One weekend in October Colby and I went to San Francisco to meet Ron and Kristy for the annual American Dental Association (ADA) conference. We started off our weekend with a very uneventful drive to the airport where we parked our car and hopped onto the airport shuttle. As we were riding on said shuttle a surprising number of people got on and one particular female shuttle rider caught Colby's attention. I glanced over at him to say something, saw the confused look on his face, and followed his gaze. "I think that's Jordan," he said. Jordan=a girl Colby liked years ago (He met her at EFY. Flashback to my run-in with Alex, anyone?). As we shuffled our way to the shuttle doors to get off, Colby shouted "Jordan!" in her direction to see if she'd look around and sure enough, it was her. As Colby and I were literally stepping off of the shuttle she spotted Colby, they had a quick exchange ("How are you?" "Good."), and we continued on our merry way into the airport. Small world.
I don't really remember our flight (probably because I've mastered my new skill of falling asleep on planes), but when I woke up I saw the most beautiful sunset outside of my window. There's nothing quite like flying over Earth when the sun goes down.
Welcome to San Fran, my friends!
When we stepped into California territory, we were immediately greeted by this sign:
It took me a little off guard, but I really shouldn't have been surprised. In the past Colby has briefly mentioned that when he arrived in Fresno to serve his LDS mission he was welcomed by signs just like this one. As embarrassing as it may be, my first problem with it is the grammar and the capitalization, but hey, even if an idiot typed it up, at least there's full disclosure.
That night we took a shuttle van to our hotel, dropped off our things, and walked down the block to Ron and Kristy's hotel to catch up and chat before we went to bed.
our room
(Yes, the photo is blurry. That's not just you.)
the other half of our giant bathroom
The next morning Colby and I ventured out to find food. Scratch that. We ventured out to find good food. Once again, thanks to urbanspoon, we hit the jackpot. This little gem offered us such great breakfast options that we were sure to drag Ron and Kristy there with us the next day.
When we went with them on day two it was a lot more exciting. Perhaps it had something to do with the giant dog standing outside the door next to our cafe tables outside. And perhaps it's because Kristy wasn't particularly fond of that dog. There were some funny moments, that's all I'm going to say.
breakfast, day one
(there's granola under all of Colby's fruit and milk)
After breakfast we were off to the conference looking just as official as everyone else with our badges.
For the first few hours we walked around the exhibits where people were selling dental equipment, including "new and improved" dental software. Kristy and I left the boys to do their thing while we browsed and did our own.
Kristy and I roamed the streets around the conference center at lunchtime and happened upon a Whole Foods where we enjoyed soup and salad. Then it was time for me to go to class. After four hours of learning the ins and outs of using a lot of Facebook and a little bit of Google+ for the benefit of your dental practice, I was ready for dinner.
That night we went on an excursion with the Crabtree Dental staff. Our first stop of the night was Fog Harbor.
I got fish and chips that were delicious. Colby got chowder in a bread bowl and, being the mature man that he is, he couldn't resist making his bread bowl talk. Love him.
As soon as we were done with dinner we walked a few blocks down the street to the pier where we were going to catch our "Alcatraz Cruises" tour boat.
Obviously we had to sit on the roof of the boat.
It was a tad bit windy.
Shocker, I know.
San Fran covered in a blanket of fog
I visited Alcatraz with my family when I was a kid, but one of the only things I remember about it was not having enough tickets and my Aunt Cody volunteering to stay behind. Dang, she was a rockster--IS a rockstar. Apparently I wasn't grateful enough to be there because the only other thing I remember is losing my family and trying not to cry. Super fun trip, eh? This time it was better.
We got our little audio tour with our sweet old-school headphones and wandered around the cell blocks. Every once in a while they would have photos of a few prisoners with explanations about who they were, why they were sent to Alcatraz, and what happened to them. It was all extremely interesting and a little crazy that they appeared to have so much to do and that the island was such an effective fortress.
My favorite part was walking through solitary confinement. Nowadays when I think of solitary confinement I think of florescent lights and padded white walls. Back then, or at least in Alcatraz, it was the opposite--cold stone and absolutely no light. On our audio tour there was an account of a prisoner who was in solitary; he said that he would pop one of the buttons off of his shirt, toss it up in the air, spin himself around a few times, and then search for the button in the dark. He did that over and over again for hours.
At the end of our tour there was an exhibit for a recent book that had come out about modern convicts who had turned their lives around after they got out of prison. With each story there was a large photograph of the convict and what he looked like when the book was published. It was pretty incredible. I also thought it was artistic and appropriate that the photos of them were taken at Alcatraz.
The next day we had a couple more classes, wandered around downtown, and went on a shopping adventure. We finished the night with a late dinner at a restaurant in Chinatown before we caught a cab to our hotels. On the ride back, however, there was a ridiculous amount of traffic, so we volunteered to hop out of the car early and walk the rest of the way. We just happened to pass a Levi's outlet store and snagged the two pairs of jeans in the entire three-story building that were long enough for Colby.
Then it was time to go to bed so we'd be ready for our exciting plans the next day. On Sunday we opted to spend time at Golden Gate Park, which we learned is actually larger than the National Mall in Washington, DC. When we first entered the park, Kristy swapped out the cute shoes she was wearing for something a little more conducive to walking all day. It didn't think anything of it until I looked closely at her feet.
One of these things is not like the other . . .
First we walked through the Japanese tea garden and it was incredible.
Everything was very well-kept and unbelievably green
and of course there were tons of coy fish, which was awesome.
The weather was gorgeous and sunny, so we decided to take an alternate mode of transportation for a while. This is what I like to call good family fun, my friends.
We had some serious issues parking and locking up this baby, but that made it possible for us to go hiking and it was definitely worth the stress and sweat.
Then we stumbled upon this ice cream truck! All of the tasty treat options were local and organic and great in a lot of other hippie ways, but the cherry on top was that it was unique and tasted so darn good. I got brown sugar banana ice cream with chocolate chunks and other than getting out of bed, it was definitely the best choice I made all day.
Last, but definitely not least, we visited the conservatory.
Pretty Clue-like, right?
Awesome. Just like this photo.
It was an absolutely gorgeous building even though it had been taken over by dinosaurs.
It was only right though since the conservatory had a prehistoric plants exhibit.
The flowers and plants we saw there were unbelievable. I had seen some of them before, but a lot of them were completely new to me, and even with the high level of humidity, it was a beautiful place to be.
baby pomegranate
When it was time to leave the park, we headed for a taco place that Ron and Kristy had been to for dinner a few nights before. They actually brought Colby and me food from there so we had something to eat when we first got to San Fran. It was so good that we all decided it'd be a great idea to go there again. I didn't take any pictures and I don't remember the name of it, but trust me--it was great. I bet Kristy would know, so maybe we can expect a comment about it. Maybe.
We took the BART back to Ron and Kristy's hotel (where we left our luggage for the day) and I remembered just how much I love tubes and metros and subways.
Colby and I collected our luggage, including the ski bag with my new boots and skis (thanks for wanting new ones, Kristy!), and caught the shuttle to the airport. We checked the ski bag and once we got to the gate they told us that our gate had changed to a completely different terminal. Huh?
We followed a friendly airport employee out a door and onto the tarmac where we boarded a shuttle and drove to the other terminal via the road that was marked on the tarmac. There are actually white lines designating where cars can drive so they don't get in the way of planes. We drove alongside a plane, through a tunnel beneath the airport, and into the depths of who-knows-where. Apparently that's where they sort the baggage.
It's pretty amazing how much we don't think about when we fly.
Eventually we made it to the other terminal, walked to our gate, and waited because our flight was delayed. Colby, being the thoughtful problem solver that he is, bought me a bagel to cheer me up when I was so over waiting and just wanted to be home. A few hours later we landed at the Salt Lake International Airport and surprisingly we were the only people who had traveled with skis. Strange.
