First and foremost - Silicon Valley begins with the schools. I visited Stanford and Berkeley - two highly progressive but ideologically opposite higher learning institutions. Both have beautiful campuses and I was surprised that Stanford was home to the nicest cathedral I've seen in North America. Berkeley had a forest and creek right in the middle of campus, and some of the architecture was truly bizarre.
These schools gave rise to many high tech entrepreneurs that founded companies whose names we are quite familiar with, and seeded the area with a highly educated and creative (i.e. nerdy) workforce that permitted Silicon Valley to be home to many companies which we love and adore (Google, Apple, Yahoo, HP, Intel, etc.) I had the chance to visit a few of the relative newcomers to this area. Interesting that Tesla's HQ was right next to a ranch with horses.
That said, I didn't just come to the Bay Area for the aforementioned reasons, but rather to also see friends and family - some whom I haven't seen for at least a decade! As a rare exception, I'll post a few pics of people - contact me if you don't want yourself here.
I can't forget about the food. Seafood and Mexican food - two things I really miss from the US that I can't get enough of at home.
And finally, the scenery. It was just filled with beautiful vistas and aside from the traffic, it was a pleasure driving through the various regions and enjoying a temporary reprieve from the Canadian winter. I really can't say more about this rare gem of a place other than I hope to call it home one day.
