Part of every trip to San Francisco is getting an Ocean fix.  Like drug addicts we go to smell the salty air and seaweed.  There’s nothing like the feel of ocean breezes and hearing the rhythmic splash of waves on the shore.  This trip was no different.

On Thursday we went north out of the City toward highway One.  This means going north over the Golden Gate Bridge on the 101.  Just past Sausalito we took the One which goes past Muir Beach to Stinson Beach.  At Stinson we walked the long white beach on what turned out to be a warm, sunny day.

From Stinson we went out to Inverness on Point Reyes.  We wanted to see what was left of Manka’s, a place we’ve dined in the past which recently burned.  Manka’s wasn’t the sorta place we’d go to very often, just when we wanted to do something really special.  We read recently that Prince Charles and Camilla were visitors to Manka’s. Food and Wine Magazine called Manka’s, “One of America’s fifty best hotel restaurants.”

Then we went to Point Reyes Station, a few more miles north.  Our objective there was to eat dinner at the Station House Cafe.  While we killed some time before dinner Bev found a knitting shop and bought herself a neat scarf.  Interesting what you find in out of the way places.

We got back to our hotel in San Francisco about 7:30.  It was a good day.

Tuesday was cold and blustery.  So anticipating the same on Wednesday, Bev said, “Let’s do indoor things today.”  We decided to go tour the new and improved de Young Museum in Golden Gate Park.

The de Young is a huge museum.  Their website says it has 293,000 square feet.  It’s not large like the Louvre, but large nonetheless.  We arrived about 11:00 in the morning and left at about 4:00.  We saw every gallery, and my feet let me know that.

The museum was the brain child of M. H. de Young, publisher of the San Francisco Chronicle.  In 1893, a year of financial depression in San Francisco, he decided that the West was in need of its own world’s fair. The fair was adopted and held and posted a profit.  Out of that success came the desire to build a museum, so on 24 March 1895 the first de Young Museum was dedicated.

The 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake damaged the old de Young, and it was decided that it had to come down.  But there was no public money to rebuild it.  Private funds were collected, and the new de Young was built and dedicated.  Opening ceremonies were October 14, 2005.

We drove to North Beach to eat Italian food.  You can hardly go wrong at the great restaurants concentrated in that neighborhood.  We gave the restaurant 5 stars.

Tuesday began with a long breakfast at the hotel restaurant.  We ate late, so we called it brunch, and then we set out to begin our foot tour of San Francisco.  Bev found some interesting toys on sale at a toy store.  I got a new belt.  We strolled aimlessly toward the Embarcadero.  At the end of the day we figured we went over two miles.

We thought we might go to North Beach for an Italian dinner at one of its famous restaurants.  Our course led us past City Lights Bookstore.  City Lights was founded in 1953 and is an independent bookstore.  It’s claim to fame is its role as a literary center for the Beat Generation—formally called beatniks.

City Lights was made famous by writers such as Allen Ginsberg and Jack Kerouac.  Singer Bob Dylan also visited the bookstore.

Continue reading San Francisco #2 →

Bev and I are away for a few days in San Francisco.  It has been nearly 2 years since I’ve had a break, so this a welcomed respite.

We got a really good deal on our room at Hotwire dot com.  Considering this is in the middle of the tourist season, the price we got was remarkably good.  The kicker was the car parking charges—$40 a day.  We decided that it was worth the price, however.  We’re in a nice hotel with excellent service.

On Monday night we asked the concierge what restaurant in the neighborhood he would recommend.  With little pause he said, “John’s Grill.  Go to the corner above the hotel and turn right.  It’s two blocks on the right.”  We took his recommendation.

John’s Grill is about to celebrate it’s 100th anniversary.  It was made famous by Dashiell Hammett in The Maltese Falcon.  Some of its customers include Johny Depp, Renee Zelwiger, Keanu Reeves, Steve Young, and Derik Jeter.  The restaurant’s walls are decorated with the pictures of politicians, city notables, and various stars.  It’s interesting to see who has visited there.

Bev and I both agreed that John’s Grill is worthy of its celebrity.  The food was excellent, and the setting was fun.  Wednesday night we are going to North Beach for some Italian food.

Our BNI leadership team met today to discuss an upcoming Visitors Day that we are sponsoring.  We should be sending out about 400 invitations if everyone gives us the requisite 20 contacts.  In the course of preparing for this we asked our district representative to talk to us about recruitment, and she gave us some excellent tips on things we need to tighten up as we get ready for this influx of people.

Which led me to think about the importance of high standards.  Organizations of any sort that allow themselves to be loose and sloppy are not healthy and do not grow. Generally speaking, people want to belong to something that is excellent.  BNI has a guide book of practices that result in strong local chapters, and strictly following the guidelines produces healthy results.

Organizations will reflect the character of their leaders.  Weak, ineffective leaders produce weak groups.  Strong leaders cause their followers to rise to their level of leadership.  Are they courageous?  So will the group be.  Are they visionary and focused?  The group will be that as well.

Leaders owe it to their groups to provide strong leadership.  Otherwise the groups will be dragged down by the weakest and least effective members.  It’s hard work in the beginning, but it results in fewer problems, stronger organizations, and more effective work.