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Ask HN: Best Si Valley spots to visit

7 points by Killah911 15y ago

I'm visiting the bay area for SiValley CodeCamp, what are the must see destinations before I head back to FL tomorrow? I was excited to see the highway signs for Cupertino and Mountain view, but don't wanna just drive aimlessly after the conference :)

byoung2 15y ago
1600 Amphitheatre Parkway, Mountain View has some cool sights to see. Also, check out Castro street. One of my favorite restaurants, Xanh, is a cool Vietnamese fusion restaurant/lounge.
- Killah911 15y ago
  Cool, thanks a lot for the recommendations, I'll check it out!
- utkarshsinha 15y ago
  If you keep on going, there's the Shoreline lake - a great place!
mathattack 15y ago
This may be very nerdly, but.... Look up the addresses of 3 or 4 iconic firms (Google, Apple, Oracle, etc.) and just drive by. Pick big ones so they'll have visible buildings. I don't know why, but just seeing the buildings gives an impression of the importance of technology in the area. In any other city, those tall buildings would be banks or insurance companies. Whatever you do, don't go to Alcatraz! :-)
- dholowiski 15y ago
  I don't know about the others but I know you can actually go to Apple, there's an 'Apple store' there- you can't by apple hardware but it is the only place you can buy Apple swag. Agreed with the -1 Alcatraz.
- Killah911 15y ago
  Thanks for the encouragement! I'm all about nerdy, so I tweeted from Google Plex (which is all I could do since everything there was closed), then went over to Apple's Headquarter's and paid my respects to Steve Jobs at the little memorial next to 1 Infinity Loop (Apple Store's only open M-F, ah well, got a pic). Then I drove over to Fry's Electronics and OMG I don't think I've seen such a huge store in my whole life, I mean, they literally had to kick me out because they had to close the store. All in all an awesome 1st night at Si Valley. Oh yeah, I had a burger at In-n-out, heard that was a very California thing, and those burgers really are as big as the ads! Plan on hitting Stanford, Golden Gate Bridge and Berkeley tomorrow after CodeCamp lets out at 3pm. If I leave Berkeley at 7:30pm, should I have any trouble getting to SFO for a 10:30 flight? I hear SF traffic can be pretty bad, but is it that way on a Sunday evening as well?
  - eaurouge 15y ago
    You could always take the bart to SFO. Would take you about an hour from Ashby to arrive at SFO, train schedules on bart.gov. Driving should take about a half-hour, or slightly more. If you do make it to Stanford, Steve Job's home is really close, in case you'd like to see the memorial at his place.
    - Killah911 15y ago
      I totally would! What's the address?
rachelbythebay 15y ago
It might blow your mind to find out there's an actual (former) marina and (current) boat launch a couple of miles from all of the technology. Go North on Lafayette/Gold St from 237 until it ends, then turn left, go to the end, turn right, and go to the end one more time and you're at the marina park. It has water, birds, reeds, fish, the whole bit. You'd never expect it with places like Tivo and Marvell right there by the freeway, but there it is. It gives you a wider sense of what is actually going on around here.
jerrya 15y ago
Drive up to San Francisco and be a tourist tonight. Best city in the world.
lclaude01 15y ago
You have to see the Filoli house and gardens Just beautiful ! http://www.filoli.org/explore-filoli/ http://www.filoli.org/explore-filoli/
neuromancer2600 15y ago
Drive down University Ave in Palo Alto starting from 101 and going all the way in to Palm Drive of Stanford Campus. It's an exciting view. Going all the way back, you will actually hit 1600 Amphitheater Parkway. If you have more time, take a peek into the streets crossing University Ave. But I also agree with byoung that Castro is a pretty cool spot.
- Killah911 15y ago
  Planning on doing this tomorrow. Are there a lot of startups along the way by Stanford? Any place where I could just walk down the street and see a whole bunch of cool startups?
  - eaurouge 15y ago
    There's a Plug and Play on University: http://www.plugandplaytechcenter.com/locations http://www.plugandplaytechcenter.com/locations.
joshu 15y ago
SV is pretty bland re tourism.
dirkdeman 15y ago
Call me a stupid tourist, but I actually enjoyed Alcatraz... It's very touristy indeed, but no more than seeing the Empire State Building when you're visiting NYC. 1161Crist drive in Los Altos would be high on my to-visit list for SV. It would be so awesome to see in person that someone like Steve Jobs started out of this garage!
eaurouge 15y ago
Have you seen PG's list: http://www.paulgraham.com/seesv.html http://www.paulgraham.com/seesv.html?
- Killah911 15y ago
  Thanks, I wasn't aware of this list. I've already hit a couple of those spots, but I'll be sure check out more on future trips here. I love SV, it's like coming to Disney for the hacker (funny b/c I actually live very close to Orlando).
- deleted 15y ago
  [deleted]
LarryMade 15y ago
Over by Google in Mountain View is the Computer History Museum, the largest computer museum in the US. Check the hours, its worth a look if you enjoy computing history.

7 points by Killah911 15y ago

byoung2 15y ago

1600 Amphitheatre Parkway, Mountain View has some cool sights to see. Also, check out Castro street. One of my favorite restaurants, Xanh, is a cool Vietnamese fusion restaurant/lounge.

Killah911 15y ago
Cool, thanks a lot for the recommendations, I'll check it out!
utkarshsinha 15y ago
If you keep on going, there's the Shoreline lake - a great place!

mathattack 15y ago

This may be very nerdly, but.... Look up the addresses of 3 or 4 iconic firms (Google, Apple, Oracle, etc.) and just drive by. Pick big ones so they'll have visible buildings. I don't know why, but just seeing the buildings gives an impression of the importance of technology in the area. In any other city, those tall buildings would be banks or insurance companies. Whatever you do, don't go to Alcatraz! :-)

dholowiski 15y ago
I don't know about the others but I know you can actually go to Apple, there's an 'Apple store' there- you can't by apple hardware but it is the only place you can buy Apple swag. Agreed with the -1 Alcatraz.
Killah911 15y ago
Thanks for the encouragement! I'm all about nerdy, so I tweeted from Google Plex (which is all I could do since everything there was closed), then went over to Apple's Headquarter's and paid my respects to Steve Jobs at the little memorial next to 1 Infinity Loop (Apple Store's only open M-F, ah well, got a pic). Then I drove over to Fry's Electronics and OMG I don't think I've seen such a huge store in my whole life, I mean, they literally had to kick me out because they had to close the store. All in all an awesome 1st night at Si Valley. Oh yeah, I had a burger at In-n-out, heard that was a very California thing, and those burgers really are as big as the ads! Plan on hitting Stanford, Golden Gate Bridge and Berkeley tomorrow after CodeCamp lets out at 3pm. If I leave Berkeley at 7:30pm, should I have any trouble getting to SFO for a 10:30 flight? I hear SF traffic can be pretty bad, but is it that way on a Sunday evening as well?
- eaurouge 15y ago
  You could always take the bart to SFO. Would take you about an hour from Ashby to arrive at SFO, train schedules on bart.gov. Driving should take about a half-hour, or slightly more. If you do make it to Stanford, Steve Job's home is really close, in case you'd like to see the memorial at his place.
  - Killah911 15y ago
    I totally would! What's the address?

rachelbythebay 15y ago

It might blow your mind to find out there's an actual (former) marina and (current) boat launch a couple of miles from all of the technology. Go North on Lafayette/Gold St from 237 until it ends, then turn left, go to the end, turn right, and go to the end one more time and you're at the marina park. It has water, birds, reeds, fish, the whole bit. You'd never expect it with places like Tivo and Marvell right there by the freeway, but there it is. It gives you a wider sense of what is actually going on around here.

jerrya 15y ago

Drive up to San Francisco and be a tourist tonight. Best city in the world.

lclaude01 15y ago

You have to see the Filoli house and gardens Just beautiful ! http://www.filoli.org/explore-filoli/ http://www.filoli.org/explore-filoli/

neuromancer2600 15y ago

Drive down University Ave in Palo Alto starting from 101 and going all the way in to Palm Drive of Stanford Campus. It's an exciting view. Going all the way back, you will actually hit 1600 Amphitheater Parkway. If you have more time, take a peek into the streets crossing University Ave. But I also agree with byoung that Castro is a pretty cool spot.

Killah911 15y ago
Planning on doing this tomorrow. Are there a lot of startups along the way by Stanford? Any place where I could just walk down the street and see a whole bunch of cool startups?
- eaurouge 15y ago
  There's a Plug and Play on University: http://www.plugandplaytechcenter.com/locations http://www.plugandplaytechcenter.com/locations.

joshu 15y ago

SV is pretty bland re tourism.

dirkdeman 15y ago

Call me a stupid tourist, but I actually enjoyed Alcatraz... It's very touristy indeed, but no more than seeing the Empire State Building when you're visiting NYC. 1161Crist drive in Los Altos would be high on my to-visit list for SV. It would be so awesome to see in person that someone like Steve Jobs started out of this garage!

eaurouge 15y ago

Have you seen PG's list: http://www.paulgraham.com/seesv.html http://www.paulgraham.com/seesv.html?

Killah911 15y ago
Thanks, I wasn't aware of this list. I've already hit a couple of those spots, but I'll be sure check out more on future trips here. I love SV, it's like coming to Disney for the hacker (funny b/c I actually live very close to Orlando).
deleted 15y ago
[deleted]

LarryMade 15y ago

Over by Google in Mountain View is the Computer History Museum, the largest computer museum in the US. Check the hours, its worth a look if you enjoy computing history.