California Dreamin’
Well, I can officially say that I’ve been out west. With my trip to California finishing up yesterday morning, I can also say I really enjoyed visiting the hometown of the Governator. California is certainly a beautiful state. We had fantastic weather all weekend. Clear blue skies and bright California sun.
I really grew to like both San Francisco and the San Jose area. San Francisco is a very rich city culturally. Many different nationalities and cultures come together to form an eclectic mix. From the architecture and make up of the city, you can tell it has been molded by many different backgrounds. Walking through the city, you can see traditional church architecture, modern building structures, graffiti, and contemporary art. Another thing I found interesting, was the layout of the city itself. It’s structured in a very rigid grid pattern. Very different from Pittsburgh of course :) San Jose was great too; it felt very similar to San Francisco, but less city like. It was more town-ish. Both cities feel very new. Which makes sense, seeing as California is one of the youngest parts of the country.
Oh yeah, I did go to a conference while I was there :) The jQuery conference was a lot of fun. We learned about many new concepts and techniques being used in contemporary web development. Several heroes of the web development community were present, which lended to some great discussion and geeky humor :) The time spent was well worth it and I would definitely attend again. Especially if it’s in California.