We really enjoyed Saratoga. Even though our campsite had no internet service, it was a lovely place to stay:
I ended up working a couple half days last week, and plenty of coffee shops like this were just a couple miles away from our campsite. The internet was simply amazing.
And I’m not talking about a coffee shop’s wi-fi (which actually tend to be pretty awful); I’m talking about my own mobile internet connections whose speeds vary wildly depending on our location. In this little village of Saratoga, I got over 3.5 Mbps down and 1.5 Mbps up over my AT&T 3G — I didn’t even know 3G was capable of those speeds — and over 30 Mbps down and 17 Mbps up over my Verizon 4G — that’s faster than what I got at home with my cable internet. I guess that’s silicon valley for you.
Apple headquarters was 5 miles up the road, so we stopped by for a visit to their company store. Alas, they were closed for Thanksgiving week. That makes us 0 for 2 on successful visits to global tech companies (Microsoft was the other strike-out back in October).
Later in the week we went to San Jose to visit their Tech Museum:
We thought it was going to be more of a “history of computing” kind of thing, but it turned out to be merely a tech-ish science museum. It was still cool though, and the price was right (free).
Here are the girls checking out a cool 180 degree Google Maps booth:
There’s our RV in the driveway at home. C’mon Google, keep up!
Emily navigating an air-propelled space-walk simulator:
Amen:
Some cool earthquake measurement devices:
…and an earthquake simulator. This thing shook the floor, replicating the exact movements of several big earthquakes in recent history. Here we are feeling the Gujarat earthquake in India from 2001:
Thanksgiving day: 5 wild turkeys strolling past our RV. Where’s my musket when I need it?
Amy did a little 6 mile run that morning:
For Thanksgiving, we were graciously invited to join my cousin Jason and Mark at Mark’s mom’s house about an hour and half or so north of Saratoga.
We had such a good time eating together, playing some games, and hearing the stories from Mark’s mom about coming to American (she’s Armenian) in the early 70’s…it was fascinating. Here’s the whole group: Mark’s sister, his niece, Mark, Mark’s mom, my group, and my cousin Jason:
The next day, we took the Scion in for an oil change and to get a leaky tire fixed. This is another place I recommend for auto service if you’re ever in Sunnyvale, CA:
Killed some time at a nearby Starbucks, waiting for the car to be ready:
Once we got our wheels back, we headed to the Computer History Museum in Mountain View:
I could have spent all day here. I could also have posted a couple dozen photos here (it was THAT interesting), but I’ll constrain myself to just a few of my favorites.
Here’s the first computer with a graphic user interface (a post-WWII military computer that would show missile and plane locations on a screen). Its designers thought of everything: it comes with a built-in ashtray and cigarette lighter.
The first video game, 1972:
The first Apple computer (note Steve Wozniak’s “Woz” signature at the top), 1976:
It was fun to marvel at the computing technology from the last 75 years, and even the computer stuff from when I was a kid — those things belong in a museum. It was a little unsettling, however, to look at artifacts from the early internet of the 1990’s — AOL, Netscape, etc. It just really hit me how much the world has changed even since I’ve been an adult. What an amazing time to be alive.
Make that 0 for 3 on successful visits to global tech companies. Google was just down the road from the Computer History Museum, and even though they too were closed for Thanksgiving week, it was still fun to wander around Google-land.
I had to capture this symbol of Californian hospitality; they seem to be everywhere. “Don’t back up! Severe tire damage will occur!” say the signs.
Today, we went to Muir Woods. Great place, but it was very crowded…more crowded than what we’re used to.
I continue to marvel at the age of trees:
Muir Woods was a lot like the redwoods we had already seen, but it felt great to be back in a forest again. Much better than L.A. traffic.
Just trying to capture what a lot of these roads look (and feel) like around here:
I hooked up the PS3. Amy was not too thrilled.
…which is why I find this photo so funny. It looks like she’s racking up kills in Call of Duty, but she was playing Little Big Planet with Emily (and trying to keep up…Emily is freakishly good at that game).
We’re camped in a nice hilly little park near Hayward, about 25 miles East of San Francisco. Lots of deer walking around, and owls hooting incessantly in the mornings. I like it. I think we’re planning on finally going to Alcatraz on Friday.