This summer we're not doing any big vacations. Things have been busier this year than either Keen or I expected so we decided it would be better to do some small trips and day trips instead. (And we want to save up for a European trip next year! Squeee!) For our first stop we spent a couple of nights in San Francisco and went completely tourist! That's like going native, but not. Because we're already natives, see? Which means when you live in a place, you haven't seen the tourist spots.
No, seriously, I hadn't seen anything! Not Alcatraz, or the Ripley's Believe It or Not Museum, or China Town. I mean, who hasn't gotten to go to China Town? Me, that's who. Keen actually got to visit these places as a kid, but I didn't. That shit took money, yo.
But now that is all nicely corrected.
Another thing that made the trip special was, of all things, a PR event I went to. I don't often get a chance to get out and do blogger/web related meetups but I received an invitation to Hallmark's Moments and Milestones tour that just happened to fall right while we were in San Francisco at a nearby hotel. And you know what? It was just lovely. Three of Hallmark's writers came to talk to us bloggers about writing. About how to capture the right words, how to say the things it's hard to say. The focus was on Father's Day since that was right around the corner and (as always seems to happen with bloggers) there were tears and laughter as everyone shared stories and moments. It wasn't what I expected but I loved it! It was wonderful meeting the Hallmark team because you could tell that they really care about what they're doing and they were pretty inspiring.
It was nice getting an unexpected mini writing workshop in the middle of our trip. I love writing workshops. Just another thing I don't get out to do very often. It's ironic how many of us writers are out there and while we talk about blogging a lot, we don't talk about writing. It's different and it's needed. To get that feedback, to exchange ideas… it was very cool and it was it's own special occasion. So thanks for that.
– the weirdgirl
I’d never thought of that, but you’re right–it’s easy to miss attractions in your own backyard. I’ve been to San Francisco (1985)–loved the city! And I did visit Chinatown. What amazed me most about San Francisco was how clean and safe its downtown area was at night. I remember wandering around, going dancing at nightclubs after midnight, perfectly safe! Something else that amazed me was BART–it would be wonderful to live in a place where I didn’t need a car, where there were such a convenient, reliable mass transit system as that one!