San Francisco, California

faint heart never crossed golden gate bridge

oak, You never crossed the gg bridge? c.i.

bummer, oak. did you win fair lady?

you´re more than forgiven p.d.
Piffka,good of you to post the map.I´ll HAVE to learn how to do that some day.

The first week of April, 2004, in San Francisco is certainly something to think about. I'd suggest that the first order of business would be to find a host who can accomodate the gathering. With people coming great distances to meet and visit with other A2Kers, it is important to have some quiet central place where talk can go on for hours at a time. I doubt that many restaurants, even in San Francisco would suit our purpose. Where will the gathering be centered?

Once that is out of the way, acceptable hotels in the vicinity can be scouted. San Francisco rooms are expensive, but transportation there is very reasonable and accessable. If Natalie and I are able to come over for the gathering, our youngest son would probably be able to find a place for us. Finding an acceptable restaurant in San Francisco shouldn't be difficult at all. The Empress of China in Chinatown used to serve outstanding meals, and there are so many other great locations that the difficulty would be in just choosing one. Drinks at the Top of the Mark would be very nice.

Side trips down to Big Sur, or up to the Woods would be great, but if the Albuquerque experience is any indication, most folks will end up sitting around the Gathering's central location in discussion. There were nine in Albuquerque, but San Francisco may draw twice that many. Someone on the ground there should begin planning very soon.

The cooking forum from another site I frequent does an annual get-together on the west coast - they seem to alternate between Seattle and S.F. They usually book their rooms through Priceline.com. Last year they got rooms at one of Seattle's 4-star hotels for $40/night, split between 2 people. They're planning this year's get-together right now. 4 to 6 months lead-time seems to work well, with the bookings happening in the final 2 months. One of the women in the group is taking a course at the C.I.A. - that took a booking a year in advance!

Asherman, All wise suggestions, and I hope you'll be availble for consults. I'll start looking for quiet Gathering place(s), but it would help a great deal if we knew how many plan to attend. I agree with ehBeth's 4 - 6 months lead-time for bookings for most venues, hotels, and such. Most venues will not accept reservations any earlier. However, the SF Culinary Academy requires much more lead time, and that'll be impossible unless we have a head count. We can plan side trips to Big Sur, Carmel, Sausalito, the Sonoma/Napa Wine country (many good restaurants), Muir Woods, and the Jelly Belly Candy Factory for those interested. As for finding good hotel rates, try several web sites such as "priceline, hotel.com, AAA, AARP, and travel magazines. I"ll post more options for finding good prices on hotel rooms in the future. Finally, I need assistance to prepare for this gathering. Somebody out there needs to volunteer. c.i.

Ashman, We would love to 'host' the gathering, but we'll have transportation problems, because we live in Sunnyvale, over 40 miles south of San Francisco. It will not be practical. I will begin a search for a good location. c.i.

Just a quick thought. For those of us who aren't retired or self-employed, one of the factors in terms of committing to the trip is vacation scheduling. I won't know until mid-January next year, at the earliest, whether I'd be able to get time off at the right time (and i wouldn't travel that far without making at least a week trip of the whole adventure).

Cicerone,

Another option for side trips you might consider is brunch or tea at the Sheraton Palace garden. That is always a wonderful experience for visitors to The City.


Another spot of interest might be City Lights Bookstore. "City Lights (261 Columbus Ave. near Broadway, 415/362-8193) is perhaps the city's most famous bookstore. Owned by poet Lawrence Ferlinghetti, the store was a hangout for the members of the Beat Generation in the 50's and 60's, with many Beat poets giving readings there. Ferlinghetti is still the owner, and City Lights is still a good bookstore, especially for poetry, contemporary literature, politics, sociology, and philosophy. "


http://www.citylights.com/

The Palace of Fine Arts and Exploratorium would also be of interest to the arts and science minded folks.


http://www.exploratorium.edu/history/palace/

http://www.exploratorium.edu/

This MisterSF website is a terrific resource for planning gathers in SF.

http://www.mistersf.com/

That definitely added to the temptation level, butrflynet. Thanks!

(nice hat, btw)

No sequence of thought here, just riffing.

Perhaps we could rent a suite at some great hotel. I think the Sir Frances Drake is still kicking and the St. Francis certainly is. But by definition, that might be biggy bucks.

I have my own peculiar needs, in that it is hard for me to park in downtown sf, being nightblind, I can't drive into garages. But never mind, I can spring once a year for a valet. Not cheerfully.

I am not interested myself in meeting at some airport hotel. This is one of the great cities of the world, we can't do that, imho. There are, as I mentioned before, at least one set and perhaps several more sets, of renovated oldie hotels, not lux but not horrible - pretentions to suave, like wine in the lobby in late afternoon - and fairly centrally located. The one I mentioned before that I stayed at was right in the heart of things, and completely congenial.

Restaurants, top of the line at any level. Don't get me started. I have the last four years' worth of the SF chronicle reviews of best restaurant summaries in my travel file at work. Just ask.

My main question to all is -- do you want to meet outside of town for less expensive and possible also beautiful, like the strange and wonderful place, but not necessarily that one, that I stayed in Inverness last year, and make SF a day trip,

or

stay in SF at a moderate hotel in city, as in one of those I just mentioned,

or an expensive one, trip of a lifetime, and some of us could stay in the lesser than swankos....but if some were in the greats, then we could perhaps meet off and on in the bar/restaurant of one. I for one like the breakfast cafe at the St. Francis. And, the good part, the food was good and I was almost alone in the restaurant with my sunday edition of the NYT when I went there on a short walk from my Galleria park hotel, around ten on a sunday morning.

Or at a Days Inn or travellodge away from town, like Rohnert Park or similar places an hour out of town, and group for trips to the city. That runs for about $37 a night and is perfectly clean, freeway close, not gross.
I have stayed there about five times, fine. I suppose we could gather by the pool-ette.

There is one more place that can be booked and often is, called Asilomar. University types often meet there, it is in Pacific Grove, I think....not an easy access to sf, exactly. But it could be rentable, I think, if I would only look it up, as a site for all of us, and we could get group transportation going to the city.
Asilomar is, I think, beautiful, and one can do lots of gorgeous walks. I think it is by the Monterey aquarium and the 17 mile drive. People go there to talk philosophy, great books, etc. This is Steinbeck's area, albeit more pricey now.
Finally, we could meet at some airport hotel, like I just slammed. Well, I think that is easily as expensive as some charming renovated place in town but they would surely be convenient to SFO...which could be really useful.

Which brings up...would everybody come into sfo...there are good airports in San Jose and Oakland as well.

Complicated subject, this, good we are starting to talk relatively early.

A friend and I took a cross-country trip recently. We spent at least two hours on the internet trying to find the best deal for where we were going. We finally ended up booking through expedia.com. It was $200 lower than the next highest site we looked at (I can't remember which one that was). That was for airfare and 4 nights hotel. You can get hotel prices only, airfare only, or a combination. You travelers might want to check that out.

Listening, chatoyant, am going to go look up Asilomar. I think it is too far away, but might be interesting. That place I stayed at in Inverness was cool in a laid back way too. Back with links. (People that want to stay in style in Inverness stay at Monka's, where my friend's wedding was. Serious place, v. thoughtful.)

Thank you, butrfly, for providing some suggestions. When I first started dating my wife, I invited her to go see "Bye Bye Birdie" with Van Johnson at the Sheraton Palace. We were also there a couple years ago for a wedding reception. As you say, it's really the place for wonderful experience and memories. Keep 'em coming. c.i.

osso, All good suggestions. I think San Francisco might be affordable right now, because of the high vacancy rates experienced since 9-11. If people want to opt for a more economical location, there are plenty between San Francisco and San Jose. If people are interested, I can contact several hotels in San Francisco to see if we can get some group rates. I think San Francisco would be a good home base, because many optional day tours up north or south would be readily available. Parking in San Francisco is not recommended, because it'll cost an arm and a leg, and part of your torso - and that's if your brains survive. Millbrae through San Francisco, and up and down the East Bay has Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART). San Jose to San Francisco has Cal Train. San Jose has the Rosecrucian Egyptian Museum and Winchester Mystery House. Santa Clara has Great America. Vallejo has Sea World. We need to get some feedback on what your desires are concerning 1) cost and location of lodging, 2) number of days, 3) day tours, 4) and interests. San Francisco also just opened a new Asian Art Museum. Pier 39 has a seaworld where you walk in plastic tubes, and you see the fishes, sharks, and other sea life all around you. Sorry about the disorganized manner in which this is presented, but I'm typing as I think of them. Any volunteers? c.i.

I know Sf moderately well, or somewhat well. CI, am trying to figure out what others might want too. I did stay once a couple of years ago at some big pink motel in Milbrae that was airport related, did have a bus to town. It was the exact same price as that room at the Galleria Park, just over $100./night. Where people might want to stay will depend on where their planes land, and their own inclinations, plus perhaps where the main group is gathering. Me, I will (I am thinking now, way ahead) will probably try to stay in the city.

The thing about that motel in Milbrae was it could have been anywhere...on the other hand, it had a certain efficient convenience.

Here's a link on Asilomar, just to finish the thought...but it is too far away from SF - http://www.asilomarcenter.com/accomodations/index.html

And here's a link on the Galleria Park Hotel, which is one of a bunch of similarly reconstructed/renovated oldies around SF -
http://www.galleriapark.com/

Natalie and I will want to be either in, or close to San Francisco. Our youngest son is there and we've been promising a visit for several years. If we were to begin listing the enticements of San Francisco at 20/day we wouldn't exhaust the list between now and next June.

Our recent experience is that the attendees far prefer sitting around in a large circle talking for hours to even the best side/day trip. Folks here saw little beyond their hotel rooms and Corazon, yet I don't think anyone was too disappointed. It is the opportunity for direct interaction that draws participants together, and everything else is secondary. We tend to be older people, so quiet venues that make hearing less a problem are preferable. The Corazon group couldn't get through an hour without lighting up, so the ready availability of a place to smoke while carrying on conversation would be a big plus. We probably overdid the snacks and food, but cold drinks were very popular. The most popular drink was tea. Diet sodas and ice water were much more in demand than alcoholic drinks. I think that during the entire event no more than five beers were drunk, and a wonderful bottle of tequila brought by Frbaezer is still unopened. Usually our guests belly up to the bar for a shot of single malt Islay, but not the A2Kers. Sitzkreig was the order of the day in Albuquerque, and I believe that's likely to be the group's preference for the San Francisco gathering as well.

If those of you in relatively close proximity of San Francisco would get together either here, or by PM, it may be possible to figure out some central venue that meets the basic criteria for a central gathering place. That is the sine qua non, in my opinion, for successfully planning the April '04 event. Get that set and everything else will fall into place.

I know the frustration of trying to plan without knowing how many to provide for. Unfortunately, getting a good count is probably impossible. Many folks want to attend, but as the time grows shorter the obstacles increase in size and number. At one point we expected the number of attendees for the Western Gathering to be between 12 and 16. We ended with nine, and three of those were "in-town". Of course, we are further off the beaten path than San Francisco. On the other hand, the cost of coming to Corazon were miniscule compared to the costs of spending 3-14 days in San Francisco. Cost for older retired folks is almost always a more serious consideration than time, or scheduling.