Day 20-22: The Final Weekend

Home again, home again. It's been an exciting trip, and an exciting final weekend! So exciting, in fact, that I didn't have time to write my blog because I was doing things. So here's my condensed final weekend in San Francisco.

Day 20: The Great Bike Race

It wasn't so much of a race (but if it was, I totally won), but we biked the Golden Gate Bridge today!

And possibly the nicest weather all trip

We all decided that we could use a day to sleep in, so we finally ended up heading out to pick up our bikes around 12:30. After a trip over to the Embarcadero, We had to bounce around a bit between bike rental places until we found one that could rent out eleven bikes at once. After we got our bikes and helmets, we were off on a long bike ride over to the Golden Gate Bridge.

First close(ish) view

It was actually a surprisingly pleasant ride over, and far flatter than I feared it would be. Our bike path brought us along the waterfront, through Fisherman's Wharf, up and down a hill, along more waterfront, and up another, far steeper, hill, until we arrived at the bridge.

Our group may have gotten a tad separated...

Midway on the bridge

The bridge is about a 1.7 mile ride, but it definitely doesn't feel that long. Half the time you end up staring around at the scenery (the other half you're dodging other bikers). Once we got to the other side, we regrouped to decide where we were off to next.

Bridge part 1: conquered

Most of us decided to bike up another steep hill to get to the lookout point where we were told we would have a great view of SF through the Golden Gate Bridge. I think almost all (if not all) of us ended up walking our bikes at least part of the way, but it was absolutely worth it for the spectacular view.

The majestic Pacific Ocean

"We can act like we like each other"

"Yeah, I biked that"

On our way back, our group got hopelessly separated while trying to navigate the streets of SF on bike. Luckily, we all made it back in one piece, though it wasn't for a couple of close calls. Once we got back, we all took some time to hydrate and rest, and play some Super Mario Bros Wii. After that, it was time for us to make dinner. For our final group dinner, we ended up doing chicken and steak shish kabobs, as well as fettuccine alfredo and garlic bread. It was delicious, and a fantastic meal to go out on as a group.

It tasted even better than it looked

Day 21: Last Call

And great weather for it too

I didn't actually go to a bar in SF, but today did feel like last call for us to do anything we wanted in the city. Quite a few people in the group ended up walking over to see the "Full House" house, but that didn't interest me, so I stayed in for a bit and packed up, until Brad shamed Tyler, Erik, and myself into going out and doing something. We ended up going to Corona Park, near where we're staying in the Castro. The view wasn't quite as good as the view from Twin Peaks (that was pretty indisputably the winner in terms of best view we saw on the trip), but it was still well worth the climb.

It did have a better view of the downtown than Twin Peaks

Erik was sitting on the wrong side of the camera

After our hike, I met up with my cousin Bryan, who drove up into SF to get dinner. We went to Takara Sushi in the Castro, and it was definitely the best sushi I've ever had. Bryan works at Google, so I got to ask him a few questions about the work life there. For the most part, he confirmed what we heard when we visited last week: there's plenty of perks, but there's a high expectation for good work, and lots of pressure that go along with that. His line of work is a little different, because he travels so much to support events that Google puts on, so he also ends up in different places all the time. I'm happy I got to talk to him, and happy I could get one more perspective from Silicon Valley before our trip was done. After I got back from dinner, the group played Mario Kart for a bit, until we realised we should probably get to bed for our early call time for travel tomorrow.

I opened this fortune after dinner. I guess this class was a good idea

Day 22: So long San Fran

Proving for one last time that I can't count

Today was our last day of the course (excepting the time we take to write the final paper), which was a bittersweet time. I think we're all ready to be back to our own homes and get some time to take a break, but this trip has been a ton of fun, so I'm sorry to be leaving. Ideally, we'd have an extra week of downtime so that we could go see more things, but very few things end up working out ideally. Brad and Jane are staying in the area for an extra week, so they made sure we got our boarding passes and got headed in the direction of the security checkpoint, then left to their next destination. After grabbing some breakfast at the airport, we boarded and made the flight back to MSP.

So long, SF, it was a blast

We arrived around 5:30 PM local time, all dreading our return to the cold. It's hard to remember that it's still January, and not actually Spring yet, despite how it felt in California.

So now it's all over but the paper. I'd like to thank all my classmates on the trip, both for putting up with me and for making the trip a blast. From belting tunes while making dinner, to screaming about Mario Kart, to wandering around in the big cities, it was an absolutely incredible experience. And of course, thanks go to our fearless leader, Brad, who supplied the connections for the trip, as well as the van-driving expertise. And thanks to you for reading my ramblings on business and travel. Hopefully there will be more here eventually. Until then, safe travels!