California Road Trip

Friday, Ken rented a SmartCar (more on that later) and we struck out to see with our own eyes a few of the northern California sites we see and read about on-line all the time.  First, we headed north across the Golden Gate towards Petaluma, home of Leo Laporte and the TWiT Cottage.  We knew they were normally closed to visitors on Fridays, but we just wanted to see it anyway.  When we got there we took a couple of pictures...

The TWiT CottageWe knew the rules, and not being there during normal business hours, we weren't going to impose by knocking and decided to leave.  As we were getting ready to get into the car (I use the term loosely), John, one of the tech employees walked up the sidewalk an asked if we'd like to come in and have a tour!  "Are you kidding?", Ken and I both replied.  He showed us in just as Leo was leaving.  He greeted us warmly and Ken and I re-introduced ourselves.  We had just talked to and had our pictures taken with him the night before at the TWiT Meet-up at the hotel.  That's where I got the idea to make the trek to Petaluma. Anyway, we got a great tour of the cottage and even had our pictures taken sitting on Leo's ball...Me "On the Ball"

When Leo calls it the "Cottage", he means it.  My first impression was, "How do they cram all that technology, office space, studio and even a kitchen into that small a space?"  Well, they do it quite well and the product they produce speaks for itself.  Next, John asked if we wanted to see the new building they just leased.  Again, "Are you kidding?"  Off we went down the street to the new TWiT complex, originally a drug store of over 9000 square feet.  They were still in the "demolition" phase of clearing out the interior walls left by the last tenant.  By comparison, this place was cavernous.  In fact, it's six times the size of the cottage.  John had set up a time-lapse camera to capture the rebuild and we all made sure to be in front of it for a couple of frames for posterity.  We walked the entire facility and were quite honored to do so. One thing was quite evident; John was extremely excited about his job and the future of TWiT. His attitude was contagious. All employers should be as lucky as Leo to have someone like him.

IJohn and Ken at the new TWiT building.Ken and I spent about about half an hour at the new facility and felt privileged to have been given such royal treatment.  We said goodbye to John and loaded up for a trip south to "The Mothership", the Apple campus in Cupertino.  I know I promised to talk about the "Smart Car" so here it goes.  Ken really likes these things.  He owns one for his insurance business and has it plastered with his company logo and contact information.  Even in a tiny SmartCar, it's hard to miss him.  Personally, I don't get the attraction.  I felt like the filling in a jelly donut when both of us rather large Texans (Ken is 6' 2", I'm 5' 11" and we could both stand to lose a few pounds) were inside this thing.  One little squeeze and I felt like I would go squirting out the window.  True, we did drive all over northern California on five gallons of gas, but every opportunity for me to unfold myself out of the thing was a welcome one.  Sorry Ken, I don't get it.

Back to the Trek.  We headed south on the freeway all the way to Cupertino, only stopping for lunch in Redwood City.  Exiting the freeway in Cupertino, Apple is hard to miss.  It's everywhere!  

Every building for the first block is either a restaurant or another Apple campus.  We took an opportunity to take a few snaps, bought a few souvenirs at the Apple "Company Store", and congratulate each other for a day well spent.  Then we were back in the "SmartCar" and back to San Francisco.  What a great day.