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Old 05-28-2018, 03:08 PM
 
Location: Apex NC
547 posts, read 771,254 times
Reputation: 290

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Heading for onsite interview at MV next week and have about 1.5 days to explore the area to get a sense if Bay Area is a place we want to relocate to.

Looking for recommendations to eat, brewery, family friendly activities, etc...

I’ll probably explore all the way to Los Gatos in South and Milpitas in East.
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Old 05-28-2018, 05:38 PM
 
Location: SF Bay area
222 posts, read 380,633 times
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Honestly, since you're relocating with a family, I'd spend some time looking at the real estate that you can afford to move into, and try the commute to those areas at peak commute time (which fortunately for your purposes is 6 am-10am and 3 pm-7 pm). Go to the grocery stores, check out the things that will really impact your life on a day-to-day basis.

The things that have stopped all of our friends from relocating here for jobs with the big sexy companies with the shuttle buses are pretty much the cost of living and the crowds - traffic is really as bad as you can imagine at most times of most days (101 is a parking lot on weekends too) and it's hard to get a spot in daycare, in preschool, in your neighborhood school. It's hard to get a parking spot. It's hard to get someone to renovate your kitchen. When your kid(s) are playing sports, getting to practice at 5 pm sucks.

But definitely spend some time in Los Gatos - it's awesome
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Old 05-29-2018, 01:22 AM
 
Location: Silicon Valley
18,813 posts, read 32,274,906 times
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How old are your kids? The areas in between the points you've mentioned are nice areas to live in, but there's not a lot of anything particularly exciting in your triangle. If you lived here, you'd go farther away for more excitement. So, it seems a shame not to go to the beach, at least. Because, it seems likely that if you actually lived here with a family, you'd probably drive to Santa Cruz.

I know you don't have a lot of time, but the drive is beautiful to Santa Cruz. You will drive on a curvy mountain road through the redwoods to get over the hill to the beach. It seems like you should see it, so you can envision getting out of the South Bay suburbia.

The suburbia is really a great place to live, because of all of the amenities close by that you could ever need. And the weather is great, and it's pretty safe, etc. But, for extra fun or excitement, you'd likely go into San Jose or San Francisco or drive farther into the hills to the state parks or to the beach.

Unless you're trying to convince your family not to move there - lol - you should probably try to squeeze in time to see something they'd be excited about. I highly recommend Santa Cruz.

The good news is, you'd be driving against the commute, too, whenever you went. People drive from Santa Cruz into the South Bay area, and so if you are driving to the beach, you shouldn't be stuck in traffic.

You could go to the beach and maybe watch some surfers, and it's also fun to walk downtown on Pacific Avenue. It's lined with shops and restaurants and there are usually musicians playing music and it's a great place to people watch.

DT Home Page -

Anyway, if you let people know how old your kids are and what your family likes to do, and what kind of food you like to eat, people may be able to be more specific.

One thing you may want to do is go to see the mission on Santa Clara University campus. It's a beautiful campus with gorgeous grounds, and one of the California missions is on the grounds. If you do that, I suggest you park in the parking lot behind the little strip mall with the Subway sandwich shop in it, on Lafayette Street and Franklin Street. Then, just walk across Lafayette Street to get onto campus.

Hope you enjoy your trip and good luck with the job.
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Old 05-29-2018, 08:04 AM
 
Location: Apex NC
547 posts, read 771,254 times
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My kids are 4 and 1. We like to be outdoors (so parks but probably not into hiking yet for another year or 2).

We like Suburbia since we currently live in Cary NC. We LOVE the beach so I am considering making a drive out to Santa Cruz to check it out.

I also want to check out a few towns to see what would be the best towns to live in and not have a super long commute (less than hour, but I also plan on probably taking the company shuttle).

We aren't picky eaters so local flavor is something I'd probably want to experience when I'm out there. Also gastropub types and places that are popular so I can get a sense of the community would be good to experience as well.
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Old 05-29-2018, 01:29 PM
 
Location: South Bay
7,226 posts, read 22,106,899 times
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1.5 days does not give you much time to explore. I assume you'll be traveling alone as well, so showing up by yourself to 'family friendly' places may get you some odd looks. If you get to the offer stage with this company, you may request a trip for your whole family to check out the area for a weekend before making the final decision.
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Old 05-29-2018, 01:49 PM
 
Location: Apex NC
547 posts, read 771,254 times
Reputation: 290
Quote:
Originally Posted by BRinSM View Post
1.5 days does not give you much time to explore. I assume you'll be traveling alone as well, so showing up by yourself to 'family friendly' places may get you some odd looks. If you get to the offer stage with this company, you may request a trip for your whole family to check out the area for a weekend before making the final decision.
LOL, I was just thinking of that - I may get looks. I would like to just explore some places to get a feel of the community, maybe stop at a grocery store to see prices.

I think I do what to request for that additional trip if I make it to the offer stage.
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Old 05-29-2018, 03:59 PM
 
3,229 posts, read 6,257,593 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by pjnugget View Post
Heading for onsite interview at MV next week and have about 1.5 days to explore the area to get a sense if Bay Area is a place we want to relocate to.

Looking for recommendations to eat, brewery, family friendly activities, etc...

I’ll probably explore all the way to Los Gatos in South and Milpitas in East.
I like downtown Mountain View on Castro Street. There are many international restaurants and a couple of good bookstores. Bierhaus is a popular stop in downtown Mountain View. My favorite grocery store in the area is Nob Hill Foods on Grant Ave. It shares the same parking lot as 99 Ranch, a very popular Chinese oriented Asian grocery store. The San Antonio and El Camino area is the busiest shopping area of Mountain View with a Walmart,Target,Whole Foods,Trader Joes and many other stores.

Sunnyvale is next to Mountain View and is the place to find the most authentic Indian food and Indian grocery stores. There are also numerous car dealers,fast food places and other ethnic eateries along El Camino. Sprouts on El Camino near Sunnyvale-Saratoga is an interesting grocery store to check out. Downtown Sunnyvale is only one block along Murphy St.

Santa Clara is next to Sunnyvale and has the best Korean cuisine in the Bay area. Its also home to Santa Clara University.

Downtown Campbell is also worth checking out.

http://www.cityofcampbell.com/Docume...apdirectoryWEB

The traffic going to Milpitas on highway 237 could be quite bad during rush hour. The kids will probably like Dave and Busters at the Great Mall when they get older. Milpitas is also the home of Milpitas Square where one can find every almost regional variety of Chinese cuisine.

Willow Glen is one of the best neighborhoods to visit in San Jose. The kids may also enjoy the Children's Discovery Museum in downtown San Jose. https://www.cdm.org/

Its a great area but the insane housing prices make it seem like its a different planet. For example look at this one in Campbell.

https://www.trulia.com/p/ca/campbell...08--2084190596
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Old 05-29-2018, 10:20 PM
 
93 posts, read 129,682 times
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Don't spend your 1.5 days checking out real estate, your kids will hate that. Don't even enter San Jose city limits if you can help it, that city is depressing and will make you want to never come to the Bay Area ever again.

Take your kids to Coyote Point / CuriOdyssey in San Mateo, that's the perfect place to visit, thank me when you get back.
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Old 05-30-2018, 03:08 AM
 
Location: San Jose, CA
87 posts, read 165,365 times
Reputation: 174
Definitely recommend a half day trip to Santa Cruz. Has a beach town vibe that's probably difficult to find on the Eastern seaboard.

Los Gatos Downtown is superb and worth checking out (my recommendation if you had to pick one). Saratoga and Sunnyvale Downtowns are also pretty charming and quaint. Frankly, I think Mountain View downtown is considerably less charming than the aforementioned places (although potentially with better food options).

People give a lot of flak for Santana Row (understandable). It is a 'nouveau' downtown which has a very different feel from the previous downtowns I mentioned. New-fangled, slightly ritzy -- has an almost a southern California feel IMO. Worth checking out for change of pace.

These places should have plenty of gastropubs that you mentioned.

However, I believe that the wide selection of ethnic cuisines available is the real strength of the area; Silicon Valley is a melting pot of immigrants from all over the world. The hot spots: Indian (Sunnyvale) , Korean (Santa Clara), Chinese (Cupertino, Milpitas), Mexican (E San Jose), Vietnamese (E San Jose, Milpitas). Not sure what your previous exposure to these cuisines are, but the Bay Area is probably the best place in America (after LA and maybe NY) where you can widen your palates.

I also believe Stanford Campus is also somewhere you should visit. Probably the prettiest campus in the West Coast, and arguably the USA (even barring any biases I might have). If you want a flavor of Silicon Valley tech, computer history museum in MV is excellent.

How about something like this:

AM visit to Santa Cruz. Lunch at Los Gatos downtown (on the way back). In the afternoon, check out Santana Row, San Jose downtown, have dinner at one of the ethnic restaurants. The next day in the AM, check out Stanford Campus. Squeeze in computer history museum if possible. Lunch at Sunnyvale downtown and back to the airport

Last edited by shoenberg3; 05-30-2018 at 04:31 AM..
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Old 05-30-2018, 08:00 AM
 
Location: Apex NC
547 posts, read 771,254 times
Reputation: 290
Quote:
Originally Posted by shoenberg3 View Post

AM visit to Santa Cruz. Lunch at Los Gatos downtown (on the way back). In the afternoon, check out Santana Row, San Jose downtown, have dinner at one of the ethnic restaurants. The next day in the AM, check out Stanford Campus. Squeeze in computer history museum if possible. Lunch at Sunnyvale downtown and back to the airport
Thanks for the suggestion. I def interested in driving down to SC boardwalk and trying some ethnic meals.

I'll have to check out Sunnyvale and Campbell as well as those are the leading candidates to live if/when we move.
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