Hawaii cruise 2026, San Francisco, 9/16

Hello from a dive motel in Chinatown, San Francisco.  There is big convention in town now, Salesforce Dreamforce 2026.  We attempted to book a hotel six months ago but found that hotels, not motels, started at about $1,000 per night, three night minimum! So we are in a two star motel at half the price. Ground floor, parking lot view. 

This morning we were in the TSA scanning line at the airport. The person behind John was an old friend from the Mac Tools days.  Co had not met Brian, though he and John go back 28 years.  Neither of us had met his wife.  We had a great time chatting for the hour plus waiting for boarding.

On the plane, they announced there was an observer there to watch the staff and how they worked.  A not so secret shopper. 

After we arrived in San Francisco we took an Uber to our motel where we were told it was too early to check in. So, we dropped our bags and walked to Pier 39 in the Fisherman's Wharf area for lunch and sightseeing.  We also learned that gas powered leaf blowers are not legal here. There were city worker raking and sweeping the streets.  We learned that dog leash law is a suggestion only, rarely observed. We were standing on a street corner waiting for an Uber back to our motel, when we saw  a young fellow ride up on a bike, stop, whip out a paint can and write what we assume is a gang symbol on the fence.  On the fence that showed sign of recently having had graffiti scrubbed off.  In the same spot.  Maybe the fence was gang turf?  Lots of tagging everywhere.

We lunched at the Hard Rock for our first ever smashburger. We hadn't seen a Hard Rock in a long time, hadn't eaten in one for a couple of decades.

When we returned to the motel to start this blog post, we realized that we, John, didn't pack a mouse.  Luckily, there is a Walgreens a few block away that had mice.  The sales person had to wipe the dust off of the box, but the mouse works! We will be going back to our Walgreens in the morning.  The other person, Co, had forgotten to pack deodorant for John and chapstick for Co.  Dang.  You would think that we were new at travelling! 

More when we are on the ship.

Colleen and John