[Photos taken 04 – 05 June 2023, posted online 3 March 2024. We’re waiting for the next burp, err… eruption. There was a small magma-run yesterday, but it stopped before peeking out of the ground…]
My whirlwind-visit to the San Francisco Bay Area continued with a reunion of the Stanford lunch group (or whatever to call it?). The following day was dedicated to attending the memorial of Prof Len Tyler, and then literal walks down memory lanes as I walked all over the Stanford campus, curios to see what was new and what was the same.
Sunday 04 June 2023
Reunion group! It was remarkable that we got so many together, as so many of the Stanford-ians we know have moved away from the area.
I started the day at another cafe within walking distance from home-base. Sadly, it was a bit of a flop refreshment-wise.
Classic insides.
Trusty laptop and not-great coffee.
Spotted a pretty flower.
Back at home-base, kids were playing.
Some supplies were needed for the reunion, which was a good excuse to visit Whole Foods.
We have trouble finding this stuff in Iceland, so I bought two bags.
Mildly freaky.
Arriving at the reunion-site.
It was as if no time had passed!
Where’d all these children come from!??!
We chatted and chatted!
It was lovely meeting up with everyone that made it!
So many lovely flowers at that time of year.
Monday 05 June 2023
Back home in Iceland, it was graduation day!
Here is Bjarki getting his 10th grade diploma.
The whole year posed for a group photo on the stairs.
His yearbook entry.
With his proud papa.
The three amigos in front of the school.
Artistic shot!
Then they went back inside and had cakes and hugs.
Meanwhile in California, I tried to ignore the angry welt from an insect bite the day before. In all my years living in California I don’t remember getting a reaction like that.
I went back to the “good” coffee house that morning.
Tempting stuff!
Second breakfast, clearly superior to the mess from the day before.
I then drove to the Stanford campus, having found a new parking garage in Escondido village, where we used to live. It turned out to be below new huge apartment blocks. The parking garage appeared to be 10 floors deep, I know because I drove down to the bottom as I missed the sign indicating guest parking at the very top…
A slight technical hassle, as there was no way for me to download the app, because it wasn’t available in my “Icelandic” app-store. I was also having issues making regular phone calls (but somehow the data network worked) so I had to have a friend buy the parking for me remotely!
The recent monster of an apartment block sitting on top of the parking garage.
I started my 20 minute walk to my old office building, where the memorial was being held. This is looking back towards the new huge apartment blocks for graduate students.
The way to my old office… The trees looked a bit bigger.
After about 5 minutes of walking, Hoover tower came into view.
The waterfall in front of the tower was still there. It is surreal to think that I walked/biked this way for years.
A few steps further the main quad came into view. The “main quad” is a large rectangular area of identically-styled buildings, with a large square in the middle, where the church sits. I don’t remember there being a roundabout there…?
The Oval, aka the huge grassy field in front of the main quad, was unchanged.
The Packard building in all ins glassy angular glory.
The parking issues had delayed my arrival, so I arrived a little late. But the speeches were lovely, and it was great catching up with old friends.
Refreshments being guarded from hungry students.
So strange to meet people from a decade ago, and it sort of feeling like little to no time had passed!?
After eating some refreshments, and chatting and reminiscing I decided to go explore my old stomping ground in more detail. The model of the Big Dish was still in the Packard atrium, although parts of it were under construction.
Bytes cafe was still there, utterly unchanged from a decade ago. They were still using the same tables and chairs!
The floor had the weird vibe of a mausoleum. That book case, with books written by the professors that had (had) offices on that floor looked unchanged from when I left a decade ago, as evidenced by the sun-bleached book-covers.
New artwork on the wall, it felt like it had borrowed its colors from the sun-bleached books!
The directory listed a lot of people that aren’t very active any more.
The lunch area, again, with the original tables and chairs.
The tables had seen better days.
The copy/mail room was unchanged.
The freshest-looking poster I saw on the hallway walls, belonging to Prof Goldsmith, but she’s now at Princeton. Perhaps they’re all electronically displayed now at conferences?
The windowless-cave still had stuff in it. I did spot a few students in a meeting room.
Students were recently here!
Towards the back of the floor, mementos hung on the wall. That far door was Prof. Tyler’s office, the door on right is to the windowless-cave.
The name tag on the door listed both Prof. Tyler and Prof. Inan. The images in the frames are children born to students in Inan’s group.
Also present was a very faded interferogram poster.
Photos from the glory days.
There were students in my old office! One even sat at my old desk! I freaked them out by saying hi. The desks hadn’t changed, but the view had. That building wasn’t there in my memory…?
The other side of the office, complete with very faded posters with names I recognized.
Next door was now the emeritus office of Profs. Gray, Hellman, and Widrow.
Inside the Packard building women’s restroom on the 3rd floor is the only lasting imprint I made on Stanford…
… a wall-hung changing table!!! It was from the time where I was bringing newborn Anna into the office, and as there was no good place to change her diaper, so I’d just plonk here down on a mat on my desk (or the floor?) much to the chagrin of some of my office mates. So I asked for an actual changing table, and got one! Turns out each of these was $400 and so I had a lot of trouble convincing the school to install any more of them. There were some really awkward diaper changes that happened in various ill-equipped bathrooms around campus in those years.
More recent baby pics from Inan’s group!
I’m almost certain there was no red wall in this office a decade ago. This was one of Inan’s student offices.
Selfie-time off of the 2nd floor.
Back outside I said my goodbyes to those that lingered, and went on a walkabout.
A weirdly uncharming building overall.
The trees over the bike-parking lots had grown big! These remain my favorite type of bike stands.
I walked “up” from the road that runs past the main quad and oval, keeping the main quad there on my left.
People were milling about this grass-field, staring at things on the ground.
I ventured into the main quad which is always pretty and charming. Also weirdly cold, and reverb-y.
The time-capsule tiles.
I have a love-hate relationship with the square in front of the Stanford church. On one hand, it photographs well. On the other, it is usually devoid of humans, people just pass through, nobody stays. It’s sort of emblematic of the whole Bay Area really.
Proof I was there!
Always so good about having helpful directions.
It’s a beautiful church.
The skylight.
A reminder that the Stanfords were a very rich family.
The Jamba Juice was still there in the corner on the ground floor!
Blood-sugar was running low so I ventured inside.
Other parts of Tresidder appeared renovated, there was a food court that looked a bit different. In classic CA style the letters on the door let me know I was entering at my own risk.
The CoHo (Coffee House) was darker in my memory.
Then I meandering down to the bookstore, there on the right. There were inviting seats by it and the fountain.
I had suboptimal shoes on for walking, so my feet were glad for a break, while I slurped by Jamba Juice and looked at the Claw, aka the fountain artwork.
The bookstore is now mostly a clothing/merch store. I don’t think people are buying a lot of printed textbooks any more.
I decided to buy an obnoxious hat.
In the basement, graduation season was ramping up, with lots of rental gowns and hats lining the shelves that usually contain school supplies.
We own that book!
Me in my obnoxious hat (to avoid a sunstroke) by one main quad corner.
Yet another building hiding behind a construction screen.
A reminder about which country we were in.
Close to the main quad, things are just pretty.
Looking towards the large empty space in front of the church (that is hidden further on the left).
I walked behind Hoover tower, a road I’ve rarely taken.
Yet another oasis with hardly anyone there.
Such a particular building style.
Last look back towards the main part of campus.
Up ahead, the new massive buildings surrounding an old apartment building, that once looked big.
People busy making life look idyllic, fun, and easy. It’s all a bit of a lie.
A map of Escondico village confirmed that one of the houses we’d lived in had been torn town, and now a monster lounged where it stood. Yup, about a third of the village had been razed to make space for lots of graduate housing. Probably a great idea, as housing has always been a huge issue, but it was still a jarring change.
Opportunity for extra money.
Photos don’t really convey how weirdly huge these buildings are. Those top windows are at least two floors high.
Obligatory covered seating areas.
Each building seemed to have services, like this food hall, and I saw a gym class underway in another space.
I kept walking until I found one of our old lodgings.
The backyard playground where I spent many mornings with Anna, when she was only in daycare in the afternoons.
Everything had been painted a slightly different color.
I walked to where the old child care center had been, but it had been completely wiped off of the face of the planet.
So many flowers everywhere!
Yup, those were the days.
Back at homebase we saw off these snazzy scouts to a scout meeting.
