San Fran

Last week we went to San Francisco for the JavaOne Conference. Steve went on Sunday to be there for the conference start on Monday. I met up with him on Wednesday night. Steve really enjoyed the conference. He learned a lot of new things and reviewed some things. We went swimming most nights and went to eat at the infamous Cheesecake Factory. Neither of us had been there before, and it was delicious. My favourite was how they made the food look all fancy on your plate. I’m not going to try to describe it, but trust me, it was cool. Of course, we got a piece of cheesecake that was delectable. While Steve was working hard at the conference on Thursday, I went to Chinatown with my friend, Nicole, his coworker’s wife. It was fun to look at the cool stuff they had. It was also fun to see all of the store owners faun over Nicole’s cute son. Friday, Steve’s coworkers and fam’s hung out in our room until they had to go to the airport. Steve then went to a few more sessions, and we went back to check out Chinatown again.
Saturday we checked out of our hotel and headed to a bike rental shop. It was fun to walk through Chinatown, yet another time. Since it was Saturday morning, all of the food markets were open, and we saw a truck full of pig carcases. I know that I eat ham and bacon and a lot of pig products, but it still is kind of a shock to see it before it’s cooked and in the deli. We also saw everyone standing in line to get the Chinese newspaper. It felt like a walk in a real Chinese town (I think…I’ve never really been ;)).
We got our bikes and started on the trail. It was a beginner course but it started out with a nice, steep hill. We could see the Golden Gate Bridge from the top, however, and we were excited to get to our goal. On the way we ran into a bunch of girlscouts. We’re not sure what they were there for, but there were a lot of them! Finally, we got to the bridge which led us over to the island, Sausalito. It’s a really nice place. We saw an exhibit of Dr. Seuss’ art. DId you know that he didn’t start out writing children’s literature? He really was an artist, but his paintings didn’t suit his time, so he wasn’t able to put them up in a gallery. Someone looked at it, though, and suggested he put it in children’s books. And now we have Dr. Seuss. I thought that was pretty cool.
We took the ferry back to Fisherman’s Wharf and the “mainland”. On the way, we passed Alcatraz. Then we explored all over Fisherman’s Wharf. We saw those guys that paint themselves and then look like maniquines. We ate lunch at the Boudin Deli. I guess it’s a pretty famous San Francisco Bakery. They make bread shaped into different animals. They are also famous for their sourdough bread bowls. For good reason they are delish!

By this time we were pretty worn, so we parked ourselves in some hotel lobby. It was nice to rest. We still had an hour or so, so we went to see the “crookedest street”.

On the map it was only a few blocks away. Little did we know that those blocks were straight up hills. We’re talking there was practically a cliff at the top! They had to have a mirror in the intersection at the top so that you could see if any cars were coming from “down under”. But that’s how they got the crookedest street. It had about 6 switchbacks in one block! It was quite a sight, and surprisingly very busy. We planned to take the cable car back to our hotel to complete the San Francisco experience, but unfortunately they were too full, so we started the trek back, and headed to the airport. It was a great day! Very exhausting, but very worth it.