Palo Alto Off The Beaten Path

Four miles of broad, sandy beaches stretch out to welcome visitors to Half Moon Bay. This picturesque setting is ideal for sunbathing, fishing and picnicking. A campground provides accommodations for those who wish to visit longer.

Location/Directions
The beach is located a half-mile west of Highway 1 on Kelly Avenue in Half Moon Bay. There are three parking and beach access points:

Francis Beach, at the end of Kelly Avenue in the City of Half Moon Bay.
Venice Beach, at the end of Venice Boulevard off Highway 1.
Dunes Beach at the end of Young Avenue off Highway 1.

Seasons/Climate/Recommended clothing
The major weather pattern for Half Moon Bay is fog in the summer, crisp, clear days in the fall and spring, and wet, windy winters. Temperatures are moderate with the summer highs in the mid 60's and winter lows in the mid 40's. Summer fog is most common in the mornings and evenings.

Facilities - Activities

Francis Beach has a campground with 55 individual sites, some suitable for tent camping, others for trailers or recreational vehicles. Although hookups are not available, there is a dump station. Later this year, a Half Moon Bay State Beach Visitor Center is scheduled to open.

Skip Muir Woods - there are so many visitors, they even had to pave the trails! If you want to see redwoods (and you should definitely see the redwoods), go to Big Basin Redwoods state park, north of Santa Cruz.

Another good redwood park: Portola state park, where Page's Mill once stood.

If you go to Lick observatory on Mt Hamilton, go on down the back side. You will end up in Livermore after seeing country so wild, you'd never know you were within fifty miles of several million people.

In PA itself, check out the Museum of American Heritage, a little operation on a side street. Interesting and friendly people; my favourite is the print shop, complete with a guy who worked for many years as a typesetter. Open Friday and weekend afternoons.

It's hardly advertised, there's no sign at all, and it's only open for about an hour or two a day at lunch time, but it's amazingly delicious speedy Thai food for the price (on Stanford's campus). Randomly located in the basement of a building on the quad, behind a lecture hall, you'll be able to tell you've found it by the gigantic line of professors and students that flock there. Don't be intimidated--the line moves really quickly, but do be intimidated by the woman who takes your order. Thai Cafe lady is infamous around campus for being like the "Soup Nazi" from Seinfeld. You'd better have your order ready when you step up the counter or she might yell at you. $5 flat fee for each meal, there are about 5 options, and you'd better have that cash ready too.

It's an experience. And then you can take your delicious food and go sit on the quad and enjoy in the sunlight.

Location: Basement of Jordan Hall (when looking from the Oval, this is the quad building on the far right on the side of the quad nearest to downtown Palo Alto)

This place is where it all began. It's the garage where Hewlett and Packard first started their company very young, and that's how a culture of tech entrepreneurship really began. It's on a regular house on a nondescript street. You won't be able to go past the gate but you can take pics at the street and on the driveway. It's pretty cool if you're a geek like me.

367 Addison Avenue in Palo Alto, California.