That was the temperature difference between when I left Fairbanks this morning (-35°F) and arriving in San Francisco this evening (+60°F). This is a shot of sunrise from the Alaska Airlines flight this morning about 30 minutes out of Fairbanks. The airline must have wanted to give me extra time to acclimate to the temperature change as we had to sit on the plane, at the gate for almost an hour in Seattle before we were allowed to leave. Some sort of problem in San Francisco.
I am down here for the Fall AGU meeting as I have done for the previous 6-7 years. It is a pretty large conference and the best part is that it does not have anything to do with IT (Information Technology). I will be here for most of the week before heading north to Portland, OR, on Friday. I had reserved what can best be described as a "sketchy" hotel. It is right on the border with the region of town knows as the Tenderloin and many of the hotel.com ratings weren't very favorable. So far, I am quite satisfied with the room as it typical of a clean, older hotel and there are two Indian restaurants across the street. I had saag gosht and garlic naan for dinner. It was wonderful and I was well into it before I thought about a picture.
For the next couple of days, I had scheduled myself to judge student presentations in a variety of fields. I am not to judge on content but the presentation itself. I selected a wide variety of focus areas as I still really enjoy learning something new.
I will try and post some other photos as San Francisco is all decked out for the holiday season and I'm only a couple of blocks from Union Square and their huge Christmas tree.
Monday Afternoon - It has gotten even colder in Fairbanks since I had left as it was -38°F this morning, or so says Yahoo! weather. There was a fair amount of noise from the street but that would be the case for just about any old hotel in San Francisco. With the new ones, you are so far from the street with high ceilings and multiple floors of meeting rooms and halls, that you are pretty isolated.
Posted with Blogsy
enjoy SF. it's one of my fave cities.
ReplyDeleteThanks, I'm not sure I have a favorite city but San Francisco isn't too bad. The only negative is all of the litter everywhere and panhandlers everywhere. Or maybe it's just the area. I'm usually in the Moscone/Union Square area.
DeleteRichard:
ReplyDeleteWe stayed at a sketchy hotel just up the block from Union Square and around the corner next to the Stripper place. They had very small rooms and the bed barely fit in there and you couldn't cross the room without having to step over the bed, but I didn't find the place unsafe
Enjoy your time there
bob
Riding the Wet Coast
My Flickr // My YouTube
Yep, your comment was in the spam basement again. I wonder what Google knows about your?
DeleteThe room in the Hotel Bijou is not that small and the newly and it looks like it was recently remodeled and, as the name suggests, all of the rooms have some sort of movie theme. Most of the rooms, except mine, have a movie name on the door.
Richard:
DeleteI went to Google Maps and found my hotel, but the Stripper place is gone (sigh), but the parking garage is still across the street. I think it is the
http://www.cornellhotel.com/
it looks like it has been remodeled recently.
bob
Riding the Wet Coast
I find the financial district/Union Square areas of San Francisco to be dumpy but my opinion seems to be the minority opinion. People seem infatuated with the city, sorry The City, and don't share my view. Maybe I'm missing something. Most of the older hotels seem to have been remodeled to make them more attractive to travelers. They all seemed to have been bought up by investers. This is probably a good thing...
DeleteWhen we were there last year for my birthday we stayed at the White Swan Inn. Loved it but it was too expensive for this trip. It was close enough to walk everywhere though.
DeleteAll of the hotels that I have stayed in the past have gotten really expensive. I just attribute it to the AGU meeting as there are some 16,000+ attendees. That is a lot of hotel rooms. I hope to get an opportunity to walk around and explore some but I have a pretty packed schedule.
DeleteIsn't it nice to get the occasional break from the cold white arctic? I like the Bay area but you are right about the dirt and the beggers.
ReplyDeleteIt is nice to get out and visit other areas and I San Francisco has been a common destination for conferences and meetings. I really do enjoy walking around the city but I think that there is rain forecast for much of the week. The panhandlers are the bigger problem as many are very aggresive.
DeleteWow, that is quite the swing in temperature.
ReplyDeleteWhich hotel did you pick? I ask because when we meet Roger in January we are staying at the Hotel Carlton and it too is on the edge of the Tenderloin, but has pretty good reviews.
The Carlton on Sutter is in a pretty nice area compared to where I'm at. I;m ot the Hotel Bijou on Mason and Eddy only a block north of Market. Convenient access to Moscone. Last year, I was at the Hotel Vertigo about a block down the hill from the Carlton. If I remember correctly, there is a great middle eastern restaurant right across the street.
DeleteGood to know Richard, thank you.
DeleteSee you Saturday.
Coffee Culture at 9:00 or 9:30? I have a short memory.
DeleteI had only a tourist's snapot view of SanFran when I was there and didn't stay in the city. Every city has its "shady" areas (some darker than others) but they all have their 'electric,' 'eclectic' and 'historic' areas that make them great places to visit too. Enjoy your conference.
ReplyDelete"'electric,' 'eclectic' and 'historic' areas"
DeleteThat's a good way of putting it. But after living in the Los Angeles area, I'm not sure all cities are great places to visit. I guess I'm doomed to stay in places like Fairbanks. I think I've visited San Francisco many, many times since I was a kid so I don't have a lot of interest visiting the "touristy" sections again for the nth time.