Welcome to Something for Nothing

I once went on a trip to San Francisco for a conference. I initially went by myself and then my wife and son would come at the end of the conference. So, for the first couple days I had to figure out things to do in San Francisco . Sure I had the conference, but there really wasn’t much going on in the evenings for the conference (yes, I should have never been at this conference). Let’s just say that I think San Francisco is one of the craziest places. I was in downtown San Francisco and I decided to just start walking and see what I could see. I thought Las Vegas was great for people watching, but San Francisco was even better. It was crazy fun seeing all these business people walking around in downtown San Fran.

As I walked I heard some music in the distance. Of course, I had to go see what it was. Turns out there was this whole production going on with a band and dancers in the plaza outside one of the big office buildings. A couple hundred people were all crowded around enjoying the band. It was crazy to see all the people who must have been on lunch breaks enjoying the show. The craziest part was that it was so organized. I think we’ve all seen street performers, but this was a full scale production show. Free entertainment. It was great.

Once the wife showed up we got lost in the crazy streets of San Fran. I really wanted to take the Alcatraz tour, but it didn’t fit into our schedule. I must admit that family vacation ideas are harder than just being by myself. I don’t mind just walking around. When you have your family with you, you have to plan a bit more.

At one point we decided to head off to the old Candlestick Park. Can you say run down? We were hungry and so I decided to drive around and try to find something to eat. A few blocks from Candlestick Park and my wife and I both got this odd feeling like we weren’t somewhere we should be. It was run down area and didn’t look like the friendliest place in the world. At that point I turned the car around and got the heck out. For some reason we weren’t hungry any more.

Lesson learned: make sure you know where you’re going before you just start driving around. Of course, I’m ready to head back to San Francisco already.

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