We left Chapman at 1:30am and drove straight to the Kansas City Airport. Check in went smoothly, and security was a breeze. I did have to go through twice though. The first time I forgot to empty my pockets and take off my belt.

We ended up being very early for our flight and so I sat in Gate 85 watching TV shows on my Nintendo DS. The morning had been very stormy and we had seen a lot of lightning as we drove. After boarding and attempting to take off, the pilot announced we would be delayed because of the thunderstorms. The delay ended up being an hour long, so we missed our connecting flight from Denver to San Francisco. Luckily they were able to put us onto the next flight out, which was leaving in 20 minutes. We had just enough time to get down to the correct gate and board our plane. Since they had to squeeze us onto a different flight, we did not get to sit together. Not that it mattered anyway, all three of us ended up sleeping most of the flight anyway.

Our flight arrived in San Francisco on time at 10 am Pacific time. Our baggage was some of the last to come out onto the carousel, so we had to wait a while to claim it. Our next stop was the “AirTrain”. The AirTrain is a monorail that runs between the different parking garages and the BART. The BART is the Bay Area Rapid Transit, and it was what we were taking to our hotel. The BART is similiar to a subway and it took about 40 minutes before we got to our stop.

The first thing I noticed as we left the station and entered the city, was all the homeless people. There were groups of them just waiting in the areas that were likely to be populated with tourists. Most were just begging for money. Some however, had a better idea. As we were standing there trying to figure out which way to go, a woman in a wheel chair rolled up. She offered to tell us where to go. Tyler and I quickly figured out her scheme and walked off leaving Dylan to give her a dollar for the directions she gave us. From then on we figured out not to make eye contact or look at a beggar, and they usually would leave us alone.

We were able to check into our hotel even though it was early. We’re staying in the Pickwick Hotel, room 710. It’s a nice place, and would be pretty expensive if it wasn’t for the WWDC discount. It seems to be an old hotel that has been renovated. It’s only a couple blocks from the Moscone Center, which is where WWDC is held.

After we got settled in, we walked over to Moscone West so Tyler could register and get his pass for the conference. We saw many Apple geeks on the way. There are giant Apple logos on each side of the building.

Next we went to lunch at Mel’s Drive In, which is a “home style” themed restaurant. The waiters and waitresses dress like the old diners from the 1960’s. I had a San Francisco Hot Dog, which is described as scooped out sourdough roll, cheese, onion, relish, and pickle. It was delicious.

With our stomaches full, we returned to our hotel for some down time. Between the jet lag and the fact I’d only had a few hours of sleep in the past 36 hours, I was pretty pooped. I lay down in one of the beds and took a 2 hour nap. When I woke up, I saw that Tyler had also fallen asleep, and Dylan was about to. So I got up and gave Dylan the bed. With the two of them sleeping, I worked on the my computer for a while. By 9pm it became apparent that neither of them were waking back up for supper or anything else. So I ventured out into the cold San Francisco night on my own.

The city wasn’t much different at night. The streets were a lot less crowded, and that made it seem like there were more homeless people and more weirdos. The homeless were a lot more bold; not making eye contact was no longer a successful deterrent. They would now move towards me and confront me directly. Denny’s was only a couple blocks down the street and open 24 hours, so it became my restaurant of choice.

However, I quickly ran into a problem. One of their new featured meals was called the “Meat Craver’s Breakfast” and it looked delicious. The problem was that my waiter was flamboyantly homosexual. I was apprehensive about ordering a meal that may give him the idea that I was craving meat. Ignoring my better judgment, I ordered it anyway. Thankfully, I didn’t run into any trouble. With a quick grin, my waiter just took the menu and left. I enjoyed the rest of my meal in peace.

After finishing my supper and paying, I was once again accosted by the homeless on my way out of Denny’s. Apparently, a few of them gather outside of each restaurant hoping to catch people leaving, knowing they would have change. My strategy was to say no in a loud voice and speed walk past. It was largely successful and I made it back to the hotel unscathed. The hotel bar was hopping, so I dropped in for a bit. The crowd was mostly older, upstanding citizens and the drink prices were pretty high. I left and went back up to our room. Dylan and Tyler were still asleep, so I curled up on the floor and went to sleep.

Monday - second day in SF

Today I was planning on sleeping in, but Dylan and Tyler woke up early. They had gone to sleep very early last night. Tyler got ready and left to go the the WWDC keynote. I went back to sleep while Dylan watched read the newspaper and played on his computer. I woke back up a little after 10 and started reading the liveblog reporting on the keynote.

After it was over Tyler came back to the hotel room and got us. We left to find somewhere to eat lunch. We ended up going into the San Francisco Shopping Centre. There were 7 floors, and each floor was connected by curving escalators. Heres a picture as we were going up to the 2nd floor.

After walking around and looking at some of the stores, we headed to the massive food court. It was already pretty packed with shoppers, business people, and lots of WWDC attendees. We ended up eating at an “Italian” fast food place. It was reminiscent of Sbarro’s.

Next we went to the Apple Store which was just down the street. Lots of Apple nerds, and of course more WWDC attendees. We loaded Dylan’s blog on one of the display computers.

We continued walking down the streets of San Francisco going into stores and shopping. We eventually found our way into a bad part of town. There were XXX arcades and porn stores. Quite a few homeless people, graffiti, and broken down buildings. I would have taken pictures, but we decided it would be best to walk quickly back to our hotel, and not stop.