Bay area and around

Around Half Moon Bay

During my visit to the US in the winter lockdown of 2021, after spending some time travelling around San Diego and Joshua national park, I also spent two weeks working in Mountainview and exploring the areas around. It was a different experience, both to live in the Bay Area, and also to explore the cool things to do around on the weekends.

Living in Mountainview

I lived two weeks in Mountainview, and most of the time I was working. I was still doing European hours, which was a bit crazy. But I could manage for those two weeks. All around the area, most of the houses were just 2-3 floors which was nice as we got to see the sky enough. And the sunsets there every evening were just stunning. 

During this time, I did get around a bit. And was again struck by how much this whole area was a car city, it was very tough to get around walking. Actually impossible. Thankfully we had a small park 10 mins walking from our apartment. Even that was a struggle to get to as the pavements weren’t really built for getting across. But somehow I managed. 

Driving around

We drove around a bit around San Francisco. We visited Vacaville one day, and the place felt just like an American style city. All around were green hills (as apparently it had rained very well that year). And the houses all looked very charming in such a refreshing green setting. And one other day we drove to Sacramento. It felt like a typical American city too, with high rises of glass and cement everywhere.

Del Valle Lake

Del Valle lake

On one of the weekends, we drove to a lake nearby, called the Del Valle lake. The scenery all around was stunning. Lush green grass on all the hills around. We then hired a boat and were on the lake for the whole day, aimlessly floating around. After that we visited a winery nearby for some snacks. It turned out to be such an amazing relaxing day, I loved it. I guess this is an advantage of living in the Bay Area, all the greenery around with mountains and the sea and vineyards makes it definitely the life to want.

Half Moon Bay

Half Moon Bay

Another weekend, we went out for a day at Half Moon Bay, a beach nearby. It was a windy day, but as it was sunny, it was still comfortable to be there. The beach was crowded with lot of people engaged in waterspots. And it was fun to walk around and eat there. After walking on the beach's we walked on some of the trails near the beach and enjoyed admiring the greenery and the houses there. It was another nice day out. 

Sailing from Golden Gate

Sailing in the Bay

This was the best experience I had in the Bay Area on that trip. We rented a huge sail boat and were off to explore the Bay around Golden Gate. The weather turned warm and sunny (unexpectedly) and we just spent the whole day, sailing in the sun. With Bollywood music in our ears and a gentle cool breeze on our faces. We sailed between the mountains, under the bridges and were there all day. I would recommend this to everyone, it's a not to be missed experience.

Under the Bridge

Waterfront

Impressions of living in the Bay area

During this stay, there are some things I noticed. Sharing a few here 

• We saw fall colours on the trees, even in December. It was definitely a huge surprise 
• We found a lot of European food here but it felt so different from what I eat in Europe. A lot more quantity, and a lot less delicateness - so American! 
• In San Diego, the restaurants put heaters for outside seating even when the temperature was 16 degrees. It was quite a big difference from Amsterdam, where this happens only below 5 degrees
• The infrastructure everywhere is only focused on driving rather than walking. Walking isn't as comfortable as in Europe and many times not even feasible 
• Pet resorts are common here 
• Getting a corona test was very challenging here, there were just not enough stations or testing equipment. Also the way the tests were done here was different - the testers didn't touch the nose or throat deep. Just on the surface! I wasn’t complaining though.