It's time to visit the yearly Ruby converence called Railsconf 2013 again, just like we did the past few years. This time we decided to go big and use the conference as an excuse to explore both coasts of the USA.

We arrived late in the evening in what has become by go-to AirBnb appartment in Hoboken, New Jersey. Time to explore the area and look at the progress of the new World Trade Center.

The next day we hopped onto the PATH and crossed the river into New York. Two of the destinations, the "highline", a park on an abandoned eleveated railway line and the famous "Ghost Busters" firehouse.

Shot on an old phone, hence the lack of quality.

From there we took the Subway into Brooklyn.

Where we visted the Transit museum, an abandoned Subway station where they showcase old subway cars.

Shot on an old phone, hence the lack of quality.

From the transit museum we walked to the riverfront.

And over the bridge back to Manhattan.

Shot on an old phone, hence the lack of quality.

Boston

After getting a rental car, we drove up to Boston to visit thoughtbot. What was supposed to be a fun visit, quickly deteriorated was we were in Boston right at the time when the manhut for the Boston Marathon Bombers was in full force. We heard sirens everywhere and were told to stay in the hotel.

The next day things had calmed down and we could explore the city center.

The next day we headed to the airport to fly to San Fransisco (I wasn't using the camera as much as I do now back then :))

San Francisco

Gotta see the "Full house" houses.

Colleagues wanted to visit Alcatraz, so we booked tickes and hopped on the boat to the famous island.

The island offers amazing views of the city and the Golden Gate Bridge.

And of course you can't visit Alcatraz without trying to find every scene from The Rock.

HWY 1

One of the most famous highways in the US is Highway One, which traverses the west coast. We traveled along the road from San Fransisco to Portland.

Shot on an old phone, hence the lack of quality.

Portland

The final stop of the trip and place of the conference we were heading to. We quickly noticed the various food truck places scattered around downtown Portland, very cool!

Shot on an old phone, hence the lack of quality.

Shot on an old phone, hence the lack of quality.

We also visited the OMSI(Oregon Museum of Science and Industry).

Shot on an old phone, hence the lack of quality.

The experiments were quite fun to try, it's a nice museum for young and old.

Shot on an old phone, hence the lack of quality.

We spent most days at the conference, but we also found some time to explore a few Chinese/Japanese Gardens. It might have been the thing that sparked my interest in Asia over the next few years ;)

Shot on an old phone, hence the lack of quality.

A nice relaxing morning with delicious tea.

Shot on an old phone, hence the lack of quality.