After graduating from California State University, Chico with a degree in journalism, Christine worked in high-tech PR and social media in Silicon Valley for six months. However, she wasn’t ready to succumb to cubicle life just yet and she’s currently blogging, soaking up the sun and attempting to parler Français in Nice, France. You can read more at C’est Christine and follow her on Twitter at @camorose.
Too often, we get caught up in our daily routines: the commute, the laundry, the work that spills into our personal lives. We head to the same restaurants and order the same thing. Our date nights tend to always revolve around the same restaurant and a movie. When we finally get a day off from the daily grind, we just want to sleep in, snuggle up in front of the TV and dream of escaping to a tropical island.
So here’s the question: when’s the last time you played tourist in your own city? When’s the last time you looked at your hometown with a fresh set of eyes, the same way you eye a possible vacation destination? No matter if you live in an international tourist destination or a small town in the middle-of-nowhere, when’s the last time you tried a new restaurant, sought out something of natural beauty or checked out a museum?
For six months after graduating college, I lived and worked in Silicon Valley—close to many high-profile destinations but known best for fueling the dot com boom (and bust). I spent my days working, my nights sleeping and my weekends running errands. Once I decided to move out of Sunnyvale to live my dream in Nice, France, I realized how much I hadn’t seen of the place I called home.
Looking at Silicon Valley through the eyes of a tourist, especially with a limited time frame, gave me a fresh perspective on what the area had to offer. I used my imminent departure as an excuse to gather up some friends, pull out my camera and play tourist for a weekend.
Start-ups: Silicon Valley is best known for being the home of Apple, Google, Yahoo and countless other successful (and epic fail) start-ups. While my life was greatly affected by these companies in both a personal and professional sense, I had no idea where those famous campuses were located or what they encompassed. Exploring the Yahoo! basketball courts and checking out the giant Google donut helped me understand the culture of those companies and the emphasis they place on work/life balance. And climbing over giant eBay letters was just plain fun!
The Dish: When I worked out, I usually stuck to the tiny, smelly gym a few blocks from my apartment. A runner friend had recommended I try “the Dish” on a nice day, but somehow my nice days always filled up quickly. I regret not checking this 3-mile loop earlier—set in the hills behind Stanford University, there are cows in the surrounding pastures and amazing views of San Francisco. Perfect for a leisurely stroll with friends (OK, maybe leisurely isn’t the best word to describe it—we were huffing and puffing up the hills) or a challenging run in fresh air.
Hakone Gardens: As soon as we arrived, I was struck by the beautiful tranquility of these Japanese gardens. I had no idea that the oldest Asian and Japanese estate in the Western Hemisphere was just miles from my house. Complete with a koi pond, gorgeous flowers, and traditional Japanese buildings, it’s a wonderful place to relax, take photos and soak up the sun.
Santa Cruz: Even though I lived only 45 minutes from this sleepy surfer town, I rarely made the drive over the hills to the Pacific beaches. An unseasonably warm and sunny April day seemed perfect to grab a picnic from Whole Foods. Although we forgot many key items (like a bottle opener and a blanket), it was incredible to think that this world of funnel cakes, hippies and salt water was so close to the high-tech hub of the world.
Sure, it’s not the be-all, end-all list of things you can do while in the Bay Area—I still need to check out Alcatraz, walk across the Golden Gate and go to a Sharks game next time I’m in California. However, looking at my home as a tourist inspired me to sign off my computer, forget about my dirty laundry and explore some beautiful places that I didn’t realize existed in my backyard.
