A Tour, A Ballgame and Some Observations

 So, we've been here in Richmond for a few days and the weather hasn't been great. We went from 30-35C for our month around Arizona to 15-20C and a cool wind this week. It feels pretty cold after the hot, dry conditions we've become accustomed to. Instead of walking around San Francisco and taking in the sights or hitting a golf course we've been searching out things to do where we won't freeze.

  Our friends at Atlas Obscura gave us a bunch of ideas so we got out Thursday and went for a driving tour around the Bay Area. We started in Berkeley, with the Fish House:

  Bizarre? Of course. That's what we do! From there, it was a short hop to the USS Hornet aircraft carrier, docked in Oakland:

  The Hornet is famous for a couple of reasons. In 1942 the Navy loaded it up with B-25's and it sailed across the Pacific and launched the first attack on Tokyo after Pearl Harbour, the "Jimmy Doolittle Raid". Also, in 1969, it was the recovery craft for the Apollo 11 astronauts when they splashed down after returning from the moon. Video from the time will show Richard Nixon greeting them on the deck of the Hornet. Pretty cool. From the pier, the view of San Francisco across the bay:

  After that, we hopped back into the car and, feeling peckish, decided some lunch was in order. Of course, what would a tour of the South Bay be without a visit to Mark's Hot Dogs? Noteworthy for more than tubular meat by-products, Mark's operates inside a stucco orange, which was repurposed from a defunct chain of orange juice stands from the 1960's.

  The food was ok but I'm not sure it was worthy of a 40 mile drive. Mark had wi-fi though, so we got to sit and video chat with Jen and the kids back in Newmarket while eating. Bonus. From there, we starting heading north up the west side of the bay and that took us through Silicon Valley.

  Now, as Atlas Obscura pointed out, it's interesting to note how much of our computer technology originates in a very small area. It's likely due to the presence of Stanford University but I prefer to credit it to the lack of basements in California. I'll explain.

  In Canada, most homes have basements. That's where the furnace, water heater and everything you've collected in the past forty years are kept. In California, most houses are built on concrete slabs so that, when there's a flood or earthquake, it's easy to move them to a new location.

  Anyway, Atlas Obscura directed us to a series of garages where the history of the modern computer industry was born. Why garages? No basements, of course. That allowed us to take pictures of these famous garages instead of having to knock on doors and ask embarrassing questions like, "Excuse me, can I go into your basement so I can see where Google was invented?"

  So, without further ado, here they are in chronological order of importance. First, where Hewlett and Packard first got together in the 1930's, in Palo Alto:

  Then we have Steve Jobs' garage in Los Altos, where Apple was born in the 1980's:

  And, finally, the garage in Menlo Park (not Edison's Menlo Park... that's in New Jersey) where Sergei Bryn and Larry Page conceived Google in 1998:

  Ok. That's not the house. Truth be told, we didn't see the actual house. When I asked Google to take me to the "Google Garage" it had no idea what I was talking about. Seriously? I mean, what kind of advanced intelligence is this that doesn't know where it was created? If this was Star Trek and James T. Kirk asked an intelligent robot who its creator was it would start humping his leg because it mistook him for some other guy, but at least it knew of the concept of creation. Not Google. Nope. Not a bit.

  In fact, the Google Garage is behind this house, which we couldn't detect from the street. This is 230 Santa Margarita in Menlo Park but, if you go to street view on Google Maps and look up 232 Santa Margarita you'll see the correct house. So, imagine this one is transparent and you can see the other in behind... anyway, you get the picture. Sorry.

  By this time it was late in the afternoon and we were getting concerned we'd been out for too long. The owners of the place where we're staying advised us that the dog had never, in its two years of existence, been left alone more than four hours and we'd already been out that long. There were two more stops on our tour that didn't result in pictures because a) one was a plaque inside a bar that I didn't want to go searching for and the other was Wyatt Earp's grave which was in a locked cemetery. Locked? At 5 pm? Really?

  We then managed to get stuck in a traffic jam trying to cross the Bay Bridge back to the East Bay and didn't arrive home until 7 pm, SIX hours after we left. The dog was fine, thanks.

  Tonight, we went to Oracle Park to see the SF Giants play the Colorado Rockies. The Rockies stink so I thought they would get hammered. Wrong.

  For those of you that are Blue Jay fans you'll remember the moaning that accompanied Ross Stripling's departure after last season, when he stepped in and pitched well as a starter for the second half of the season. The Jays didn't re-sign him because they didn't think a half-season's worth of quality work justified a 2 year, $25M contract. Well, the Giants certainly did and, well, he's making the Jays look pretty good so far. He's only pitched 40 innings this season, due to injuries, and sports a 6+ ERA.

  He was the starting pitcher last night and had a great game, for the first pitch. One pitch, one out. Unfortunately, the next batter got a hit and the one after hit a 2-run homer. Poor Ross only lasted just over 3 innings. Ok, Blue Jays. Did I mention the Giants can't hit? Some nobody named Austin Gomber managed to handcuff them for most of the game although they managed to tie in in the 6th. Meanwhile, due to Ross' brief outing SF ran through a bunch of relievers and brought in a submariner in the top of the 7th with 2 runners on base. This guy was so good that his first pitch was turned around into a 3-run homer. Game over.

  Anyway, Oracle Park is beautiful and deserves its reputation as one of the best ballparks in the major leagues. The team respects its history, with the Willie Mays statue and entry gate:

... and McCovey Cove beyond the right field wall (note kayakers waiting for a home run ball (Penny's churro was nothing to write home about, so I won't write home about it):

The Coke bottle beyond the left field fence is a giant slide the kids can go down...

... and the view from our seats:

  The food was pretty good too. We had shrimp and crab sandwiches, which were pretty damn good, followed by garlic fries... good, but not great. Prices, though, aren't so good. I think the sandwiches, fries, a beer, a Diet Coke and a coffee ended up costing us around $75 USD. That about a thousand Canadian dollars, I think. Currency exchanges aside, I estimate a similar meal in Toronto's ballpark would have cost around $65. Good ballpark, but expensive.

  Ok, touring and ballpark aside, some thoughts on the Bay Area so far. Scenic? Of course. Just don't look too closely.

  The transit system, which we used last night, is impressive. The BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) almost encircles the bay, operating as a commuter network feeding into the city. A bonus, it goes to the airport! What a concept.

  San Francisco operates its own municipal transit which encompasses light rail, buses, streetcars (trams) and cable cars. Also impressive. Next week we'll go into the city for some touristy stuff so you'll get a better idea. Aside from a million freeways that always seem clogged with traffic, people seem to move around here fairly effectively.

  After the ballgame Penny and I walked for a half-hour back through the downtown office district to the BART station. In most American cities we'd be asking for trouble walking through the city at night. My impression was that SF seemed as safe to walk in as Toronto. We even encountered a Toronto Maple Leafs fan. I know this because he was standing alone, screaming obscenities and kicking a garbage can. I think a lot of us did the same thing this past May.

  Yesterday afternoon we did a bit of grocery shopping which revealed the big problem in the Bay Area: homelessness. Virtually every highway underpass we saw sheltered tent cities, sometimes spilling out into the surrounding areas. The grocery stores here seem a bit like armed camps with security guards posted in front as well as inside the exit doors. From what we can gather, they're trying to prevent the homeless from stealing food. Of course, being white and appearing to be middle class we were never under suspicion.

  Now, we've driven in South Africa where road signs warn you of high crime areas and carjackings. We've gone into Johannesburg banks where you have to pass an armed guard and go through an airlock to get cash. We've traveled through places in Europe, Asia and Africa surrounded by soldiers with automatic rifles. This is the first time we've felt under siege like this in North America. You got some 'splainin' to do, America.

  Ok. As you can tell from the tone of the past couple of episodes, our time here hasn't been great compared to Arizona. The weather is supposed to warm up after this weekend so golf and some sightseeing are on the menu for next week and so, hopefully, things will improve. Next weekend we're off to Vancouver and a return to Canada for a month. We're looking forward to it.