San Francisco, Part I

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Neecee was selected to speak at the CCCC conference last week in San Francisco. It’s a very big deal in the English composition world, and to be a speaker at the conference is very prestigious (no bias whatsoever). She’s been working for months getting her presentation together, and I’ve been working for months figuring out where and what I want to visit in San Francisco. We would be staying for 5 solid days. Needless to say, we were both very eager to hit the road that Tuesday night.

I had ordered brochures and pamphlets from the Visitor’s Center and marked each point of interest in my GPS. From where we parked the car at the Atlanta airport to where our hotel was, the GPS proved worth its weight in gold.

We had chosen redeye flights there and back to maximize our time out there and save money, so we arrived around 10am on Wednesday. Neecee had a session she wanted to attend that afternoon, so after checking into the hotel and dropping her off, I headed out with the camera in hand.

We stayed at the Courtyard Marriott on 2nd St. (for a deal! Thanks Chris!), which is in the heart of downtown SF, between SOMA the financial district. I wandered from Union Square, with the Versace and Prada, up to Nob Hill, towards Chinatown, seeking the “Gateway” mentioned in the brochures. I found the gate and, being less than impressed, I started looking for a drink.

As I was walking along, I saw a Guinness sign protruding from the side of a building, seemingly from a sushi place. As I walked toward it, I saw that the sign wasn’t advertising Guinness for the sushi place, but for a tiny Irish bar in the alley next to it. Almost hidden, it sat far back from the streetfront, with only a couple of tables and chairs out front. Just enough to let you now it was a food/beverage place. This cozy joint, the Irish Bank, turned out to be one of the best places I ate in all of San Francisco. I had a great conversation with Courtney, a patron, and the bartender, who gave me great advice on where to go, what to see, and where the natives eat and drink. I learned of a roller derby tourney, how cool the industrial district was, the best bar for heavy metal (hint: it’s directly across the street from the industrial district) and how to get a boat tour from a local on the cheap.

After I left there, it was about time to head back to Neecee, so I meandered around Market and Mission on a roundabout way back to the conference center. After I met Neecee, we went back to the hotel and slept. Sleep we hadn’t seen in 32 hours…

More to come; also some photos are up on the site.