These pictures are:A small part of Stanford campus, Alcatraz, Art Gallery, Baseball, Golden Gate Bridge and the trolley.
Ok so my first stop after staying with Rachael in Utah for a few days was Palo Alto, CA. And let me tell you....it is amazing! So the lovely Amanda Haslam picked me up from San Jose airport on the 11th of April. As we were driving to her house she gave me a quick tour of Palo Alto and then we arrived at her humble abode. Amanda's house is fantastic....and she really took care of me! The next morning Amanda dropped me on the Stanford campus (at about 9am) and I explored the campus for myself and then took a guided tour. It is a beautiful campus...I am extremely jealous of the students attending Stanford. They have an enormous driveway that is the main entrance to the campus and it is lined with amazing palm trees :-0 After touring around I went to one of the cafe's on campus for lunch and wandered round to the Stanford Art Gallery which has a Rodin Sculpture Gallery! Pretty impressive. The gallery was very interesting and I also learnt a lot about the history of the university. Finally I emerged from the gallery at about 1pm-ish and decided to soak up some sun as the weather was pretty darn nice, therefore I laid in the sun for a long time before deciding to head to the main shopping street in Palo Alto. As I was walking down the long Stanford driveway, I found myself having to dodge the hundreds of caterpillars that suspend themselves on their thread from trees...red furry maniac caterpillars.
So, I began shopping.....this street is really not too long but I still managed to shop for about 2 1/2 hours...it was great! I bought some very cool things, checked out the Apple store there and entertained myself no end. Amanda then met me whilst I was in a book shop and we went for dinner at......PLUTO'S!!!! Amanda was so excited....pluto's is a salad restaurant where you get to pick a whole load of toppings and they give excellent portions! This was a lot of fun and unbelievably tasty. So then we went home...chilled out and then I went with Amanda to a Grey's Anatomy and The Office party for one of her friend's birthday's. This was cool as I got to meet some really cool people and I also saw Gloria! (Who by the way is extremely cool).
The next day, one of Amanda's roommates, Julie drove me into San Francisco (as she works there) and I got a taxi from her work (she designs for kids Pottery Barn) to pier 39....the main San fran place to be. I had a great time exploring San Fran; I went on boat tours, I went and ate at some great places, I rode the trolley, went to China town, shopped and saw the sights! I then made my way to the train and met Amanda at the other end. We met Gloria for dinner and went to CPK (California Pizza Kitchen), it was really funny and Amanda picked up her 'Loaded' phrase :-p We then went and explored the most expensive place to live in the WHOLE country: Atherton....beautiful houses. We then watched a movie and fell asleep.
On the Saturday we watched a Stanford lacrosse game, water polo game and a baseball game. Amanda's cousin, Jameson, was playing lacrosse and so that is why we were there. We went to an after party and then went to watch a pro baseball game...A's vs. Yankees...after 4 1/2 hours and 14 innings later, we were freezing cold and ready to leave. I really enjoyed it though and understand baseball a heck of a lot more! I was with all the YSA too so I made some very cool friends.
On the sunday we went to church and mingled with a lot of people which was really fun....I again met a lot of new people who were all so nice. It was fun to see Gloria again too! We then watched Mary Poppins with Gloria and then went for dinner at somebody's house. Then we came home...where another party was happening and Allen Hullinger picked me up to go to San Jose!
Sorry this is a lot to read...the next entries will be nowhere near as long...I promise :-D
Enjoy the photos
