Week-End in Death Valley

Thanks to thanksgiving day, I had a 4 day week-end. So I decided to profit of this big week-end to travel. Arnaud recommend me going to Death Valley with Green Tortoise. It is a cheap travel agency which offers different kinds of bus travel. The Death Valley trip lasted 3 days and 4 nights whose 2 nights in the bus.
We went on Thursday evening, Thanksgiving day. We slept in the bus after a quick introduction of everyone. We were 35 and I am still wondering how we managed to fit 35 laid down people in a bus. In the morning, we arrived in Death Valley at Zabriskie point. After a good breakfast and lunch preparation, we went to a hike through the Golden Canyon. It was amazing. Colors and shapes of mountains were so beautiful. It reminded me the North of Chile. It is so dry.

After an hour hike, we went to the Badwater basin. It is a salt desert. It is the lowest point in North America (86m below sea level). It is very cool, so white and empty.

After an hour in the middle of this salt desert, we went to the camping site where we had to set up for the diner. Every meals were made all together. they were usually quite simple but very good. After diner, we lighted a fire and just talked to learn each others. When we went to bed, I decided to sleep outside. Some had a tent and others slept in the bus. However, I really did not want to sleep in the bus. It was quite cold and windy but luckily I borrowed a very good sleeping bag to my roommate so I slept very well. When I woke up in the morning, I was totally white because of the sand.

On Saturday, we started by a short stop at the Scotty's castle. I really don't know why we went there. After we went to the Ubehebe Crater. It is a huge crater caused by the pressure of steam. We went down in the crater. It was very cool.

After, we went to the Sand dunes. It was amazing. It is like a desert in the middle of the desert. We laid down on the dunes and just took a sun bath. It was so good. It felt like the beach without the sea. After we went back to the camping.

After diner, people started to tell joke. I did not understand all of them but it was quite fun. After, a couple of the group gave a blues dancing lesson. It was not very easy because we had not good music and not so much room around the fire but it was fun. For the second and last night in the Death Valley, I slept again outside. It was so nice. The were much less wind than the day before. Furthermore, nobody else wanted to sleep outside again because of their bad experience of the last night so I was undisturbed.

On Sunday, we went to Mosaic Canyon. It is a narrow canyon. It was very beautiful.we just walked into the canyon and made a stop for lunch.

After we drove a long time to the Hot Springs. It was not exactly what I expected. It was like a swimming pool but the water was hotter. There was also a small pool with very hot water but I did not like it so much. It was so good. Most people had not taken shower since we left San Francisco. We played some games in the water. It was very fun. After the bath, everybody was KO. We had a very good last diner and tidy the bus before we went back to San Francisco. On the way back, the driver had the good idea to make a stop in the middle of nowhere to see some Joshua trees. This is some kind of mix between a tree and a cactus. Of course, is was night, so not easy to see them. However, there were beautiful light effects on the cliffs around with the moon.

After a bustling trip ( I did not notice anything but the driver told us that the bus did not want to start again after a stop at the gas station), we finally arrived at San Francisco on Monday Morning, tired, but pleased with our trip. The return to work was a bit hard but it really worth ed it.

Week-End at Lac Tahoe

On middle of October, Arnaud invited me to a week-end in lac Tahoe in his friend's log cabin. We went on Friday evening after work and arrived at about midnight. The house was big. There were everything we needed, even a Jacuzzi. We were 10 in the house and everyone were very nice.
On Saturday morning, since everyone were not so motivated, we went, Arnaud, Guillaume (Arnaud's french friend) and I, for a bike ride in the forest around the house. It was great except the trail we took was not made for bike and many times we had to carry our bikes.

After this short ride ( a bit tiring though ), we had a lunch and went all together to a hike. We went to small lake, and while some just walked around this lake, we went, Arnaud, Guillaume, Cyril (another Arnaud's french friend) and I to the top of a mount near the lake. After an hour hiking, we arrived at the top and saw this amazing view on the lake Tahoe. We stayed there half an hour to take lots of pictures and then go back to the car (the others had not waited for us).

On the evening, after a good Jacuzzi, we had a great diner with "foie gras" and "saucisson". After some tarot games, we went to the Casino to play cards or go dancing in the club (of course I went dancing).

The day after, Arnaud, Guillaume, and I went to a big bike ride on the Flume trail. It is a famous bike rail with amazing views of the lake. Of course the normal way is to start at the top, go down, and take the shuttle to go back. But "we" preferred take the hard way and started form the bottom of the trail. The rise was very hard for me. I had even been overtaken by a girl who was walking her dog. But when we arrived at the top, the rest of the trail ride was amazing. The trail goes along the cliff with amazing views of the lake Tahoe. After a 4 hour bike ride and a lot of taken pictures, we went back directly to California, a bit tired but very happy of our week-end.

Week-End at San Francisco

After spending most of my week-ends at home sleeping and watching TV shows on my computer, I decided it was time to go to San Francisco to visit a little. It would be shameful to spend 6 months near San Francisco and never go to there. That is why, on Sunday morning (about 11 am...) I took my bike and went to the train to go to San Francisco. It is cool because train is fit out to transport your bike.
So after a little more than one hour, I arrived at San Francisco. Of course, I had already went there for the baseball game, but I had seen nothing except the stadium. Since San Francisco is built on hills and I was not very motivated to climb them with my bike, I decided to go along the coast. All the more, the weather was great and so the bay was beautiful.

So I rode until the Golden Gate Bridge, made few stops to enjoy the sight and take pictures. In fact, I made this ride twice. The first time, I forgot my camera. That is why, the second time I went to San Francisco, I decided to do the same way to take the pictures I had not taken the first time.
So the first time, after going until Golden Gate Bridge, I just went back to the train, roaming a little in the city. The second time, I had been faster, and so I decided to go on the Golden Gate Bridge (I was also more courageous because the way to go to the Bridge is a little difficult).

After a quick stop on the bridge (you do not want to spend too much time there) I went to the Golden Gate Park, a huge park on west of San Francisco. I crossed the park until the beach. Then I moved around the park, stopped once in a while to take a look or rest a little. After a good day, I went back to the train and go home, tired but full of great pictures.

Every day life

After Rebecca left, life in Mountain View became much less fun. Routine set up: Work, movies, TV shows and footing every Saturday "morning". Work became easier and it goes quite good. I tried to fit out a little more my room. My room is still quite empty but it doesn't look like I do camping. I bought a bike. It is cheaper than a car and allowed me to move easier in the area. Of course, my moves are still limited but it is easier to go the the theater or do shopping.

I found a quite good trail to do my footing. It starts near the house and goes to the north until the bay. It is 3.5 miles long. So with the return, it is a good run. It runs parallel the high way so it is a little noisy and the end is surronded with swamp so it stinks a little. Except that, it is nice.

I also started Blues dancing lessons every Monday. It is very cool. It is a couple dance based on lots of improvisation so it is quite fun. It is not so easy because you can do whatever you want but you have to dance with your partner. You have to be very attentive to your partner and try to be clear enough to be understood. Lessons last 1 hour and after it is free dancing until midnight. I also made a workshop during a week-end (10 hours) to get better. It was awesome. We did a lot of exercises to make our dance more varied. And the end of the week end, every one was crazy on the dance floor. That was so good.

I became friend with my colleague Arnaud. We did biking in the hills not far from Mountain View. He invited me sometimes to parties and also a week-end to Lac Tahoe with his friends. It is nice. We went to french events and of course I met a lot of "camarades".

When I had courage enough, I went to San Francisco and did biking in the city. Problem is that San Francisco is not very flat and it is not so easy to do biking. However, the city is great and I had chance to have good weather each time I went there.

Baseball Game

Before going back to France, Rebecca wished you went to Baseball game. So, two day before her leaving, we went to San Francisco to see the Giants playing against the Washington Nationals. As you may know, Baseball game is so exciting. In fact, it is more the ambient in the stadium that is important. Indeed, Americans seem to go there to have a good moment by chatting with people and eating hot dogs rather than to watch the game.
So, that is what we did. We took picture, we ate hot dogs, we talked. Sometimes, our neighbors started talking with us but usually, it was very short. We also watched the game of course. I played a little baseball in France and I enjoyed it. So I found that watching a baseball game was quite funny.

Furthermore, it was not a game like others. Indeed, a Giant player, Barry Bonds was one home run from beating the Career Record for Home Runs. This Record was 30 years old. Every time Bond was batting, the whole stadium was stand up and was shouting. Of course, the event that everyone was expecting happened. Bond bat the ball out of the field and the crowd exploded. Of course, the organizer had prepared all. Fireworks were shooting and video clips were screened. Game just stopped during more than ten minutes. Bond made a speech. Every supporters went to shops to buy a souvenir of this event. It was amazing.

After that, game was even less important. People only talked about this event. We did not stay until the end because we had to take the train to go back home. We did not even know the score of the game. However it was clearly not very important. The important thing was we spent a very good moment.

Week-End at Las Vegas - Grand Canyon

Rebecca could not go back to France without going to Las Vegas and to Grand Canyon. At the beginning, I was not very pro because I thought a week-end was very too short to visit Las Vegas and Grand Canyon. But Rebecca managed to convince me and so for her last week-end on the American soil, we decided to go to Las Vegas.
Since Las Vegas is not very close to San Francisco, we preferred go by plane. We booked a flight for the Friday night and the return for the Monday morning early enough to be on time at work.
The trip was not without emotions. Indeed, on Friday night, we missed the train to the airport. So, we had to take the next train and then took a cab to arrive just on time at the airport. Of course, our plane was on more than one hour and a half delay. So, we finally arrived at 1:30 am at Las Vegas, and adding time to get back our luggage and to rent a car (luckily it is opened 24/24), we went to bed at 3:30 am. Return was not bad too but I will speak about it at the end.
So, after a short night, we drove to Grand Canyon. Grand Canyon is about 4-hour drive from Las Vegas. We stopped at the Hoover Dam to take a quick picture and we arrived at Grand Canyon park at about 2 o'clock pm.

It is very strange but even if you expect something very huge, you can not prevent you from being surprised at the first sight. We nearly collided with the car ahead which stopped abruptly at the first view point.

We drove along the canyon and stopped at every view point to have a new vision of this natural monument. After a incredible afternoon, we parked at Grand Canyon village and we started walking to another view point, advised to admire the sunset. We finished our route by bus because we were afraid to miss the sunset. It was amazing. The canyon became all red. It was so magic. After so many emotions, we went to a motel at about 1-hour drive from the Grand Canyon where we were very pleased to sleep.

On Sunday, we went back to Las Vegas where we had booked a room in one of the huge hotel-casinos of Las Vegas Boulevard. We took a quick dip in the hotel pool. It was so good (you can not imagine how hot it was). Then, we started our walk through all the biggest hotel-casinos of Las Vegas. It is so unreal. It is like you are traveling all around the world in few hours. We dined at Bellagio buffet. It was not cheap, but it was awesome. Even if we had a very early flight the next day, we can not help our self from walking in the city until late.

The wake-up was very hard and of course we arrived 5 minutes late at the airport. So we had to wait for an another flight. After about 5 hours, they finally transferred us on another flight. I finally arrived at work a little late and not really fresh but luckily, my bosses are very cool. This week-end was amazing and if you have the opportunity to go there, do not hesitate a second.

Week-End at Los-Angeles

The third weed-end, we decided to go to Los-Angeles. We rent a car on Friday to go just after work. Of course, we went pretty late because Alan did a barbecue and so we ate a bit before going not to refuse his invitation. Luckily, we knew that the trip will be long (about 6 hours) so we had booked a room in a motel at halfway.
We arrived at Los Angeles at noon on Saturday.
We started of course by a walk on Hollywood Boulevard and the Hollywood Walk of Fame (It is a little dangerous because you can not stop looking down at the star instead of in front of you). We went to the wax museum and the world record museum (I know, the guide book say they are tourist trap but we could not resist). We stopped in front of the Chinese Theater to see the hand- and footprints. We finally went to the Hollywood History Museum, to my mind, the best things to do on Hollywood Boulevard. There are lots of pictures, film clips and most of all, original costumes. It was very cool. We saw for example some costumes from Moulin Rouge and Chicago. Of course, we could nod take photos. There were also the shoes Harry Potter's actors wore when they did their footprints in front of the Chinese theater (I know, it is not very interesting).

After walking the whole afternoon, we drove on Mulholland Drive and stopped from time to time to admired the view on Los Angeles.

After a long day, we decided to go to bed early to make the most of our second and last day in Los Angeles.
We started our day by a walk downtown. We went to the Civic Center. We went through El Pueblo and Chinatown. We took pictures of Our Lady of the Angels and Disney Hall. We finished by a walk on Broadway (not as well as New York one, I assume).

Before going back to Mountain View (6 hour drive was waiting for us), we decided to go to Santa Monica to take advantage of the beach a little. The beach was amazing there. We had a nap and took a quick foot bath. It was short but so good, like short holydays.

Next Episode : Week-End at Las Vegas

Week-End at Yosemite Park

The second week-end was much more prepared. We rented a car on Saturday morning and drove (about 4 hours) to Bridgeport, little city in the north of Yosemite Park, where we had booked a room. We took the room key and we drove again to Bodie, huge ghost town in the middle of the desert. It was a big gold miner city. It was very amazing to see all the stuff left there. It is like people fled from a calamity.

After a long walk into the street of Bodie, we went to Mono Lake, big salted lake on the east of Yosemite Park. Because of the mineral concentration, there are some kind of stalagmites. It was very beautiful. We admired the sunset on the lake. It was so peaceful.

On Sunday, we finally went to Yosemite Park. We came in the park by the east enter which was very nice. We were at the top of the park and so we had splendid view points of Yosemite Valley. Since we had no much time and were not well equipped (I still not had my luggage), we only did small walk in the park and tried to make the whole tour by car. We went to the soda source, sprinkled water source. We stopped a while on the bank of a beautiful lake (we nearly would have liked to swim). Then we went down to the valley were we tried to see the springs but there were not so much water. The park is very beautiful and there seem to be a lot of great walk in the mountain. The park is very well set up with shuttle and very good path. However, it is very crowded and you had to wake up very early to avoid people. this week-end was very tiring with drive and walk but the park is amazing.

Next Episode : Week-End at LA.

First Week-End in California

As you may know, Rebecca came to see me for a month. Since she had to profit of her short journey to visit the most she can, we spend every week-ends traveling in the country. It was amazing even if sometimes a little tiring.
So I will begin with our first week-end. Since Rebecca arrived on Wednesday, it was a little short to organise something. So we rented a car and decided to drive in the area.

On Saturday, we started by Santa Cruz, city in the south of San Francisco near the Ocean. We walked on a huge boarding and looked at the evolution of the weather. It was very beautiful to see sea mist raising, revealing the beach with this amazing theme park. After a little walk in the theme park and on the beach (which was very hot, Rebecca's feet remembered it), we went to the surf museum (little cottage on the coast very cooool and quite fun) and tried to see the natural bridge (it was nearly not a failure).

Then, we profit to be in the area to go visiting some places recommended by the guide book. I don't know if it was the best idea we had. We took a picture of the most pictured tree and saw a house made with stones come from different countries and all of this for only 9 dollars. Luckily, we finished our trip by visiting a very beautiful monastery (and for free because we arrived just before it closed).

On Sunday, we decided to go to the north. First, we went to the Wine country. As you may have understand, this is a big wine-producing country in the north of San Francisco. What is very different from France is that it is amazing how American know how make people spend money. There are for all tastes. You can visit the wineries in limo or have a lunch in one of the huge barbecues organized by the wineries. You can also, of course, buy everything you can imagine, even if it does not have really link with wine. And finally, you can taste wine, which was very nice. I can not finish my story without telling you how the world is very little. Indeed, ten minutes after we start our wine testing, a group of french people came just near us, and of course, they were "camarades polytechniciens". I preferred keep their names silent (maybe because I do not know them) but it was very strange to see known faces there.
Then, Rebecca forced me to go see a geyser. Normally, the geyser shouts out every 45 minutes. Of course, we waited more than 1 hour before saw it but it was worth it.

We finish our day by an amazing tour. We stop on the Mount Tamalpais, area just on north of San Francisco, on the other side of Golden Gate. We started by a walk in the forest "a l'americaine", whichs means that it could be done by car with the facility settled but it was very nice. Then, we drove to the top of the Mount Tamalpais and we admired the splendid sunset on the ocean and the whole bay of San Francisco. It was magic. Finally, we went to the coast to an amazing overlook where we could see the beautiful color of the sky and the light of San Francisco reflected on the sea. Of course, Rebecca's camera had no more battery so I am sorry but I have no picture. Anyway, photos would not be good with the light.

Next Episode, Week-End at Yosemite Park

Internship

As you may know, I am not at Mountain View for holidays. I am here for my 6 month internship. I work in a 3D-software company named DAZ productions. More precisely, I work on development of the new version of CARRARA, a powerful 3D software (I have to make publicity). DAZ is not a very big company but the department of R&D of CARRARA is very small. The company is not located in California, only our team is at Mountain View. They are 5 residents and me.
My boss, Charles (I know, I don't know why I always chose an internship where my boss is named like me, it is so annoying), is a french X like me. He has worked in the US for 10 years and CARRARA is his "baby". He is very nice even he is a little bit stressed. The new software should be released by now but his bosses seem not to be so happy with the actual state of the product. So ambient in the office is sometimes a little tight.
However, I like what I do. I had to fix the bugs our beta-testers have found. It is very fun. The hugest problem is it is not so easy. I do not really know the software and how it has been coded so it is often very difficult to find the problem and fix it. Otherwise, I was not used to do debug. It is not the kind of things we learned at school. Still, work is very interesting even if I made many extra hours to try being at the level (all the more Charles count on us to release the product quickly).
The other guys at work are nice too. Arnaud is French too and has worked with Charles since the birth of CARRARA. Craig and Eric are American. Shalesh is Indian. There also Pierre who is French and work at home in France. As you may guess, I don't speak English so much. Most of time, I speak with Charles or Arnaud because they are the most able to answer my questions. I don't speak so much with the others. It is clear that my English difficulties do not easy the situation. There was also another intern when I arrived at DAZ, Mathieu. He is French too. He went a month after I started. I am a little sad that we could not spend more time together. He was very cool.
If you want to see what I am working on, you can have a look on the web site of DAZ. However. I add some pictures to show you why we work so hard.