Level ‘Car’ achieved

Posted: January 2nd, 2010 Filed under: Travelling, USA | 1 Comment »

Got a car, got destinations. Ready, set, go!

It’s new years day, and we finally had the heart to leave San Francisco.

We had few, but good destinations. We would visit a couple of campuses, UC Berkeley and Stanford, and drop by Googleplex, Google’s headquarters.

Being that it was the morning after new years eve, the city was eerie quiet. The only people you could see was the ones who heroically tried to rid the streets of broken bottles and confetti. After half an hour of waiting for the BART- Bay Area Rapid Transit, we found ourselves at the airport, one car richer.

Who would have expected that.

First off, Stanford. Of course, they have a palm avenue.
Thanks to Bente for the picture.

After half an hour of jaw dropping driving around the Stanford campus, we stopped in a nearby town, called Menlo Park. Breakfast got devoured.

This one’s for someone back home- Audi R8.

We had ourselves a little walk on the Google Campus, when all of a sudden a security guard showed up. He was very sorry, but it turns out it’s not allowed for the deadly to be on Google property. Apparently, you have to know someone who works there. I asked if it was sufficient if they knew us, but he didn’t seem to get that joke.
Thanks to Bente for the picture.

After a trip to Gilroy, an outlet town south of San Jose, we got the idea of catching the sunset at the famous Bixby Bridge in Big Sur, south of Monterey. After an hour or two we actually made it, in the nick of time.

In Monterey we had the best burger to date, a The Island. That burger alone is gonna make me come back to Monterey.

After our little spree down in the south, we decided to get up back north. Tomorrow we would visit the UC Berkeley campus, and we wanted to beat the morning traffic. Trucking on, we ended up in Alameda. After some shady looking motels, we found our way into the right side of Alameda. Trust me, you want to stay on the right side.

Just like back home. No, wait.

With 30-some thousand student, you have a decent sized campus.

Headng back up to Sonoma.

Just happened. We passed the specter of emergency personnel as we drove further north.

Armstrong Redwoods State Park, Sonoma.

Speechless.

They sure know how to grow a tree.

And you though you’d get away.

Again back in Sonoma.

From left; Jacob, Liam, Jean and Kevin.

We slept over at Anya and Gabor’s house. We will leave for Chicago tomorrow, so this will be our last whole day in California- for now.

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