Vacation Feature: Goodreads Power User Summit 2015

Where I Actually Leave The House

Feature where I post about random places I've been which focuses on places with books, conventions, and other random odds and ends with oodles of pictures, misc. madness, and fun (for me anyway!)

Goodreads Power User Summit Trip 2015
San Francisco, California

I was thrilled to be chosen for the first Power User Summit for Goodreads in 2015. A free trip to the great city of San Francisco, stay at the Hotel Rex, and Friday spent in their office. It was definitely one of the best and unique days of my life.

I arrived early Thursday and decided to tour the city for a bit by walking - I didn't want to get lost or wander far. There was plenty I wanted to see that I didn't get a chance to, but I covered some fun highlights. I of course sought out some things bookish. I'll have to keep the pictures of the city light on here since I have so much to show concerning literary places.

The Hotel Rex is an amazing hotel! It is literary in theme with a Library Bar (yes, really), and their breakfast area also has books. There are literary quotes in the hallway, pages covering the elevator, and bookish decorations throughout. It was bliss.

I wandered out and traveled on foot to the Alexander Book Store, a recommended location of three stories of books. Besides that I toured, took pictures, and visited a coffee shop and old retro diner near the hotel.

If you're curious about the books I bought from this store, the airport bookstore on the way home (which was also incredible), and free gifts received from the Goodreads office, check out this Mailbox Monday Post.

We arrived at the Goodreads office Friday morning at 8 and got to meet and greet everyone for a little over an hour. I recognized a lot of the people there from the Summit and got to meet some of the Goodreads staff. Due to privacy reasons, I did not take pictures of the staff or members, and also not of a lot of the Goodreads office - they let us take some pictures at the end of the day around the general area.

After this we were branched into small groups by category to do panels by order of events. We all got to give input on design and ideas. The day flew by. Just some of the Goodreads Greats I got to meet (links to Goodreads profiles): Karen Brisette, Kat Stark, Becky, Wendy Darling, Christy, Steph Sinclair, and Stephen. Mark Monday did not come to the Goodreads office but he met everyone afterward at Hotel Rex when we were done with dinner at Barlett Hall. The owner of Goodreads, Otis, met with us and spoke in the panel - and of course we got to meet the other great staff of Goodreads like Meghan, Patrick, Rivka, and Emily (among several others, all amazing). Describing how exciting it was would be impossible. Our personalities all seemed to mesh perfectly in the groups, chatting afterward, and then the three hour dinner in the evening courtesy of Goodreads, following by hanging out at the Library Bar in Hotel Rex. One of the best days ever? Absolutely.

And Goodreads has the coolest office EVER -