I debated whether this trip would be enough to report on but I ultimately decided it was worthwhile. On a similar topic, Ryan and I have been going on many little adventures around western Washington this summer. Day trips to Tacoma, Snoqualmie, and Leavenworth. It would be fun to write about those, too! If I manage to get on top of my writing schedule, then maybe I will.

I went to SF for just a couple days for work. It was my first time just popping in to a busy office as a manager, and given the number of other teams that were there, I didn’t budget enough time to meet with people! I went for a few different specific reasons and accomplished my agenda, but next time I pop into an office, I really should check who all is going to be there and plan accordingly (spoiler alert: I won’t).

Here are all the photos from this trip (I didn't take many). Enjoy!

Day 0

I left for the airport late in the evening, right after I wrapped up work for the day - I had to give a presentation to a team in Australia. I made it to the airport with time to spare and breezed through pre-check. All was well until I got into a taxi, and I discovered my taxi driver had existing beef with my hotel because there’s nowhere to park on the street while unloading a passenger. When we got to the hotel, the driver attempted to get into the customer parking area, but the front desk manager wasn’t having it. We eventually pulled around onto Van Ness. A bottle of water and my favorite little shoebox hotel room awaited me inside. I went to bed right away after chatting with Ryan on the phone.

Day 1

I took my new teammate out to lunch at Gracias Madre, a vegan Mexican restaurant. I went for the flautas and a cup of coffee, and my teammate had a burrito and horchata. Delicious! I will definitely be back when I’m working in SF.

In the afternoon at work, we celebrated Pride month with drag performers, snacks, and beer. I helped one of my teammates keep the party stocked with beers and keep the energy up. I had a great time!

A bunch of teammates were in the office that day, and we all went out to dinner at Prubechu. None of us were familiar with Guam’s cuisine, so we ordered a bunch of different dishes that looked good and took recommendations from the servers. We ended up with an awesome spread that included a pickle bag, wings, pork belly, rice, bread, and more. We had trouble choosing between all the drink options, and some of us ordered flights, and others of us ended up trading.

After dinner, one of my coworkers and I agreed to grab a drink at R Bar, home of the Cleveland Fan Club in SF! They were advertising Fernet, so I got some, with a seltzer. We pregamed briefly before heading to Monarch to watch our teammates’ DJ set. At Monarch, we danced and enjoyed some cocktails on the floor, enjoying the vintage furnishings that surrounded the dance floor. When 11 PM came around, we did the grown-up thing and called a Lyft home.

Day 2

The next day was for wrapping things up at work and more team and social time. We had Thai food in the office with everyone who was there and took a group picture. I had a walking 1:1 with a good friend that took us around the corner to Garden Creamery where we shared a scoop of strawberry.

Unfortunately, at this point I lost track of time and ran late to dinner at Fable. I still caught most of the meal and got a corn and prawn bisque that came out at the same time as everyone else’s order, and the bottle of GSM we shared was memorable and tasty.

We all wrapped up and made our way to our next destination - the airport or our hotel. I headed home to spend the weekend with Ryan and the cats - no time for fashion shopping on this trip. I had a great time but I was happy to be home!