San Francisco
We just got back from a week in San Francisco and Napa this morning on a red-eye via Chicago. We ate at French Laundry (a post on that will follow), visited wineries, had lunch at Google, visited the Computer History Museum, and spent the rest of the week with family around Fisherman’s Wharf.
All four flights (both to and from) went pretty well, but Chicago seems to be our problem city. Two firsts for me: being waived off of a landing (while within perhaps 50 feet of the runway) and aborting a takeoff. During landing at Chicago on our way to San Francisco, we were waived off of our landing within a few seconds of touching down due to a flock of birds. After circling around and trying again we landed and found we had to sit on the runway for a while as our gate was now unavailable.
Leaving Chicago on the way home, our takeoff was abruptly aborted about half way down the runway as the pilots slammed on the brakes (apparently due to miscalculated trim). After circling around the runway to try again, we had to sit for a while to let the brakes cool down. When the brakes didn’t cool off as fast as expected, we had to go back to the terminal for inspections and paperwork, and finally were told that changing planes would be faster than continuing to wait.
Gary was gracious enough to offer four of us lunch at Google, and then we went down the road to visit the Computer History Museum (and the very impressive Babbage Difference Engine). After the whole family met up in San Francisco, we had a great (but hectic) few days of Ghirardelli Square, Alcatraz, Fisherman’s Wharf (sourdough bread bowls!), the Exploratorium, and many other things.
More photos of San Francisco and the Computer History Museum on Flickr.