July 2009
Business trip to Sun Microsystem's campus in Menlo Park, California. I got a great seat on our way to the San Francisco airport, with two 747's windows just for me, and the weather was great. We spent Sunday in San Francisco, visited a concert of Joan Baez, and wandered around.
After a week of work, as usual, we set off for a trip with my colleagues Anup and Mark. We visited Lake Tahoe, a very popular recreational resort, with all those Nevada casinos nearby. There are supposedly moutain lions in the area, so if you meet one, you should never crouch. You should always make yourself bigger. Obviously, if two do the same thing, it's not always the same.
Mark and me then continued to Mono Lake, a very unusual and yet very important ecosystem. For example, more than 2 million waterbirds use the lake every year as a stop when migrating. The lake is also famous for its tufas.
The next stop was Yosemite National Park. It's an amazing place with so much stuff to see. The great thing about a crowded place like this is that unless its a real must see, anything that is at least a little bit physically demanding and off the beaten path is pretty much free of visitors. We met just a few people the first day on our way to the Lake and back which took about 6 hours. We spent a little bit more than 2 days in the park and also saw the sequoia grove, many waterfalls, or famous El Captain.
We set off back to San Francisco and spent one night in Point Reyes, a sea shore reservation, 2 hours drive up north from the city. Check this website if you think about going there, you should probably stay at least one night. We stayed in the Point Reyes Hostel, highly recommended. This peninsula reservation is just a beautiful place. Quite often with rough weather, not that touristy, with a lot of wild life to see. We took just one hike about 14 miles and got to the very end of the peninsula (Tomales Point), with sea lions and pelicans waiting for us there, even a sea star. Do not forget that you are expected not to disturb the animals; hopefully this guy has already found his peace in the sea heaven.
I enjoyed the trip a lot.
