HNT - Escape From San Francisco

Last week on my HNT post I mentioned my trip to San Francisco and meeting fellow blogger (who I met through the social circles of HNT), Marcel Nunis. While meeting Marcel was a definite highlight of my week spent in San Francisco, I thought I'd share a few other cool sights I made while in the city.

An "out-take" shot of Marcel and I at a Jazz cafe that I took. Whoops.

One of the first things I remember being eager to want to see was Alcatraz. Given that you needed to book many days in advance and it was high tourist season, I didn't make it on a tour. But I did the next best thing - I was able to take a boat tour that pretty much circled Alcaztraz Island.

Alcatraz as seen from Fisherman's Wharf

Alcatraz from the bay cruise - headset providing history/details

The same boat tour went out San Francisco bay and under the Golden Gate Bridge. (Man was the water ever choppy and the wind ever intense as the boat moved towards the bridge)

Golden Gate Bridge as bay cruise boat approaches - notice the wind in my hair?

Golden Gate Bridge seen from below - yes, that's my thumb

I got to enjoy the many dining experiences (which included lots of sourdough bread and seafood options) at the wonderful Fisherman's Wharf.

Outside Fisherman's Grotto No 9 at Fisherman's Wharf

Speaking of sourdough, we spent one evening at a group organized event dining at Bistro Boudin located at the Fisherma's Wharf. That was pretty cool.

Of course, no trip to San Francisco would be complete without checking out the Cable Cars.

A POV pic I took while standing on the side of a cable car

A shot from inside a packed cable car. You can see my buddy Lauri easily in this shot.
But can you find my buddy Randy?

I was delighted to be able to check out City Lights Bookstore while there. This was a fun experience. I got to overhear wonderful philosophical discussions from customers while browsing through the store, which reminded me of the importance of bookstores as being meeting places for minds, a cultural and social experience, a place where ideas can be shared and absorbed. City Lights is the perfect place for that.

I was amused to find out they didn't have a business section and didn't carry or even have Chris Anderson's The Long Tail listed in their system. (I'd just finished reading Anderson's new book Free: The Future of a Radical Price on the plane trip to San Francisco loved it. And though have talked on numerous occasions over the years about the concepts from his book The Long Tail for a long time, I hadn't read it and so wanted to pick it up while in town)

City Lights bookstore in San Francisco

A sign inside City Lights in the basement area of this massive and incredible bookstore

No trip that I ever take would be complete without an opportunity to sample locally brewed beer. I tried out as many different brands of beer from local area brewers while in San Francisco -- the most popular of them being Anchor Steam beer.

Anchor Steam beer. One of many I enjoyed while in the city.

And just in case people reading this think that San Francisco was all fun and games, I did do a lot of serious work while there -- (though I didn't bother to take pictures during the many workshops and seminars and sessions I attended)

But during one of them I was amused enough to snap this shot of Lauri and Randy sitting in the floor at the back of the room and charging up their laptops at one of the few plugs in one of the meeting rooms during the Ratex User Group sessions. Wifi in the meeting rooms was included -- but power sources were quite scarce.

Lauri and Randy charging up in the back of the room during one of the Ratex work-group sessions.