All About Trey

Whirlwind Weekend

In addition to the USNA Out meeting, I did get to spend some time just bumming around in San Fran. I flew in on Thursday night and Jeff picked me up. On the way to his place, he took me to the top of Twin Peak, which has just an amazing view of the city. At night, San Fran has just a great skyline and Jeff was pointing out the different areas of the city. It was cool, and a bit cold. We had great plans to go out that night, but there was a small problem (a lost wallet, well, really mis-placed but we thought lost at the time). So Jeff took me to my hotel and then went back to the airport to see if any turned in his wallet. So the upside is that I got to sleep early (2AM DC time).

The next day I got up, worked out the mini-gym at the hotel, and then did work. Seriously. Have laptop, will slave away. I did meet Jeff and Zoe (another USNA alumni) for lunch to talk about our upcoming meeting. Then when Jeff want back to work, I wandered around Union Square and checked out the great shopping. It was great, but some of the prices were just shocking. I mean, $225 for a tie. Something I'm going to drip on? I think not. But I did hit the sales rack at Kennth Cole and found a great black (natch) windbreaker. After Jeff got off work, we wandered around a bit more and then we took a quick tour of the city. We took a cable car over to the Maritime Museum and the Fisherman's Wharf area. Then we hit the downtown area and the ferry terminal building. Then we bolted back to his place in time to change for cocktails. Jeff had planned a no-host social at Mecca, a hip trendy bar/restaurant in the Castro. Zoe and another grad, Paul, were there, so we had some drinks and then the four of us had dinner. Since Jeff was exhausted, he headed home and Paul gave me a quick tour of a couple of places in the Castro. But between the jet lag and no disco nap, a late night was not in the cards. I think I was back at the hotel by midnight.

On Staturday, after another quick trip to the mini-gym at the hotel, I met Jeff and Barb (another alumni) at the Starbucks in the Castro. Jeff referred to it as the bear starbucks. And I will say that the scenery was interesting. There were a couple of guys there that I wouldn't have minded getting to know better. After that, Jeff and I went on another driving tour of San Fran. We went to the Palace of Fine Arts. We went to the foot of the Golden Gate bridge. We drove through the Presidio. And then finally we made it to the Legion of Honor for our meeting.
After the meeting, Jeff and I went back to his place and just relaxed a bit before meeting up with more alumni for dinner that night. Jeff and I did go out that night and hit some of the bars south of Market. Jeff was killing me. There was no one there and he felt bad about that. But I wasn't going to be able to stay out late anyways. We did hit the Eagle and the Powerhouse. Interesting and probably worth a repeat visit.

Sunday AM I worked again (does it ever stop!!!!), then went out to the museum where Jeff works to take a tour and just hang. During his "break" we drove across the Golden Gate bridge over to the Marin Headlands and Point Bonito Lighthouse. The weather was perfect and crossing the bridge and then heading into this natural area was just amazing. We hiked out to the lighthouse and the rugged coastline was just amazing. Then it was a mad dash back to the museum. After Jeff finished work, we headed back to the Castro for some drinks and then dinner and then it was time for the hell flight back to DC. The red eye is never fun. And there should be a law forbidding infants from red eye flights. I think I got around 2 hours of sleep so work on Monday was a joy.

Oh well, the trip was SO worth it. And I'll be back. Maybe for Folsom?

posted by Trey @ 12:45 AM