Adventures by the Bay

Time to update the blog with our California adventures. First, I'd like to point out some observations:

*If California had a state car, it'd be a Toyota Prius.

*Utah's not the only state with bad drivers.

*The foggiest months are June and July.

*Bridges are awesome unless we're crossing one by mistake (this only happened once).

*We could afford a small house in Utah for the price we're paying for a studio apartment here.

*The population is a lot more diverse than in Utah. We're right by a Chinese cemetery.

*People wait 30 minutes or more to go through a car wash.

By the Bay

So what to see, what to do? Well, there's the giant ocean that we drive by on our way to church every Sunday, no big deal...

Okay, it's awesome, when we can actually see it. Mornings are more fog-friendly than sun-friendly so the ocean hides from us a lot. But we did visit the beach on a couple sunny days. Trying to find parking was a nightmare; you literally need to stalk people who look like they're heading to their cars and getting ready to leave in order to find a spot. Probably took as long to park as it did to drive there. But once there, the beach was awesome--warm sun, perfect breeze, soft sand, handsome husband lying next to me. The ocean water was quite chilly on the toes.

We went to Pier 39 in San Francisco. From there we could see the bay, Alcatraz Prison in the distance, and lots of boats. I don't know my boat lingo, so here's my best description of one we saw: a huge sucker carrying stuff under the Bay Bridge. It was just cool because I'm used to trains and airplanes. Not ships. Speaking of planes, we live pretty close to the airport. Planes fly so low over us taking off that they look way huge. Sometimes the louder ones rattle the windows.

On another weekend we went to the Tech Museum. I don't remember many specifics, except that this was a very interactive place. Lots of touching of techie things. We also watched the new Star Trek: Into Darkness on a giant IMAX screen. That was a crazy experience. The massive screen was awesome, but the action-packed, extreme actor close-ups, rectangular movie was not designed for an IMAX screen. It was actually better in a regular theater.

Not exactly LEGOs, but we managed to build an airplane. So crafty.

The Great and Powerful Google

First, a clarification...

Clayton has a summer internship with Google, who bought YouTube years and years ago. The YouTube office is not at the Google headquarters in Mountain View, but it's completely owned and run by Google. Clayton's internship is at the YouTube office in San Bruno. It's hilarious how many people (I was one of them) don't know that YouTube=Google. When Clayton tells people "I work for YouTube," they react with polite interest and think, "Oh, another tech company." Then I pipe up and say, "Which is Google." Then they get all excited and everything.

Anyways...it's much more fun to hear in person, but quite hilarious. If someone says they work at Android, they work for Google. If they work at YouTube, they work for Google. Continuing on...

On occasion Clayton goes to Google's headquarters in Mountain View, and one day I went with him. How to describe it? Very...Googley. It's made up of buildings everywhere and people walking from place to place during lunch or riding Google-colored bicycles. I got lost in the parking lots trying to find parking and got to see their electric charging stations, complete with snazzy Teslas and other electric cars. There are cafeterias everywhere that serve three free square meals a day. Google colors and symbols, like Chrome and Android, are also everywhere. We went to the Google store and got to play with the Google Nexus tablets they had on display. 

We tried to find cool sights to visit, but they were either closed or not available to visitors. Fortunately, as we were passing through the Android building, we unexpectedly found lots of fun stuff to do. First there were the statues for each one of Android's yummy version names (Jelly Bean, Ice Cream Sandwich). There was an arcade with games like DDR and a racing game that was a cross between a simulator and a normal driving arcade game. There was a 4-foot smartphone that let me play Tetris using my hands. And of course, who can forget about the magical ghost piano...

Standing next to Android 4.1

Craving Android 2.2

I'd hate to meet the person who owns this as a cell phone...

Look, Mom! No hands!

Sadly, not a ghost. But awesomely, it's a self-playing "digital player piano." It's got skills.

Google is an accommodating place for employees. There's always places to eat, places to sit comfortably, and recreational activities like volleyball or bowling. At Clayton's YouTube office, many employees exercise before the end of their shift. His office also has sweet massage chairs and a fun slide to get from the third floor to the second. I was grateful for the chance to check out Google so close. Pretty much everything there is only accessible if you visit with a Googler.

Plus There's a Baby

On top of all the adventures, I'm quite pregnant! We haven't taken any decent pictures of my belly yet, but those will come eventually. I can feel the baby move so much. So excited that after all our adventures here in California, we'll only have a couple months left before the biggest adventure of our lives begins--parenting, woo-hoo!