The Doubletree hotel in San Jose is one of the nicest Doubletree properties I have seen, and it was quite close to Kim's destination for the day (Thursday). My interest was about 10 miles away in Mountain View -- the Computer History Museum, right on the edge of Google's main campus. I visited the museum once before, on a work trip to the area, and really loved it, but I was a bit rushed going through it. I've been looking forward to returning, and spending more time for almost two years now.
But, of course, the museum was closed for renovation. Seems that's always the case :-( Unfortunately, I would have known this had I visited their website and checked the hours. Darn. So I worked from the Starbucks across the street, and listened to a full day's worth of passing geek speak conversations in the heart of Silicon Valley.
Meanwhile, on the other side of town, Kim was touring the Winchester Mystery House. I've long known how much Kim likes:
- touring old house
- hidden passages
- mysteries
While I've never been to the Winchester House myself, I have known about its mystery since I read about it in some random book in elementary school. I didn't tell Kim much about it at all, and just sent her on to see it for herself.
Wow! I did a little research before I headed over to the Winchester Mystery house. Already intrigued by what I read I was totally blown away by what I saw on the tour. So, Sarah Winchester was married to the heir of the Winchester rifle fortune. He passed away at a young age, as did their only daughter. Sarah was completely grief stricken and sought the help of a psychic, who told Sarah that her husband and baby daughter were killed by the spirits of all the souls that had been lost due directly in part by Winchester rifles. The only way the spirits would be appeased and not kill her too, would be if Sarah used here fortune to build a house continuously for as long as she lived. It isn't entirely known if the continuous building was to house or to confuse the spirits. Anyway, build she did, continuously for the next 38 years. It is truly the creepiest, most maze like house I've ever stepped foot inside...it was AWESOME! The house has 160 rooms, 2,000 doors (some leading to absolutely nothing), and 10,000 windows...also some opening to nothing. Dustin knows that I do love secret passageways, so the best part of this house is that the whole thing is practically a secret passage. You can't literally walk from one end to the other. It's a constant maze that takes you up and down and all around tiny rooms with multiple doorways until you are utterly lost inside it. You can do a virtual tour of sorts on their website, I highly recommend this place...definitely a highlight of the trip for me! You aren't allowed to take pictures inside because someone is making a horror movie about the house! So I just have a few of the exterior.
Wow! I did a little research before I headed over to the Winchester Mystery house. Already intrigued by what I read I was totally blown away by what I saw on the tour. So, Sarah Winchester was married to the heir of the Winchester rifle fortune. He passed away at a young age, as did their only daughter. Sarah was completely grief stricken and sought the help of a psychic, who told Sarah that her husband and baby daughter were killed by the spirits of all the souls that had been lost due directly in part by Winchester rifles. The only way the spirits would be appeased and not kill her too, would be if Sarah used here fortune to build a house continuously for as long as she lived. It isn't entirely known if the continuous building was to house or to confuse the spirits. Anyway, build she did, continuously for the next 38 years. It is truly the creepiest, most maze like house I've ever stepped foot inside...it was AWESOME! The house has 160 rooms, 2,000 doors (some leading to absolutely nothing), and 10,000 windows...also some opening to nothing. Dustin knows that I do love secret passageways, so the best part of this house is that the whole thing is practically a secret passage. You can't literally walk from one end to the other. It's a constant maze that takes you up and down and all around tiny rooms with multiple doorways until you are utterly lost inside it. You can do a virtual tour of sorts on their website, I highly recommend this place...definitely a highlight of the trip for me! You aren't allowed to take pictures inside because someone is making a horror movie about the house! So I just have a few of the exterior.
I'm pretty sure she had an amazing time on the tour! She picked me up from the Starbucks and we started driving toward Yosemite. Kim was so excited, talking all about her tour, she missed three turns in a row from the GPS. Apparently, the crazy lady was absolutely obsessed with the number 13. Yes, she was...in most rooms Sarah insisted on 13 windows or 13 candles on the candelabra, or 13 hooks in her seance room for the ghosts to hang their coats on. She also had a spiritual connection to spider webs, which she includes in designs around the house.
Kim picked me up from Mountain View and we fought the infamous Silicon Valley traffic on our way out of town around 5:30pm. Shortly after we finally broke through to open roads, we were treated to some picturesque views of the San Luis Reservoir. The lighting and color palette in these photos (the blues and golden browns) presents some pictures that are among my favorite of the trip.
What a nice, random, roadside stop.
Less than an hour later, we were well into the countryside on our way out to Yosemite National Park when we pulled over for another nice sunset. There's something special about seeing a sunset this far west.
I took over driving a few minutes later and we holed up at a Best Western in Mariposa, CA for the night. I planned on working the following day (Friday) from coffee shops in Mariposa and Oakhurst, CA.
:-Dustin
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