Silicon Valley is a region of San Francisco which is known for being one of the most technology and social media invested places in the world. The word silicon refers to a large quantity of silicon chips and that is due to large research involving silicon in micro chips and micro computers. There are 387 thousand high tech jobs in America and 225,300 of them are in Silicon Valley. This area also has more Millionaires and Billionaires located in a single region in America. With many companies headquartered here such as Intel, Facebook, Tesla, HP, PayPal, and Yahoo!.
Lately I’ve been trying to learn how to be frugal and how to live within our means. I read The Ultimate Cheapskate’s Road Map to Riches by Jeff Yeager and loved what he said about traveling. “You, see I believe that Travel- with a capital T-is not a luxury but a responsibility. Travel, as opposed to vacation, is yet another thing that’s best done on the cheap.” We love to travel. We love hiking and nature because most of the time it is always free. We spend majority of our “extra income ” on travel. We really value memories over things.
I wanted to share more wisdom from Jeff Yeager’s book ….” We are too self-confident and too smart to let others convince us that more is always better and that we need things we don’t. We live within our means always and live below our means if we can. We understand we need enough-and we know exactly what enough is for us- and beyond that we need no more. We believe that waste is morally wrong and that excess is waste waiting to happen. We would rather learn to do things for ourselves than to rely on money to get others to do things for us. We consume things sparingly, thoughtfully, and fully; therefore things do not consume us. We take care of ourselves, our possessions, our planet, and others, rather than pay a higher price to repair benign neglect or do nothing as it occurs. ”
Psycho Donuts
We usually don’t start our day with donuts. But we do enjoy a unique donut place and when we saw a donut called cereal killer we knew we should make it our first stop. I love the names of there donuts : Michael Jackson, Sticky Monkey, Kooky Monster, Spare Tire, and many more. When a donut place has two locations and both of them are in the Silicon Valley, you might wonder like we did if all this sugar gives that extra boost of energy to all the tech nerds.
Located at 2006 S Winchester Blvd or 288 S 2nd St.
Intel Museum
We never pass up an opportunity to visit an educational museum especially if it is free. However, often times the places that don’t charge for admissions may leave you disappointed. This is not the case with intel museum. This is a very high tech and interactive playground for any techy.
On July 18, 2018 Intel turns 50 years old and was a major milestone for the computer industry. A company with the position of second largest chip maker currently and a revolutionist in development of computers. A company run by veterans who stent their entire careers working for Intel, harboring over one hundred thousand employees around the world, and managed to defeat the antitrust law 3 times within a single decade. This is the engineering giant known as Intel and all this began in Santa Clara on July 18, 1968 with a bright group of engineers in hopes of bringing the microchip to life.
Located at 2200 Mission College Blvd. Santa Clara, CA 95052.
Computer History Museum
This museum will blow your mind. It will take you back to your childhood and leave you amazed by how much progress has happened in the past few decades. This museum has every breakthrough in computing history here from 1800s to present. It has the ability to interest those who are and aren’t interested in computers.
Located at 1401 N Shoreline Blvd. Mountain View, CA 94043.
Stanford Dish Loop Trail
All the hikes that we have ever been on we do them to get away and to unplug from technology. We love getting in tune with nature. This is not one of those hikes. The main highlight of this hike are the large radio telescopes. They are still being used today. Here you will be taking a walk on a paved trail with great views of the bay and Sandford University but the highlight of this 3.6 mile loop is to get closer to the radio telescopes. To be honest with you this doesn’t make the hike any less enjoyable. We can see why so many hike and run on this trail. Many of them are probably Stanford students or locals. We usually walk on trails that hardly have any hikers but this one is very popular and pretty crowded. There are no bikes or dogs allowed. This trail is pretty easy but this trail is on a hill so there are some incline and declines. Since this is a paved loop you don’t have to worry about getting your shoes dirty and you could totally wear a skirt like I did but I did not see anyone else in one. 🙂 There are no shady parts since the trail is in the open. There are also no restrooms near the entrance or on the trail.
Located at Stanford Ave & Junipero Serra Blvd. Palo Alto, CA 94305.
Arizona Garden
We love Arizona so much. We have spent two of our Christmases there. One of the reasons we love Arizona is because of the cactuses. So if you love cactuses and you want to get a small taste of Arizona then you want to visit this garden. The great thing is that you can explore this garden free of charge.
After all the technology and all the walking we did in one day we needed a place to unwind at. What can be more relaxing than a place of higher learning so we went to Stanford University. Located on the campus is an extremely beautiful and old cactus garden that is over 130 years. This garden was designed between 1881 and 1883. It is like a real oasis where you can relax and enjoy the cactus blossoms. Here you can see three varieties of Aloe and Yucca, Prickly Pear, Ponytail Palm, Columnar Cacti, and many more.
Located at Stanford, CA 94305 off of Quarry Road and between Arboretum Road and Campus Drive.
Thank you for reading our post. We share a new post every Thursday at 8pm.