Last weekend, I had the pleasure of taking a spectacular road trip down to the ol’ birthplace of coworking - beautiful San Francisco. As I predicted, as soon as I crossed over the California border I was greeted with sunny skies, warm(er) air and spectacular views everywhere from Mt. Shasta to the bay area itself. What a treat (yes, I heard it snowed in Seattle while I was gone…suckers)!

On my drive down and while I was in town I had the pleasure of dropping in on some of our fellow coworking spaces (confirming that Office Nomads folk really DO love field trips).

First up was a quick visit to Souk to say hello to Julie and the coworkers in the Pearl District in Portland. It was a treat to get to be in her space and to truly see how the personalities and styles of space owners are reflected in their spaces. Souk is cool - beautiful whites and blues contrasting against their exposed brick walls. Julie was busy welcoming a large event happening in their main area, but took the time to swing me through the space. Thanks, Julie!

While in the bay area, I was able to spend a little bit of time at both Sandbox Suites and Berkeley Coworking. Roman took me around Sandbox Suites bright and early on Monday morning. We took a turn around the space, I got two-floor envy (man, how great is it to have a balcony??), and we talked a bit of coworking shop, which is always a pleasure with another space owner. Thanks to Roman and his partner Sasha for creating such a fun, welcoming space!

After Sandbox, I swung out to Berkeley on my way back towards I-5 and visited with Sean and Brian, two of the charming regular residents at Berkeley Coworking. Again with two-floor envy… These two gave me a warm welcome and showed me around their collaborative space. They were also kind enough to point me in the direction of the popular Berkeley Bowl, home of spectacular veggies shopping that kept me well fed on the drive home (and avoiding the ever-tempting bags of Combos in various gas stations on the way back…).

Then it was back on the highway for 12 hours of completely unsustainable road adventures for Susan. Hey, environmentalists get to endulge from time to time too…

Thanks again to all of the other coworking folks for their hospitality over the weekend - know that we always welcome field trips to Office Nomads!