{"id":51521,"date":"2013-02-09T05:14:46","date_gmt":"2013-02-09T12:14:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.wend.ca\/?p=51521"},"modified":"2020-04-11T17:41:02","modified_gmt":"2020-04-11T21:41:02","slug":"the-first-commute","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wend.ca\/?p=51521","title":{"rendered":"First San Francisco Commute"},"content":{"rendered":"

“The computer has been pulling everyone in for a random secondary check today.”<\/em> This from Customs and Immigration. As I enter the waiting area with everyone else in the GOES Program, the stewardess behind me is a little less forgiving, “Doesn’t this defeat the purpose?”<\/em> she says. The line-up was huge but moments later someone from a backroom comes out and gives everyone their passport back. “Sorry folks, move along.”<\/em> Yes. It’s good to be back in the U.S. <\/p>\n

Still, even with the “search” I’m delighted to discover that from house to gate it took less than an hour. This means that I can leave the house even later than anticipated.<\/p>\n

San Francisco, on the other hand, was a little less forgiving. I’d forgotten the delightful screaming frustration of using Garmin GPS in a strange city until mine delivered me to an endless loop in a parking lot just outside of the airport. I’m pretty sure that my destination wasn’t a pole in the middle of “Long Term Parking.” <\/p>\n

What did we do in a world before GPS? <\/p>\n

We found roads and stayed on them. I accidentally found El Camino Real (the one road I know in California) and stayed on it… until it delivered me to the hotel hell that is Silicon Valley. I couldn’t remember which Marriott I was in… and had passed 3 in less than a mile… they were squished between all the Holiday Inns, Comfort Inns, and random roadside lodges.<\/p>\n

I find the one I am looking for… and the rooms are all little lodges in the woods, which is odd because I can’t figure out where the “woods” came from. Everything smells like cedar wood chips and campfire and I feel like I’ve gone to summer camp in the middle of the winter. <\/p>\n

I’m in Mountain View, home of the<\/em> Google and the<\/em> Facebook. My commute is to Palo Alto, home of Stanford University and the heart of Silicon Valley… and so begins the San Francisco \/ Silicon Valley Adventures. Photos below are from Palo Alto.<\/p>\n