Impressions

We had our first "normal" Saturday after a break in unpacking period -- it seemed it would never end (and it hasn't, btw). I looked up Things to Do with Kids on this local service called "Google" and took a shot on Shoreline Park, at the end of Shoreline Drive, just past Google HQ, in Mountain View. Lucky break. It was beautiful and amazing: wetlands with a boating/paddling lake and excellent cafe that bakes its own bread and desserts. There are a series of walking/biking trails weaving around the waterways, a "pirate ship" play area, and all kinds of bird life -- pelicans, cranes, egrets, geese. We had a great brunch and took a stroll-hike -- the four-year-old version of a hike, with sound effects.

The Silicon Valley, it turns out, has a feel that is much like living in Connecticut or maybe New Hampshire, with more traffic amid smatterings of tech companies of all shapes and sizes. Since this all started here among the orchards in the 70s, there is this bizarre blend of the old culture, which still dominates, at least aesthetically speaking, and the new -- industry, consumerism, strip malls, Ikea. This may be the closest to being a pilgrim that I will ever feel. At Shoreline Park, the clientele was all kinds of everything -- languages from all over being spoken, puffy coats from around the world, and many people had that "lost" look like they were still trying, like me, to figure out where they are and what this place is all about. They're humans, after all.

There is this narrow swath from Redwood City to San Jose that is developed between the Bay itself and the Santa Cruz mountains, but there is also so much preserved state park land that as you drive the freeways or even just take a right or left turn someplace, suddenly you're in the rolling hills or the wetlands. It makes it feel strange, these opposing worlds and ideals, existing right next to one another. It is interesting to witness an area like this in its in-between stage; you can see that Mountain View is building up -- most similar I suppose to Burbank or Pasadena, but San Jose is the real "city" down here, probably very similar in feel to say, Providence or Portland but without the diversity of the population (no young hipsters. None). And much less respect, at least from the outsiders.

The landscape itself is pretty, agricultural with lots of mountains and hills. I have seen at least 8 deer in the past week. Yesterday I found the Mulholland Drive of the area driving into Los Altos Hills, and the vistas are beautiful, clearly laying out the mix I've described in the landscape. This morning, I dropped the kids off at school and decided to take a walk in the hills of the adjacent Rancho San Antonio Park. In my jeans, I walked about a 3-mile loop, and the trails were lovely, and packed -- more hikers on those trails here on a Wednesday than I think I saw in 15 years on the trails in Malibu or Eaton Canyon in L.A.

Tomorrow, I may decide to wear the right pants and keep going to Deer Hollow Farm, a straight shot, one-mile hike up to a 160-year-old farm that's still there, in the preserved park land. Chickens lay eggs there. There is WiFi.