Silvia and I traveled to San Francisco August 15 so I could attend a medical business seminar hosted by ICQC at the Spinnaker in tony Sausalito. I was attending with my boss, Dr. Jafari, to develop some expansion plans for the Oak Brook Surgical Centre. I was a little nervous, though, since I had been interviewed a couple of days earlier by Heather Tollerson for a position with Synchrony Health. As it turned out, I got an offer the Thursday night, and Friday morning had to inform Dr. Jafari. he was not pleased, but after a while we worked things out and our relationship remains strong. Anyway, on to the trip...

Our flight was delayed several hours by storms, and they kept switching departure gates on us. We finally got to the hotel by 3 AM. I got up at 6 AM to attend the seminar. The idea was that Silvia would sleep in and walk around awhile until 5 PM. Instead, I got a call from her when she was at the Golden Gate Bridge. She had taken the ferry out and wanted to know where she should go from there.

I suggested Silvia go to Fisherman's Wharf, where she could take trolleys around the city. There was some miscommunication, and Silvia ended up boarding a double-decker tour bus at the far end of the Golden Gate. She didn't realize anything was wrong until a tour guide climbed up the stairs, did a head count, and yelled down "That's twenty. Everyone's here!" At that point the bus departed, leaving an unfortunate paying tourist behind and taking in their place a worried Mexican wife.

Silvia made the most of her accidental tourist ride, seeing most of the town and ending up at the Wharf. where she enjoyed Mme. Tussaud's Wax Museum and the naval museum. She walked her way down the shoreline all the way to Pier 39 where she did a lot of window shopping and visited the Aquarium of the Bay.

I picked her up at 5 PM and we went straight to Russian Hill to go up and down Lombard Street (cool) and the lesser known but now steeper Greenwich Street (awesome). Silvia was not amused. We then drove off to Chinatown for some quick Dim Sum (remember, always look in the window and make sure most of the patrons are locals -- don't fall for gimmicky tourist traps and don't let them pull you in off the street).

We drove to Ghirardelli Square where I had the richest, most obscene cup of hot chocolate ever. I don't think I would try it again. Across from the square is the Balclutha, an historic trade ship. We returned to the hotel, stopping by for a late night look at the Golden Gate Bridge. I finally got to check my email and found Synchrony's official offer letter. I didn't reply because I wanted to talk to Dr. Jafari first.

The next day was difficult. I went straight to Dr. Jafari and told him the situation. I won't go into it, but it was not easy. I've been working for him for eight years and I was planning on leaving just as he was wanting to start something that needed my participation.

In the meantime, Silvia took another ferry to San Francisco and toured downtown, then Pier 1 for some shopping and a makeover. I picked her up at  3 PM and drove to Pier 39 to check on Alcatraz tickets. They were sold out weeks ahead, but Silvia got a line on early-bird first-come first-served tickets. We then drove over to the Marin Headlands in Golden Gate National Recreation Area, climbing the hills over the bridge and getting a spectacular view. Then we drove on to Muir Woods, where I finally got to see the legendary Redwood Trees (Sequoias) I had read about since I was a child.

Saturday we got up very early and were second in line for  Alcatraz. We managed to get tickets and had a great time. Upon our return, I finally got to ride a cable car, which I had dreamt of as a child every time I saw the commercials for Rice-a-Roni "the San Francisco treat -- ding ding!" Sad, I know.

After a horrible lunch at Las Margaritas Mexican restaurant, a rather disappointing visit to the International Spy Shop, some more tourist shopping by the old Del Monte Cannery, and more delicious freshly-caught seafood, we drove to San Jose to visit some of Silvia's forty-eight nieces and nephews, who threw us an excellent Mexican cookout. They were: nephews Luis, Jaime, and Jorge; niece Lupita and her husband Joel and daughter Adriana; and Jorge's wife and children. On the way back we drove back and forth over the Oakland Bay Bridge, just for fun.

Sunday we visited Pier 39 again to get some tourist gifts for the kids, ate some fresh-caught seafood at Fisherman's Wharf, and visited the Palace of Fine Arts. By this point Silvia was exhausted so we headed off to the airport early, stopping for a quick bite at one of the undeservedly famous In-n-Out Burger joints.

Our 2 PM plane was several hours late in departing, of course. As if that were not enough, we were making our descent to O'Hare when suddenly the plane powered up again and climbed back up to altitude. We circled Chicago for a couple of hours, then diverted to Indianapolis. The airport there was closed, so we couldn't deplane. Finally some groggy ground crewmen made it in and fueled us up. A window opened up between storm fronts and we hightailed it back to Chicago, landing minutes before the next wave of storms hit. We got home around 6 AM, leaving me with just enough time to shower and go to work (good practice, it turns out, for my current job).

Notwithstanding the difficulties getting there and getting back (or the uncomfortable job situation), the trip was awesome. The weather cooperated like never before, with a remarkable four solid days of non-stop sunshine. We can't wait to go back!