San Francisco

For those that don’t know, I spent all of last week out in San Francisco (okay, Burlingame, actually) on a business trip. Aside from the work I was there to do, I actually did manage to see some of the town. The visit has brought a lot of thoughts to my mind, but I’m only going to add a few right now.

First, the Golden Gate Bridge… Wow. Just wow. I’ve seen pictures of this thing all my life, and I’ve even seen a couple of TV specials on the marvel of its construction, but nothing compares to actually seeing it in person. The scale of the thing goes beyond anything else I can think of. It was so large it didn’t even look real. Combine that with the fog that just blankets the bridge, bay, and city, and the view was something that I’m glad I got to see.

Speaking of the fog, the weather in SFO is incredible! Highs the entire week were in the 70’s, there’s a constant breeze, and this is the end of July! Stepping out into that was an incredible treat after the boiling soup we’re experiencing back in Alabama. I’m serious about this. The weather is almost good enough to justify the land and house prices.

…but not quite. Looking through a local home buyer’s guide, I don’t think I saw anything for under $500,000, and I really wouldn’t want to live in that house. The really frightening one was the two bedroom house with less than 700 square feet. I don’t think it had a price listed. My biggest question is this: how do the people that cooked my burger at the restaurant and cleaned my room at the hotel afford to live there?

Diversity really is the key word out there. I told one of my traveling companions that I don’t meet nearly enough people that are different than me. This last week went a long way toward curing that. The cultural and social diversity is simply amazing to this home-grown Alabama boy. I wish I had time to just wander for a while and work up the courage to meet a lot of people. There are so many people that have stories so much different than mine. It would be fascinating to hear them.

I may add some more stuff later, but I just had to share a little bit of the awe that I experienced.