Stanford University

I planned to get up early this Friday, July 15 to play 9 holes of golf at Tilden Park in Berkeley. But it looked kind of gray and I didn't leave so early. I figured I would just hit a few range balls in preparation for Pebble Beach.

The terrain change in Berkeley is amazing. You go from waterfront/sea level to just past the campus and then it is straight up the "Hills". More like a small mountain to me. Getting up there, you'd think you were in Virginia or North Carolina. The course did remind me of N. Carolina when I got there. Lots of elevation: the clubhouse is on the hillside and you have a nice view of the holes. Very pretty place.

The range was not so pretty but I hit my balls. Then I found some new golf shoes in the shop and bought them. I figured I would not see any like then at home. Afterwards I drove to explore the park a little and of course got all turned around. Good thing I had a map and got straightened out and made it back to the hotel right at 11.

We then headed to Stanford, stopping for lunch at the Burger Meister which was really good. If they had a t shirt I would have bought one.

We got to Palo Alto and found the parking. We were early for the 3:15 tour so we had time for a look around the University shop and then a cup of coffee.

Our tour was the largest we had been on. People from all over: Austria, China. The tour highlighted many of the new buildings: Gates, Hewlett, Packard. You could really tell that Stanford had done a big part in creating/monetizing the Internet and that money has flowed back in as reinvestment. State of the art. If you want to go into that field, you can really tell that Stanford is the Place To Be.

We also saw the older buildings. Definitely a California version of the Ivy League. One thing they pointed out was that Stanford was created as nondenominational, yet they have a huge cathedral completed with Jesus on Palm Sunday mural larger than life. It would fit in at Notre Dame (so I would imagine).

It had a suburban feel to it, like a Princeton. Therefore, it wasn't quite was Sarah was looking for. She said she liked Berkeley better. As did we.

We then headed south on the scenic route to Monterey, CA. I had not been this route over a mountain so it seems like a long drive. We made it into town, checked into the Hotel Portola and went to dinner at the local brewpub, Peter G's. I actually tried the small sampler beers with dinner and liked the Belgian version the best.