Touring the Towns

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In the spirit of knowledge is power and time is of the essence, Bill and Walker took advantage of Walker’s Fall Break and headed to California to tour colleges.  Their journey from Evansville to San Francisco was riddled with delays but they finally made it. For their perseverance and suffering, the car rental gods bestowed on them a convertible VW bug. 

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They were based out of Burlingame for this trip.  Hello, San Francisco Bay. 

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Walker believes in a hearty breakfast so they stopped at Crepevine. If this sounds familiar, they dined there last year too. Walker chose the San Francisco crepes filled with salmon, capers, red onions, spinach, Dijon and dill Havarti cheese.

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On their way to the first tour, they encountered a car carrier loaded with Teslas.  This is not an everyday sight in our area.  By the number of photos taken, I’ll assume this was very exciting to my 16 year old.  IMG_20181006_101706

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Their first tour was University of California, Davis. The tour time they requested was unavailable but the UCD contact tipped them off that no one was turned away and they should just show up.

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Davis turned out to be one of the hidden gems of the trip.  Both were very impressed with the academics, student life and the campus.  It’s a true college town in that more than 50% of the population is students.  Other notable details include the fact that Davis as the most acreage of any of the UC schools; the majority of the freshman live on campus; there are a lot of study abroad options; it is centrally located between San Francisco and Sacramento; there is a free bus system in the city; and there are a lot of mountain trips on the weekends.

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Bicycles are the main mode of transportation as evidenced by the large number locked up around campus.

Davis noodles

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After the tour, they found Davis Noodle City for lunch and boba tea at a local tea shop.  There they solved the mystery of how the boba teas are sealed.

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Next up was the drive to San Jose State University.

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I believe this was a multipurpose photo intended to pay homage to Mason, the bright blue, sunny California sky and the traffic!

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Their tour at SJSU was self-directed.  They learned that SJSU is the original Cal State school and it appears to be much more of a commuter campus. 

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They also noticed that the students in the dorms post messages with notes.

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Fifty years ago this month the San Jose athletes Tommie Smith and John Carlos stood for Dignity, Justice, Equality and Peace. This historical sculpture commemorates the stand they took at the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City. 

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Just as we had done in San Diego, Walker and Bill scooted around campus.

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After the tour, their next stop was Apple Park where Walker bought a T-shirt exclusive to the Apple Park. Again, by the number of photos, I can tell this was one of the highlights of the day.

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It’s a big campus done in Apple’s sleek signature style with art to enrich the aesthetic.

burmese food

Bill had big plans to treat Walker to dinner at a restaurant in San Francisco that was near where I used to live.  However, the wait at 7 pm was over two hours so they walked a short distance and to Pagan Restaurant.  They served Burmese and Thai cuisine.  It was the third great meal of the day!

Following dinner they turned in because they had more adventures planned for a Sunday Fun Day!

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