Open Your Golden Gate
I spent this weekend in San Francisco, returning for the first time in 20+ years (back then, I've been told I sang SAN FRANCISCO, OPEN YOUR GOLDEN GATE as loud as possible out of our car window). Growing up on the east coast, you would often hear friends mentioning how they dreamed of one day moving out west. And I always thought it was just a temporary, natural phase in life to think you wanted to move somewhere far away and different...but after this weekend, that shared sense of manifest destiny makes a lot more sense. San Francisco is a truly beautiful city.
I was lucky to have the one and only Kate Ranson-Walsh serve as tour guide. KRW is an exceptionally talented and creative friend who I met at UVA - as well as being a fellow Teach for America alum - and we've always kept in touch since graduation. I could not have asked for a better whirlwind tour of the city. We had burritos in the Mission district, weaved through the trolleys on Market Street and Union Square, ate chocolate while exploring the Ferry Building Marketplace, took snapshots of the skyline from the shores of Treasure Island, passed through Oakland and ate chocolate chip cookies in Emeryville. Kate was awesome, telling hilarious stories and pointing out interesting landmarks all the time.
Oh yeah, by the way...did I mention that Kate works for Pixar?
This was a dream come true. Pixar, as anyone who has known me for more than five seconds probably knows, is undoubtedly the single biggest influence on my creative work (followed closely by Nintendo and the Indiana Jones movies). As luck would have it, the movie on the plane ride over was Cars, so I was all Pixar-crazy even before stepping through the front doors. If you've seen the DVD extras in movies like Monsters Inc., then you have an idea of what a cool and innovative facility this is. The pictures above are of the large central atrium - connected to this is a movie theater, cafe, kitchen, game room and mail room. There was much, much more to our little tour that I was fortunate enough to explore sans camera. Needless to say, I don't think my smile broke for the entire duration of the visit.
Thank you so much Kate. This was an inspirational experience that I will never forget.
Saturday, October 14 at 7:30 PM
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