Dear Hunter,
Today I arrived in San Francisco, California to visit your Uncle Jeremy and Brooke. I was greeted by their two dogs, Muddy and Sia. They are called Chocolate Labs and they are very BIG! They licked me a lot!
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Dear Hunter,
The San Francisco Bay Area (that's what they call it here) is really big! Here's a map of the cites in the Bay Area:
Your Uncle Jeremy and Brooke live close to Berkeley. There's a really big college here called the University of California, Berkeley. Most people call it "Cal Berkeley." Cal is a really good school and they have good sports teams. Their basketball team is about to play in the NCAA "March Madness" Tournament. I guess that's a big deal! This is their team logo:
Cal's rival college is called Stanford. It's a really good school too! It's also in the Bay Area, in Palo Alto. Here's their college logo:
March 5, 2013
Dear Hunter,
Your Uncle Jeremy and Brooke really like sports. There's a lot of professional sports teams in the Bay Area. There are two baseball teams, two football teams, one hockey team, one soccer team, and one basketball team! WOW! The baseball teams are the Oakland A's and the San Francisco Giants. Brooke is a Giant's Fan! The Giants play at AT&T Park in San Francisco. Here's a picture of me there!
AT&T Park is really close to the ocean. During baseball games, people sit in boats outside left field and try to catch home runs! Also, the Giants have a player, Pablo Sandoval, that they nicknamed "The Panda." So, lots of Giants fans wear panda hats like yours!
The football teams are the Oakland Raiders and the San Francisco 49ers. Brooke is a 49ers fan, but don't worry - Uncle Jeremy is still a Seattle Seahawks fan. The 49ers and the Giants baseball team used to play at the same stadium, called Candlestick Park (before they built AT&T Park for the Giants). Candlestick Park right on the water and very cold sometimes. Next year, the 49ers are getting a new stadium too and they are going to BLOW UP Candlestick Park! I took a picture with it before they blow it up!
March 6, 2013
Dear Hunter,
Today I learned about bridges in the Bay Area. San Francisco is a city on a "peninsula." That means that the land is surrounded by water on three sides. That means that you have to cross bridges to get there. The bridge that Brooke and Uncle Jeremy drive over to go to San Francisco is called the "Bay Bridge." In 1989, there was a really big earth quake called the "Loma Prieta" earthquake and the top part of the bridge fell onto the bottom part. Here's a picture of what happened back in 1989:
One weird thing about the earthquake was that it happened during the World Series. That year, the San Francisco Giants and the Oakland A's were playing against each other. So the earthquake was on TV! Also, the earthquake happened one day after your dad and Uncle Jeremy's 12th birthday (October 17, 1989). They fixed the bridge now, but the city decided they would still build a new and safer bridge. It's taking a long time! Here's a picture of me with the new bridge and a picture of what the new bridge will look like when it's done in 2014:
The most famous bridge, though, is called the Golden Gate Bridge. A cool fact I learned is that it takes so long to paint the bridge, that as soon as they finish painting it, they have to start over. So, the painting NEVER stops! The Golden Gate is painted a color called "International Orange." I got to ride in Uncle Jeremy's car across the Golden Gate, but it was too rainy to stop to take a picture. He said that I would get "ruined." Here's a picture of the Golden Gate Bridge:
March 9, 2012
Dear Hunter,
Today I learned about Alcatraz. It was a prison on a small island in the middle of San Francisco Bay where they put the worst criminals of all. It's not a jail anymore and you can go visit it. They give tours and you can stand inside a jail cell! Here's picture of Alcatraz Island:
March 13, 2013
Dear Hunter,
Today I got to go with Uncle Jeremy to Napa Valley for work. Napa is known all over the world for making good wine and food. They grow LOTS and LOTS and LOTS of grapes in "Vineyards" (or grape farms) there. Here's a picture of me with the Napa Sign:
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March 15, 2013
Dear Hunter,
Today I got to go to San Jose. That's where Brooke grew up and where her family lives. The San Jose Sharks Hockey Team plays here. We didn't go to a Sharks game, but Brooke did tell me all about the Winchester Mystery House. It's a haunted house built by a lady named Sarah Winchester. Her husband invented Winchester rifles and she believed that GHOSTS haunted her. So she built this really big and weird house to trick the ghosts! I was too scared to go! Here's an old time picture of it and what it looks like now. SPOOKY!
March 18, 2013
Dear Hunter,
Today I got to visit Pixar Studios. That's where they make all the Pixar movies like Monsters, Inc., Toy Story, Finding Nemo, The Incredibles, Up, and WALL-E! Your Uncle Jeremy does work with them sometimes. They won't let you take any pictures inside because their new movies have to stay secret. So, I took a picture outside:
March 19, 2013
Dear Hunter,
Today I learned about computer companies. Uncle Jeremy took me to "Silicon Valley" with him. That's what they call the south part of the Bay Area because most of the big "high tech" companies are based there. I got to see Google, YouTube, Yahoo, Facebook, Ebay, Apple, and Hewlett-Packard- and that's just some of the companies! I also learned that there are THOUSANDS of "high-tech start up" companies here. Many of them make Apps for your iPad and iPhone!
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March 21, 2013
Dear Hunter,
Today I asked Brooke and Uncle Jeremy about going to the beach. I thought that in California everyone goes to the beach and surfs. I was wrong! There are a lot of beaches in California and a lot of people do surf. However, the water is only warm in Southern California (in LA near Disneyland and cities like San Diego). Where Uncle Jeremy and Brooke live in Northern California, the water is VERY cold. So, when people surf, they have to wear thick wetsuits to keep them warm. Also, the Bay Area is in the middle of the "Red Triangle." The Red Triangle is a part of the Pacific Ocean in Northern California where there is a lot of great white sharks. Even though shark attacks are very rare, I was still too scared to go surfing in Northern California! Here's a picture of a great white shark and a map of the "Red Triangle."
Even though the water is cold and there could be sharks, some of the world's best surfers travel to California in the winter to see the Maverick's waves. A little south of San Francisco there's a beach called Pillar's Point. The waves are usually around 25 feet tall and can reach up to 80 feet high after a big storm. The surf spot was named after the dog of the surfer who discovered the beach. Most surfers are too scared to surf these big waves. Only the best big wave surfers are invited to the Maverick's Surf Competition that happens every winter (right around your birthday!). Here's a picture of the big wave surfing at Maverick's:
March 21, 2013
Dear Hunter,
Today was my last day in California. I had a really good time here and we did a lot of stuff, but there are still so many things I didn't get to see in California! Next time I come, I'd like to go camping and hiking in Yosemite or go see the Giant Redwoods. They are the tallest trees in the world and grow in Northern California. They can grow up to 378 feet tall! Woah! The trees are so big, you can drive a car through them!
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Anyway, thanks for sending me to California. I had a really good time. If you want to learn more about California, you can read about it here:
