San Francisco - Day one

I landed in San Francisco on Thursday night, ahead of my conference which started on Friday. My flight out of NOLA was delayed, so I had a bonus day to hang with Sarah, run errands, and recoup. I ended up flying directly from NOLA to SF -- I can't remember the last time I flew somewhere directly, it's been years since I was able to do that. It's so easy! :)

I woke up early on the morning of January 3rd (Friday). There is still evidence of Christmas / New Years everywhere: confetti in the streets, Christmas tree graveyards, and wreaths and lights still up.

 

My hotel is right on the Embarcadreo, and the building was at one time YMCA (which is now located next door). My room faces the front of the hotel, which is surrounded by buildings, and quiet, because it's the Financial District. All of which is perfect. Here's the view when you exit the hotel from the back: 

Like it's so beautiful, it's actually kind of silly.

I'm so glad that I committed to getting up early each day, because even though the conference was 9 AM - 10 PM, I still got to explore the city a little bit, and soak up some vitamin D. Here's from my walk at lunch on the first day:

The conference was about 3/4 mile from my hotel, which made for the perfect walk in the morning. In that last picture, you can almost see where it was-- just behind that brick building. During another break, I walked down onto one of the piers:

 

I'm so spoiled now that I live in a warm place-- palm trees are par for the course.

 

For my dinner break, I went to Chinatown with a couple of people from the conference, both of whom live in the City. It was delicious, and dirt cheap, too. I hadn't picked out any lululemons at that point. All in all, a long day, but a good one.

At 9:30, we were done for the day. It's hard to capture, but at night, the Bay Bridge is all lit up and it looks absolutely gorgeous. There's an outdoor skating rink along the Embarcadero that's still up from the holidays, and P-A-C-K-E-D. Fun to walk by each night.

I love how they light up the Financial District at night: