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Morning 4: Back To Stanford

We got to sleep in another morning and still had a couple of hours to kill before making the drive over to Yosemite. So Jackson decided he would like to go back to Stanford to see a couple of things we didn’t have time to see on Friday. We had lunch in Tressider Union, went to the top of Hoover Tower and inside the church.

Stanford Memorial Church Exterior

Stanford Memorial Church Exterior

Stanford Memorial Church Interior

Stanford Memorial Church Interior

Church and surrounding campus from top of Hoover Tower

Church and surrounding campus from top of Hoover Tower

Gates Computer Building.  Many of the world's greatest coders are trained here.

Gates Computer Science building. Many of the world’s best coders are trained here. Note the dry fountain!

Evening 3: Stinson Beach

Stinson Beach is the quintessential old California beach town. It’s like going back in time 50 or 60 years. The drive in is along a 20 mile curvy road which clings to the side of soaring cliffs before they drop 1000 feet straight down to the Pacific crashing below. I got some great shots along the way. The lack of many guardrails kind of surprised me. Maybe I’m just loosing my nerve.

The spectacular drive to Stinson Beach.

Overlook on the spectacular drive to Stinson Beach.

Anyway I was glad to get down to the beach and partake of the local seafood. We ate on a really neat deck of an old seafood eatery called the Sand Dollar.

Stinson4

Afterwards we took a quick walk down to the beach to let Jackson dip his toe in the Pacific. The sun was setting just as we got there and provided another great picture. We wasted no time getting as far back over the mountain as we could before dark.

Sunset over the Pacific - Stinson Beach

Sunset over the Pacific – Stinson Beach

I realized when I got back home I didn’t get a shot of the beach as you are coming into town.   It is a beautiful 3 mile crescent shaped beach.  You round a corner and see the entire beach below.  If so inclined you should google images for Stinson Beach to see what I mean.

On the way back to the Golden Gate the fog had lifted and you could see San Francisco from way across the bay. So we took a quick detour through the city. We drove past Fisherman’s Wharf but there wasn’t much else to see in the dark. We did drive up one of the big hills so he could get an appreciation of them.

Got back to our room in Cupertino around 9 after another full day.

Afternoon 3: San Francisco & Muir Woods

After we left Trey we headed north to Muir Woods. Our path took us right across the Golden Gate Bridge. It happened to be Fleet Week so the bay was full of sailboats and an air show was in progress. And just as we were approaching the famous fog started rolling in. It was not a constant fog bank but kind of rolled in as giant fingers. It made for an interesting ride across the bridge in and out of fog. The picture below hopefully captures what I’m trying to describe.

Golden Gate in fog

Golden Gate in partial fog. Note freighter just making it’s way under the bridge.

We didn’t encounter as many “California Characters” as on some of my previous trips. Perhaps this is because we didn’t spend any real time in San Francisco. But after we crossed the bridge we did pull over at an overlook for pictures and got one of this guy’s car. From the looks of it he had multiple agendas.

Someone with multiple axes to grind

From here it was 20 miles or so to Muir Woods which contains one of the last pockets of giant coastal redwoods. The road in was steep and winding and parking was an issue but after circling the lot for a few minutes we managed to find a spot. The redwoods did not disappoint. It so happens the first delegates to the United Nations met here in 1946 for an outdoor memorial service for FDR who had just recently passed away. I got a picture of Jackson at that spot.

FDR Memorial Site

FDR Memorial Site

Redwoods2

Morning 3: Meeting With MUS Alum

Saturday morning we enjoyed sleeping in a bit and were able to get some much needed rest. Late that morning Jackson’s school had arranged for us to meet Trey Thomas. We met at Peet’s Coffee in Los Altos. After graduating from MUS in 1989 Trey had attended Vanderbilt and then decided to head west for his Masters Degree. He never left.

He is a super nice guy and spoke with Jackson in depth about the ins and outs of working in the valley. He even brought along a considerable amount of swag from his company, NetApps. They sell networking equipment and cloud storage solutions. As a matter of fact they provide cloud storage to Apple for iTunes and Siri.

Famous Garages:

We couldn’t leave the valley without checking out a couple of the birthplaces of famous startups. First stop was 2066 Crist Drive in Los Altos. It was here in 1976 that Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak and a handful of friends and family assembled the very first Apple computers. The neighborhood was originally full of tract houses like this and working class families whose dad’s mostly worked in the defense industry. But the neighborhood is now upgrading with many folks tearing down the original houses and replacing them with larger homes. Not so with the Job’s home – it is on the historical register so it will remain as is.

Steve Jobs boyhood home

Steve Jobs boyhood home

The same for this house at 367 Addison Avenue in Palo Alto. Look closely at the garage in the back. Here in the late 1930’s two Stanford students by the names of Hewlett and Packard first began manufacturing electronic equipment. The first product built here was an oscillator Walt Disney used in the production of Fantasia. This beautiful old neighborhood continues to serve the Stanford community. It is no doubt home to many students and professors. Downtown Palo Alto is first class and just a block or two away and also serves as the strip for the university.

Garage where HP started

Garage where HP started