My Trip to the Shaky City

John Visits San Francisco

by John Johnson
Reprinted from V7N1, June 1994

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It had been less than a week since my trip to Asilomar, California for the Fall 1993 DNP meeting. I thought that I had reached my limit for sight-seeing, but I was surprisingly enthusiastic to return to California. Maybe it was the desire to return to moist sea air from these parched mesas of New Mexico. Maybe I actually thought I'd meet babes (it was an IEEE meeting after all, not Physics!) Whatever the case, I actually got to the airport early that day.

Flying the friendly skies of Southwest.

It was the day before Halloween, and Scott Garner (my roommate) and I were flying Southwest in to San Fran. The stewardesses were dressed in costumes and passed out candy on the flight. I must say that I was pleased the pilots weren't in costumes as well. After a short flight, we landed in the City by the Bay. The sun was shining and all was well in the world.

The day continued to go well. First, we were upgraded from a Taurus to a Lincoln Town Car. Next, we found the hotel in downtown San Francisco. It was the Sheraton Palace, in the heart of the financial district-and boy was it ever a palace. High vaulting ceilings, glistening brass railings, many large crystal chandeliers, a courteous staff... all that and only $150 a day plus $20 parking a day. (This is actually VERY cheap!)

The opulent Sheraton Palace in downtown SF.

Scott and I had a class with Glenn Knoll on Sunday and Monday that was about detectors and very good. Scott had a poster session that went well, and I had a presentation Thursday. This was the big yearly IEEE meeting, so we attended several good talks. Scott left Friday, 'cause he missed New Mexico (I was certainly confused), but before he left we had a chance to see (and walk) through the hills of San Francisco. We visited Fisherman's Warf-we actually saw the "penis" man again, but avoided him. We took a boat over to Alcatraz Island, and ate seafood and Moroccan at a place with a belly dancer. Unlike the 1992 trip to DC, John got into the act this time!

John pauses on our tour of Alcatraz to do some thinking.

John gets into the act at the Moroccan resturant.

I took out the town car and visited much of the greater San Francisco area, including Berkeley. I went to landmarks like the Golden Gate Bridge, Lombard Street, Telegraph Hill, and the Golden Gate Park. I spent a whole afternoon in the Golden Gate Park, it was beautiful. The Japanese tea garden, the lakes and flora and fauna, and I ended up at the ocean, where I kicked off my shoes and walked in the surf.

Looking back over San Francisco.

The bay and the Golden Gate Bridge.

By the end of the trip I had logged many miles in my new tennis shoes, snapped many artistic pictures and deepened my credit card debt. The city was great, and, despite the pollution making my throat sore, I hated to leave. Then again, it was nice to get back to work so I could get some rest.

[I made this article short so I could inundate you with my artistic photos of San Fran!]