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Every year, my group at work comes together from our three hubs—Boston, Upper Saddle River (NJ), and San Francisco—for a retreat. This year, the location was San Diego, where our boss resides. We stayed at the picturesque Paradise Point resort.
Over our two-day retreat, we listened to great presentations from colleagues and had some productive conversations, taking advantage of our brief yet intense time together. Here are a few photos from the retreat. |
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The entire group being kooky. Back row, left to right: Stephanie, Alexa, Mark, Jessica, Ron, Lillian, Laurie, and Deveney. Front row, left to right: Mansour, Jane, Kirsten, Anna, Dana, me, and Elise. |
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Me and Ron after breakfast on Thursday morning, before everyone dispersed to their respective post-retreat destinations |
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On Sunday afternoon, our Monday morning flights out of Boston were cancelled because of a Nor'easter that dumped nearly a foot of snow over all of Massachusetts. Luckily, most of us were able to reschedule for an early afternoon flight. I still left for the airport rather early, which involved falling into a huge snow pile in my driveway on the way out the door, and running through the snowy streets of Beverly with my suitcase in tow at 7:30 am.
After slight delays out of Boston, we made our connecting flight in Dallas and arrived in San Diego just after 6 pm. We rented a van, drove to the resort, dropped our bags off, and joined the rest of our group for Mexican fare at Ponce's Restaurant.
Mansour, Ron, and I took advantage of the warm mornings to run seven miles on both Wednesday and Thursday mornings. It doesn't get much better than starting your day running next to the crashing ocean waves. |
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Jane and Mansour on our first night in San Diego after a long day of travel |
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Mark and Mansour |
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Alexa, Deveney, Anna, Elise, Jessica, and Mark |
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Stephanie, Jane, Mansour, and Lillian |
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Hard at work during one of our sessions |
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Fruit basket from one of the San Fran printers |
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This duck wanted to be part of our photo shoot |
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Back: Stephanie, Alexa, Mark, Jessica, Ron, Lillian, Laurie, and Deveney. Front: Mansour, Jane, Kirsten, Anna, Dana, me, and Elise |
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The web folks: Anna, Stephanie, Lillian, and Mansour |
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The copywriters: Elise, Jessica, Mark, Jane, Lillian, and me |
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The events gals: Alexa, Lillian, and Deveney |
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Designers being kooky |
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The designers: Ron, Laurie, Lillian, Dana, Kirsten, and me |
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For a team-building exercise, we played miniature golf on Wednesday night. True to form, we brought beer and wine for sustenance and survival. |
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Jane and Ron |
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Deveney and Stephanie rescue Kirsten from a sand trap |
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Not only does Mansour run from cats, he also chases balls. |
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Dana, Stephanie, Deveney, Kirsten, and Elise |
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Dana, Elise, and Mansour |
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Mansour, Lillian, me, Ron, Jessica, and Dana |
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Stephanie and Deveney |
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Ron and Mansour |
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Jane |
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Ron |
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Pearson colors |
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The next Tiger Woods |
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Mansour, Lillian, me, Ron, Jessica, Jane, Dana, Deveney, and Stephanie all doing the "Ron" move |
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Kirsten and Mark |
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Kirsten, Mark, and Alexa |
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Alexa, Mark, and Laurie |
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Stephanie, Laurie, Alexa, Deveney, Kirsten, and Mark |
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Bringing fun to the mini-golf course |
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Stephanie, Laurie, Alexa, and Deveney |
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Maybe too much fun |
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Laurie and Alexa |
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Kirsten and Jane mock-fighting |
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On Wednesday night, we had dinner at Anthology. The private room was directly above the stage, and we enjoyed a delicious meal and live music for a lovely evening. |
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Stephanie and Deveney |
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Anna and Mansour |
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Dana and Jessica |
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Ron, Mansour, Stephanie, Deveney, and me |
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Jessica, Mark, and Jane |
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Cheers |
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Jane, Lillian, and Kirsten |
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Jessica, Mark, and Jane |
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Jane, Mansour, and Kirsten |
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Stephanie, Kirsten, and Deveney |
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Anna |
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Mark, Lillian, and Jane |
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Dana, Jessica, Mark, and Jane |
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Laurie, Mansour, and Ron |
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Stephanie, Deveney, and me. Deveney holding her prize for being part of the winning mini-golf team. |
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Saying goodbye after breakfast |
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After saying our goodbyes following breakfast, the Boston-based folks in my group headed to the airport, where I caught a taxi to the train nearby station for my ride up to LA to visit family in South Pasadena.
Conveniently, the station in San Diego had wireless, so I was able to check email and even do a little work. I changed my train to an hour earlier departure time, bought a disposable camera (since I had left my digital camera at home), and called Annie to let her know I would soon be on the way.
Here's the Tabblo of that visit, California Dreaming. |
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