).

I finally got up and checked out of the hotel, found a banana and headed out. It was a toss up between Muir Woods and the California Academy of Sciences. Since I'd managed to burn my face the last two days in a row I opted for the indoor option. I also forewent bringing the SLR since I was tired of lugging around the weight.
I took the public transportation over to Golden Gate Park. At the point where I needed to transfer MUNI lines I got lost for a bit and missed a few trains. Eventually I found my way through the magic of google maps and asking questions.
The California Academy of Sciences was pretty neat. If I hadn't recently been to the Shedd Aquarium I probably would have spent a lot more time in the aquarium area of this place. Lots of parts of this place reminded me of others - like the hallway in the photo at the top of this post reminded me of the Smithsonian Institution National Museum of Natural History. The aquarium portion reminded me of several aquariums I've been to, and the interactive displays and educational pieces reminded me of parts of the Detroit Science Center.

I really do like places like these, so I enjoy seeing the different layouts, going to planetariums or educational shows, and just walking around a bit. The living rainforest was neat and I liked the interjection of live creatures into some of the exhibits. I'm sure that makes the trip all the more interesting to kids. For $25 or so dollars it was totally worth it.

Once we got back to the car we headed out to the airport. We had four hours to kill, but not knowing how bad the wait to get through security would be and the need to find gas before dropping off the car, we decided to head out to the airport.

The GPS steered us clear to AT&T park, where the SF Giants were having a game. So we spent about an hour in traffic going a few miles. If we were desperately trying to get somewhere it would have been really frustrating, but since we had a lot of time to kill it worked out.

After a mini-side trip to find gas (there aren't as many gas stations right off the freeway as you would think...) we arrived at the airport with a little under three hours to spare. And we sailed right through security. As in - there was no wait. Tuesday night at the airport must be a very quiet night.
But SFO has free wifi (unlike DTW) so I was able to grab a bite to eat, surf the internet, and do some reading on the kindle. Plus we were able to get our seats switched so we were next to each other (in the emergency exit aisle). I'd have taken some night shots with the SLR since I had so much extra room, but we were over the wing and there were lots of blinking lights on it. In retrospect I think I should have tried anyway. Both the flight arriving and leaving San Francisco. Next time...

Anyway, here's the complete slideshow of all the shots from San Francisco rolled into one!

Chris is in town for a conference and today is the first day for it. It's a half day, so we headed out together to Union Square so he could pick up his registration information and check out all the financial and shopping districts in this part of San Francisco.
One thing this area is-different than the touristy area of Fisherman's Wharf and Pier 39. Tall buildings, business suits, Starbucks, and lots of lots of white earbuds. I actually liked it quite a bit. It feels more open than areas of Chicago I've been in. Part of that I'm sure is having public transit at street level or below ground versus the train that is above the streets in parts of Chicago.
We had lunch with Chris's boss and his wife. It was nice to meet both of them and I had a good time. Then after we wandered around a bit looking at more of the area before the conference began.
After we split up I took the long route on foot back to the hotel. When it was all said and done I walked about 3 miles from the Mascone center through Chinatown, Washington Square, Coit Tower and back to Lombard Street (to see the infamous twisty road). I didn't hike all the way to the crazy portion of the road - I just didn't have enough energy (or water) left to make it up another hill.

I saw a lot of interesting things, including several murals and colorful streets and districts. I'm a little bummed I didn't swing over to the small French Quarter though.

Here's a few slideshows for your enjoyment!

I tried really hard not to plot out this trip like I seem to do with everything. So while we didn't have a firm itinerary of activities for the next 3 days (ok, I dont, Chris does) I did want to see Golden Gate Park. So that was our first major destination after breakfast.

The day started relatively early (4:30) since our flight from GRR to DTW left at 7am. I'd never been to GRR (only DTW, TPA, ORD) so it was a new experience. None of that getting to the airport super early - only an hour ahead of time. There was a decent line for security, but not terrible as it is not a large airport. All in all a pleasant experience.
Our flight to SFO was long to me (5ish hours). In the scheme of things, it's shorter than driving and it's a much shorter flight than anything to Europe or Asia, but it still felt like a long trip.
SFO is a nice airport, complete with a tram that runs outside to various parking structures, terminals, public transit and rental cars. It reminded me a lot of the one in Tampa.
Our hotel mere blocks from Pier 39 and the Fisherman's Wharf area, so there's a lot of traffic, a lot of bright signs beckoning you this way and that. Traffic was not as dense as I had thought it would have been, but was probably just because of the time we were driving. Everything looked much busier as noon came around...
We ate at Pier 39, saw the seals and sea lions, walked around a bit, and paid way too much for parking.
As the afternoon progressed we walked around a bit more, ending up in Chinatown after dinner and working our way back up toward the hotel.
We settled into the hotel on the earlier side - around 7 or so. Both of us were really tired and despite trying to stay up a few extra hours to adjust to the time difference, I kept drifting off while reading. The hotel was kind enough to have two false fire alarms, roughly an hour apart, to wake us both up and scare the shit out of us. That alarm and PA system are incredibly loud. I have confidence that if there is a fire I could not possibly sleep through it.

Anyway, here's a few shots of our travel out there as well as Pier 39.