Silicon Valley 111: Palo Alto Foothills Park

Until late last year, I couldn't visit the Palo Alto Foothills Park (#25 on the 111 Places in Silicon Valley That You Must Not Miss). Not because I didn't want to. No, only confirmed Palo Alto residents were allowed to enter this 1,400-acre nature preserve in the Santa Cruz Mountains. They lifted this crazy restriction in December 2020. Then the park was mobbed, and they had to limit hours. Now it's all settled down and with a $6 entry fee, anyone in the world can explore this park, and even camp there. Samuel and Steven and I visited on a hot July weekend to scant crowds. Above you see Steven and Samuel at Vista Hill, where you can see all the way to San Francisco.

Given the heat, we decided to walk around Boronda Lake, which to our delight, features an island reached by drawbridge. What a delightful playground for kids. The island also features a bench with a sign erected in memory of a gentleman who lived to be 102. I couldn't help taking a picture.

Seattle Reawakens

This July I'm visiting the Seattle area twice. The first to visit friends from high school; the second to celebrate my dad's 90th birthday. On the first trip I visited an old colleague who both lives and works in downtown Seattle. We had tea on her building's rooftop deck, and watched the ferries come in to port. After a pleasant light rail ride from SeaTac, I arrived at Westlake in downtown Seattle, where I promptly discovered a mostly deserted Seattle. I had worked downtown for many years and always enjoyed the vibrant core of Seattle. But due to this pernicious global pandemic, no one has been coming to downtown Seattle to work. And because workers work from home now, downtown businesses have few patrons. I saw many out of business signs and papered over storefronts.

On a happy note, Ivars, my favorite fish and chips joint, has reopened on the waterfront, and tourists are swarming. My favorite weird gift shop, Ye Olde Curiosity Shoppe, at Pier 54, still peddles kitschy souvenirs while also displaying shrunken heads and mummies. I remember seeing these as a kid. The Shoppe was founded in 1899 as a dime museum displaying grotesqueries and still draws the crowds.

The other happy note is that Pike Place Market was drawing a huge crowd on the Friday afternoon I visited. In fact, one section was so congested that I had to turn around. Pike Place Market is multi level and you can never really see it all. I did visit my favorit tea shop, MarketSpice, to stock up on several types of tea including "Six Herb" (which I highly recommend).