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ITINERARY Ideas

• Western USA
  
• Central USA
  
• Eastern USA
  
• Europe

For ideas on some possible tour destinations and topics, first see Itinerary Ideas. Then return to these Destination pages where we have begun to give you links to explore specific cities and destinations that might be part of your itinerary. For nationwide and global lists of categories of destinations (e.g. Jazz Clubs, Museums, etc.) see Categories. We are always adding to these lists. Please let us know the type of destinations you are interested in!


THE U.S. WEST COAST
From North to South

TABLE OF CONTENTS Linking to Full Information Below

• Seattle and Washington State Destinations
• Yellowstone National Park (Wyoming State)
• Portland and Oregon State Destinations
• Northern California Destinations (south to Yosemite)
• Sacramento: State Capitol and Gold Rush Area
• San Francisco Area Destinations
• Multimedia Gulch (SF) Destinations
• Berkeley/S.F. East Bay Destinations
• Sample BioTechnology Destinations in South S.F.
• Silicon Valley Overviews and City by City
• Topical Category: Girls and High Tech
• Southern California Mountain & Desert (Not L.A. Area)
• Pasadena Destinations (L.A. Area)
• Los Angeles Destinations
• San Diego Destinations
• Some Other California Tourist Offices with Web Pages
• Las Vegas and Nevada Destinations
• Grand Canyon and Arizona Destinations
• Honolulu and Hawaii State Destinations

Sample Seattle and Washington State Destinations

• Seattle-King County Convention and Visitors Bureau
  Information about visits to Seattle and its surrounding County.
• Boeing Aircraft
  This global aircraft empire is headquartered in Everett, Washington, about 45 minutes north of downtown Seattle. The largest manufacturing building in the world has assembly lines for jumbo jets.
  
• Microsoft Corporation
  This global software empire is headquartered in Redmond, Washington, about 45 minutes northeast of downtown Seattle. At last check they did not welcome educational tours.
  
• Starbucks Coffee
  This global retail coffee empire is headquartered in downtown Seatte. Growing very rapidly, most recently opening in China.
  
• REI Cooperative
  This cooperative and mail-order operation sells gear for camping, climbing, cycling, paddling, hiking and enjoying the outdoors. Headquarters are in downtown Seattle.
  
• Amazon.com
  Perhaps the worlds most visable and talked about example of commerce on the net - selling books and music worldwide at the click of a button. [Tour Inquiry Pending]
  
• Adobe Systems Inc. - Seattle
  "Bringing advances in web graphics into the mainsteam. Adobe swept Macworld Editor's Choice Awards." [June Tour Approved in Silicon Valley]
  
• Tullys Coffee
  "The Company has expanded to 39 stores and has developed its own roasting facility, at which it roasts all of the coffee beans necessary to service its retail stores and wholesale customers. The Company believes that it now has positioned itself to significantly expand its retail operations in the greater Puget Sound area, and beyond." [Tour Inquiry Pending]
  
• "Seattles Best" Coffee
  "Seattle's Best Coffee distributes coffees both nationally and Internationally. Considered by many America's most drinkable gourmet coffee, the bolder flavor and smoother taste of our original Coffee House Blends are available through our cafés in Seattle, Portland, Los Angeles, Chicago and Boston. Our coffees are also available through thousands of wholesale accounts across the United States." [Tour Inquiry Pending]
  
• Bainbridge Island
  Bainbridge Island is located in Kitsap County northwest of Vashon Island. It's about 16 miles and a 35-minute commute across Puget Sound from downtown Seattle (directions and map). "It's expensive to live on Bainbridge Island, in money and in time. Island residents' lives are constrained by ferry schedules, fog and frequently long ferry lines when summer tourists crowd their commute. The payoff, however, is a small-town feel, vast rural tracts of cedar and fir, and top-notch library and schools. Oh yes, the knock-out views are nice, too. The town sprung up more than a century ago as a center for lumber mills and ship-building. During World War II, thousands of Japanese Americans were forced to evacuate their homes on Bainbridge Island and live in internment camps around the West."
  
• Bainbridge Island Ferry
  The 35 minute ferry (each way) is great for it's views whether you spend time on the island or not.
  
• Seattle CityPass
  If Museums are a priority, this CityPass is a method to pay for six attractions at a discount: Museum of Flight, Pacific Science Center, Seattle Aquarium, Seattle Art Museum, Space Needle, Woodland Park Zoo. Website includes a Seattle Map showing these six sites.
  
• Space Needle
  Enjoy some of the most awe-inspiring views in the world at the Space Needle, the symbol of Seattle. Resembling a compass, the newly remodeled 360° Observation Deck features informational displays describing sights and activities in every direction. Gift shops, lounge and rotating restaurant also available.
  
• Pacific Science Center
  See an IMAX film on a screen 3.5 stories tall and explore five buildings of hands-on fun in Seattle¹s leading cultural attraction. Hang-glide through virtual reality, meet roaring dinosaurs, and stargaze in Washington¹s only public planetarium.
  
• Seattle Aquarium
  A visit to the Seattle aquarium is a trip to Puget Sound and the ocean beyond. Walk through the Underwater Dome and be surrounded by 400,000 gallons of water and beautiful sea life. Learn about the entire life cycle of the Pacific salmon as they return to the world¹s only aquarium-based salmon ladder. Children will enjoy the Discovery Lab, where they can see the wonders of the ocean up close. Meet sea otters, fur seals, harbor seals, birds and fish, as well as invertebrates like octopus, sea stars and crabs. Gain a better appreciation of the importance of life in the sea.
  
• Museum of Flight
  One of the world¹s premier air and space museums. In the steel and glass Great Gallery, the history of aviation soars past with dozens of full-size aircraft flying in formation six stories above. Walk within inches of the amazing Blackbird spyplane and board America¹s first presidential jet: the original Air Force One.
  
• Seattle Art Museum
  Seattle¹s newest cultural landmark, designed by architect Robert Venturi, brings a vast collection of art to the heart of the city. SAM¹s permanent exhibits include Asian, African and the area¹s own Northwest coast Native American Art, in addition to unique contemporary art.
  
• Woodland Park Zoo
  See how animals live in the wild at Seattle¹s Woodland Park Zoo, a 92-acre botanical garden featuring over 300 animal species. No other American Zoo has surpassed our record of receiving four "Best New Exhibit" awards. Visit Northern Trail, Tropical Rain Forest, Elephant Forest and African Savanna, plus the new Trail of Vines for a look at Southeast Asia¹s endangered species.
  
  Elsewhere in Washington State:
  
• Washington State Tourism
  Information about visits to Washington State.
• Map of Washington State
  This site has a map of Washington State with links to all National Parks, National Monuments, National Historic Sites, etc. in the state.
  
• Olympic National Park
  Often referred to as "three parks in one", Olympic National Park encompasses three distinctly different ecosystems -- rugged glacier capped mountains, over 60 miles of wild Pacific coast and magnificent stands of old-growth and temperate rain forest. These diverse ecosystems are still largely pristine in character -- about 95% of the park is designated wilderness. Olympic is also known for its biological diversity. Isolated for eons by glacial ice, the waters of Puget Sound and the Strait of Juan de Fuca, the Olympic Peninsula has developed its own distict array of plants and animals. Eight kinds of plants and five kinds of animals are found on the peninsula and live nowhere else in the world.
  
• Mount Ranier
  Mount Rainier National Park contains vast expanses of pristine old-growth forests, subalpine flower meadows, spectacular alpine scenery, and great opportunities for stimulating outdoor recreation. The park, established on March 2, 1899, is the fifth oldest national park in the United States. It encompasses 378 square miles (980 square kilometers or 235,612.5 acres). Mount Rainier is an episodically active volcano and has the greatest single-peak glacial system in the United States. Numerous glaciers radiate from its summit and slopes. The Carbon River rain forest in the northwest corner of the park is the lowest elevation in the park at 1,880 feet.
  
• Tourism Offices Without Known Web Sites Listed
  This site lists other local tourism offices in the state.
  
  

Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks (Wyoming State)
Yellowstone and adjacent Grand Teton National Park are between Seattle and San Francisco (north to south) but far to the east in the State of Wyoming. If you wish to include Yellowstone (and Grand Teton) National Parks in your West Coast itinerary, please keep in mind that coach travel from Seattle to Yellowstone is 765 miles (1231 km) or about 14-15 hours non-stop driving one way, requiring 2-3 days one way. Coming from the south the distances are 885 miles (1424 km, 16-18 hrs nonstop driving one way) from the South Rim of the Grand Canyon passing through Salt Lake City which is 522 miles (840 km, 10 hrs one way driving) from Yellowstone. In September 1998 the domestic airfare from Seattle to Yellowstone to San Francisco was priced at about US$300.

• Map of Wyoming State
  This site has a map of Wyoming State with links to all National Parks, National Monuments, National Historic Sites, etc. in the state.
  
• Yellowstone National Park
  Yellowstone is the first (1872) and oldest national park in the world. The commanding features that initially attracted interest, and led to the preservation of Yellowstone as a national park, were geological: the geothermal phenomena (there are more geysers and hot springs here than in the rest of the world combined), the colorful Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone River, fossil forests, and the size and elevation of Yellowstone Lake. The human history of the park is evidenced by cultural sites dating back 12,000 years.
  
• Grand Teton National Park
  Adjacent to Yellowstone to the south, towering more than a mile above the valley known as Jackson Hole, the Grand Teton rises to 13,770 feet above sea level. Twelve Teton peaks reach above 12,000 feet elevation, high enough to support a dozen mountain glaciers. In contrast to the abrupt eastern face, the west side of the range slopes gently, showing the angle of tilt of the Earth's crust. Youngest of the mountains in the Rocky Mountain system, the Teton Range displays some of the North America's oldest rocks. The rise of the Teton Range as well as the erosion caused by eons of glaciation have created the conditions that allow several plant communities to thrive - creating habitat for a wide variety of animals, from the tiniest insects, to fish, birds and large and small mammals. Publications are available on Plants, Mammals and Birds.
  
  

Sample Portland and Oregon State Destinations

• Oregon
  Oregon State tourist office.
  
• Map of Oregon State
  This site has a map of Oregon State with links to all National Parks, National Monuments, National Historic Sites, etc. in the state.
  
• Crater Lake National Park
  Crater Lake was the basis of much local Native American legend, as the stories of its creation have been passed down through the centuries. The lake was formed after the collapse of an ancient volcano that violently erupted approximately 7700 years ago. That eruption was 42 times as powerful as the 1980 eruption of Mt. St. Helens. The basin or caldera was formed after the top 5000 feet of the volcano collapsed. Subsequent lava flows sealed the bottom, allowing the caldera to fill with approximately 4.6 trillion gallons of water from rainfall and snow melt, to create the seventh deepest lake in the world at 1,932 feet. Today, Crater Lake is widely known for its intense blue color and spectacular views. During summer, visitors may navigate the Rim Drive around the lake, enjoy boat tours on the lake surface, etc..
  
• Other National Parks in Oregon State
  This site has a map of Oregon State with links to all National Parks, National Monuments, National Historic Sites, etc. in the state.
  
  Some Tourist Offfices in Oregon with Web Sites:
• Southern Oregon
  
• Washington County
  
• Others Without Known Web Sites Listed
  
  

Sample Northern California Destinations
(From Oregon Border south to Yosemite)

• Map of Northern California
  This Northern California map shows the location of National Parks, etc.
  
• Lava Beds National Monument
  On the far north-central border of California, Volcanic eruptions on the Medicine Lake shield volcano have created an incredibly rugged landscape punctuated by cinder cones, lava flows, spatter cones, lava tube caves and pit craters. During the Modoc War of 1872-1873, the Modoc Indians used these tortuous lava flows to their advantage. Under the leadership of Captain Jack, the Modocs took refuge in "Captain Jack's Stronghold," a natural lava fortress. From this base a group of 53 fighting men and their families held off US Army forces numbering up to twenty times their strength for five months. Visitors can tour both the geologic and historic wonders of this unusual landscape.
  
• Redwood National and State Parks
  In the far northwest corner of California, Redwood National and State Parks protect old growth coast redwoods, some of the world's tallest trees. Less well-known are the prairies and oak woodlands and the coastal and marine ecosystems. Three California state parks and the National Park Service unit represent a cooperative management effort of the National Park Service and the California Department of Parks and Recreation. Redwood National Park was established in 1968 and enlarged in 1978. Together these parks are a World Heritage Site and International Biosphere Reserve protecting resources cherished by citizens of many nations.
  
• Whiskeytown-Shasta-Trinity National Recreation Area
  This recreation area is in north-central California. Whiskeytown Unit, with its mountainous back country and man-made large reservoir offers many summer activities such as hiking and boating as well as remains of buildings built during the California Gold Rush of 1849. Whiskeytown Lake (elevation 1,209 feet) is excellent for most water-related activities, including swimming, scuba diving, water skiing, boating and fishing. The most prominent landmark within the Recreation Area is the Shasta Bally (elevation 6,209 feet). Whiskeytown Lake is created by water from the Trinity River Basin on it's way to the Sacramento River.
  
• Lassen Volcanic National Park
  Towards the far north of California, Lassen Volcanic became a national park in 1916 because of its significance as an active volcanic landscape. Lassen Peak began erupting in 1914, had the most significant activity in 1915, and had minor activity until 1921. All four types of volcanoes in the world are found in Lassen's 106,000 acres.
  
• City of Monterey
  The Official Guide to Monterey - Home of Cannery Row, Monterey Aquarium and lots more! Monterey (see map) is 125 miles (208 km) south of San Francisco and 360 (600 km) miles north of Los Angeles. Monterey borders the deep water Monterey Bay (links to photographers guide).
  
• Monterey Aquarium
  The Aquarium is located on Monterey's historic Cannery Row. There are more than 6,000 strange and colorful creatures that call Monterey home, and you will see them eye to eye at the Aquarium. Don't miss the new "Outer Reef" wing, featuring deep water creatures and beautiful jellyfish. The kids will love the petting pool with sleek bat rays. Explore Monterey Bay's sealife in an adventure that takes approximately three hours. Open daily 10:00 am to 6:00 pm and closed Christmas day. During holiday periods and the summer, the Aquarium is open at 9:30 am."
  
• Hearst Castle
  In the Santa Lucia Mountains of California on a hilltop overlooking the Pacific Ocean, craftsmen labored nearly 28 years to create a magnificent estate of 165 rooms and 127 acres of gardens, terraces, pools and walkways. Rooms were furnished with a magnificent collection of Spanish and Italian antiques and art. Called, La Cuesta Encantada (The Enchanted Hill), it is better known as Hearst Castle, once the home of newspaper publisher, art collector and builder William Randolph Hearst. It is among the largest estates in American donated to the public with its fine and decorative collections virtually intact. The estate was created through a unique collaboration between Hearst and architect Julia Morgan. Tours are available daily.
  
• Yosemite National Park
  About 4-5 hours due east of San Francisco, Yosemite National Park embraces almost 1,200 square miles of scenic wild lands set aside in 1890 to preserve a portion of the central Sierra Nevada that stretches along California's eastern flank. The park ranges from 2,000 feet above sea level to more than 13,000 feet and has these major attractions; alpine wilderness, three groves of Giant Sequoias and the glacially carved Yosemite Valley with impressive waterfalls, cliffs and unusual rock formations.
  
• Other National Parks, etc. in Northern California
  This completes the list of National Parks, National Monuments and Historic Sites, etc. in California - with links to their web sites.
  
• Other California State Parks
  This website enables you to search for California State Parks both alphabetically and by county.
  
  

Sacramento: State Capitol and Gold Rush Area

• Sacramento Travel Information
  Comprehensive city travel reservation and information system.
  
• City of Sacramento
  Official homepage for the city of Sacramento, with their officials, departments, and services.
  
• Old Sacramento
  This historic area, a National Registered Landmark and State Historic Park, a 28-acre site on the banks of the Sacramento River now restored to recreate the western frontier era and full of unique shops. In Old Sacramento: California State Railroad Museum: See separate listing below. Nearby (by free shuttle from Old Sacramento): Towe Ford Museum: A full collection of Ford cars and trucks from the first onward. Special car club exhibits each month.
  
• Railroad Museum
  The California State Railroad Museum in Old Sacramento is the world-class tribute to the role of the "iron horse" in connecting California to the rest of the nation. The Transcontinental and Sacramento Valley Railroads began in Old Sacramento. The 100,000 square foot museum is the largest interpretive museum of its kind in North America. The museum features 21 lavishly restored locomotives and cars, some dating back to 1862. There is a full-scale diorama of an 1860's construction site high in the Sierra Nevada as well as a bridge elevated 24 feet above the museum floor. A block from the museum is a reconstructed passenger station and freight depot circa 1867. During the summer, a steam train takes visitors from the depot to Miller Park and back along the Sacramento River.
  
• Sutter's Fort
  From the days before and during the California Gold Rush, Sutters Fort was Sacramento¹s earliest settlement. John Sutter, a Swiss immigrant, established this European-style settlement in 1839 when he received a 48,000-acre land grant in the Sacramento Valley from the Mexican government. He named his ranch "New Helvetia" - New Switzerland. It was the first non-Indian settlement in Californias Central Valley. Sutter became famous for his hospitality and for giving temporary refuge for travelers. In 1847 he sent rescuers to the aid of the Donner Party, trapped by winter snows of the Sierra Nevada. The fort became the destination for early immigrants coming to California. Sutter recreated a flourishing agricultural empire - only to see it overrun by gold seekers a decade later. The site has been restored to its appearance in 1847, two years before the discovery of gold. A self-guided audio tour is available.
  
• California State Indian Museum
  On the grounds of Sutters Fort in downtown Sacramento, Native American structures have been built in an outdoor demonstration area. In the adjacent museum, exhibits and artifacts illustrate the culture of the states earliest inhabitants. As many as 300,000 to 1,000,000 Native Americans lived in California before the arrival of the first Europeans. There were more than 150 distinct tribal groups. The artifacts in the museum include basketry, beadwork, clothing and exhibits about the ongoing traditions of various California Native American groups.
  
• California State Capitol
  Home of the California Legislature since 1869, the building underwent a major renovation that restored much of the Capitol¹s original look. Many of the original offices including the governors and secretary of states, have been completely restored and are open to visitors. There are 40 acres of gardens in the surrounding Capitol Park, including trees from around the world. The Vietnam Veterans Memorial is also on these grounds. The building features exhibits and tours - and possibly an opportunity to watch the legislators debate and bill or cast a vote.
  
  

Sample San Francisco Area Destinations

• San Francisco
  This is the Tourist Office guide to San Francisco.
  
• The Insider San Francisco Guide
  The Insider is one guide for visiting San Francisco.
  
• San Francisco CityPass
  If Museums are a priority, this CityPass is a method to pay for six attractions at a discount: Steinhart Aquarium, California Palace of the Legion of Honor [Art Museum], Exploratorium, M.H. de Young Memorial [Art] Museum, San Francisco Bay Cruise, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco Zoo. Website includes a S.F. Map showing these six sites.
  
• San Francisco Area's 500 Largest Public Corporations - 1999
  "The S.F. Chronicle 500 includes the Bay Area's top companies measured by market value - share price multiplied by shares outstanding. Our list of all 500 companies is ranked by market value. To qualify for The Chronicle 500, a company's shares had to be traded on the New York Stock Exchange, American Stock Exchange or Nasdaq, and its headquarters had to be in one of [10 S.F. Bay Area Counties]. This report is designed for ... anybody who needs a lot of information on Bay Area companies. ... As far as we know, The Chronicle is the only daily newspaper to publish a '500' issue, probably because this is the only region with more than 500 public companies."
  
• Exploratorium
  San Francisco¹s internationally acclaimed museum of science, art and human perception features over 650 hands-on exhibits. It¹s a playground for your mind; a scientific funhouse and an experimental laboratory all rolled into one.
  
• California Palace of the Legion of Honor
  The Legion of Honor¹s European art collection includes favorites such as sculptures by Rodin and masterpiece selection of French impressionist painting. Ancient art and impressive prints and drawings are also displayed in neo-classical galleries surrounding a skylit courtyard and a café with ocean views.
  
• San Francisco Bay Cruise
  A visit to San Francisco isn¹t complete without a view from the water. A narrated one-hour tour sails under the Golden Gate Bridge and offers views of the city skyline, Coit Tower and Alcatraz.
  
• Steinhart Museum
  Earth, Ocean, Space. All in one place! Includes the Steinhart Aquarium and the Natural History Museum. Explore the ocean¹s sea life, survey African animals and California in the wild. Ride an earthquake and travel back three billion years in time.
  
• M.H. de Young Memorial Museum
  The de Young Museum was founded in 1895 in Golden Gate Park and features a pre-eminent collection American art. On view are works of art from colonial times to the present by famous American artists such as: Copely, Sargent, Whistler, and O¹Keeffe. In addition, enjoy fascinating collections from Latin America, Africa and Oceania.
  
• S.F. Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA)
  Conveniently located in the flourishing South of Market cultural district, SFMOMA offers the West Coast¹s most comprehensive collection of 20th-century art as well as thought-provoking traveling exhibitions.
  
• San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park
  This unique Park, located at the west end of San Francisco's Fisherman's Wharf, includes the fleet of historic vessels at Hyde Street Pier, the Maritime Museum, and the Maritime Museum Library. Each year: over a half million visitors board turn-of-the-century ships and tour the Museum; hundreds learn tradtional arts -- like boatbuilding and woodworking -- in Park classes and workshops; and thousands of schoolchildren spend the night aboard the 1895 schooner C.A. Thayer as part of an innovative educational program.
  
• Golden Gate National Recreation Area
  The Golden Gate National Recreation Area (GGNRA) is the largest urban national park in the world. The total park area is 76,500 acres of land and water. Approximately 28 miles of coastline lie within its boundaries. It is nearly two and one-half times the size of San Francisco.
  
• Muir Woods National Monument (and Muir Beach)
  "This is the best tree-lovers monument that could possibly be found in all the forests of the world," declared conservationist John Muir when describing this grove of majestic coastal redwoods. The tranquility of the forest of towering trees and canyon ferns is accessible to nearly everyone. View the redwood forest, Redwood Creek, wildflowers, and forest wildlife. Nearby, Muir Beach: This semi-circular cove offers a chance to relax and enjoy the California coastal scenery. The Muir Beach overlook provides a dramatic view of the California coastline to the north.
  
• Point Reyes National Seashore
  The area contains unique elements of biological and historical interest in a spectacularly scenic panorama of thunderous ocean breakers, open grasslands, bushy hillsides and forested ridges. Native land mammals number about 37 species and marine mammals augment this total by another dozen species. The biological diversity stems from a favorable location in the middle of California and the natural occurrence of many distinct habitats. Nearly 20% of the State's flowering plant species are represented on the peninsula and over 45% of the bird species in North America have been sighted. The Point Reyes National Seashore was established by President John F. Kennedy on September 13, 1962.
  
• Army Corps of Engineers Bay Model
  "The [HUGE 1.5 Acres!] model, located on Richardson Bay in Sausalito, California, is a unique scientific tool for exploring water movement patterns in the San Francisco Bay-Delta Estuary. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers built the bay part of the model in 1956 to test a series of barrier and water quality proposals. This tidal hydraulic model has since been expanded to include "The Delta" and is used to test the effects of oil spills, salt-water intrusion and pollutant dispersion. The San Francisco Bay Model Visitor Center offers the public a variety of opportunities to learn about the estuary, the natural environment and the role of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. An orientation video features computer-generated images of the bottom of the bay. Audio tours are available in English, French, German, Japanese, Spanish and Russian. Each month the Visitor Center has exhibits, and programs for adults and school-age children."
  

Sample Multimedia Gulch (SF) Destinations

Multimedia Gulch is a very dynamic area of WWW-related companies (creating Web sites, Internet content, and computer games) recently emerging immediately south of the San Francisco Financial and Commercial District. Many companies are within walking distance of each other within this formerly-funky South of Market (SOMA) neighborhood - centered on the small block-long South Park. Many feel this makes San Francisco the creative capital for multimedia and the Internet and some companies have moved up from Silicon Valley to avoid the corporate-y feel down there. Most companies are small (nearly half have 10 or fewer employees) and staffed by young and energetic software designers and entrepreneurs - the fastest growing job creation industry in San Francisco: 35,000 employees in 1997, up a booming 69 percent from 1995. Although it is less than a decade old, the almost 400 multimedia companies in San Francisco already employ half as many people as the finance, insurance, real estate sector - a stalwart of the San Francisco economy. Many of the CD-ROM and game companies, which were synonymous with multimedia in the early 1990s, have largely gone away and been replaced by new online media companies.


• Survey of SF Multimedia Gulch
  For lists, statistics and trend analysis see this survey by MDG.
  
• S.F. State Univ. Multimedia Studies Program
  Part of San Francisco State University's College of Extended Learning offers more than 100 courses in all aspects of multimedia. They have hosted an orientation to the nearby Multimedia Gulch in the past.
  
• CNet
  "CNET: The Computer Network (San Francisco) is the worldwide leader in technology news and information on the Web and the producer of the longest-running and farthest-reaching television shows about technology. CNET's network of sites combines breakthrough interactive technology with engaging content and design and is consistently ranked as the Internet's leading content network in terms of both audience size and revenue, serving millions of users each day. The company's television programming is broadcast by the USA Network and the Sci-Fi Channel to more than 70 million households." [Tour Inquiry Pending]
  
• Gravity
  Founded in 1993, exciting CDROM developer of games and has done inactive design work for Intel,etc. They moved from developing high-end virtual reality content to be one of the first companies to create real-time 3D entertainment for the home PC. They have hosted educational tours in the past.
  
• Vivid Studios
  They have done large-scale strategic planning and Web development projects for clients such as Bank of America, Times Mirror, Bell Atlantic, Sone, Microsoft, Oracle, Kodak and Nike. They have hosted educational tours in the past.
  
• Wired Digital
  Does digital publication - and has hosted educational tours in the past. The well-known Wired Magazine, printed on paper and key to this industry, is nearby and now owned separately.
  
• Red Sky Interactive
  Founded 1994, a leading corporate web site developer for clients such as Lands End, Nike, Hewlett-Packard, Absolut, and Sony. They have hosted educational tours in the past.
  
• Silicon Reef
  Provides (with 24 staff) strategic planning, education, creative development, production, technical integration, and hosting services to created branded on-line environments for global businesses and entertainment companies. Has hosted educational tours in the past.
  
• Atomic Vision
  Web site developer that has agreed to educational tours in the past.
  
• CitySearch7
  Publishes city directories on line. Have hosted educational tours in the past.
  
• Eidos Interactive Inc.
  Game developer with 65 people in S.F. and 350-400 worldwide. HQ is in London and there are offices in France and Germany. Sometimes too busy to host educational tours.
  
• Sumeria, Inc.
  At last word (April 1998) they would not agree to a tour.
  
• Organic Online
  Started in 1993 and growing 100% or more yearly - and now employs 80 in San Francisco (50 in New York). Sometimes too busy to host educational tours.
  
• Macromedia Inc.
  Makes tools for multimedia developers. For a late-1998 update on a refocused and reinvigorated Macromedia, see S.F. Chronicle newspaper article.
  
• Academy of Art College
  The Academy of Art in San Francisco is on the other side of the financial district from Multimedia Gulch, but many New Media courses are in its curriculum.
  
• Ex'pression Center for New Media
  Located on the other end of the Bay Bridge from Multimedia Gulch, "Ex'pression teaches digital visual media and sound arts using an intensive, 14-month curriculum and high-end equipment and platforms. Classes include instruction in 3-D modeling, 3-D and 2-D animation, digital visual effects for films and video, Internet, music recording and mixing, sound effects, live sound, 5.1 Surround Sound, design and acoustics. Ex'pression has admitted two classes of students since January. The program's graduates will emerge ready to work in a wide variety of coveted positions in Silicon Valley, Hollywood, and arts and high-tech centers around the world." (S.F. Chronicle)
  
  

Sample Berkeley/S.F. East Bay Destinations

Across the San Francisco Bay Bridge east from downtown San Francisco are the East Bay cities of Berkeley, Oakland and many others.


• Berkeley
  The tourist office of the City of Berkeley.
  
• E.O. Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBL)
  "Ernest Orlando Lawrence founded this Lab, the oldest of the national laboratories, in 1931. Lawrence invented the cyclotron, which led to a Golden Age of particle physics and revolutionary discoveries about the nature of the universe. Known as a mecca of particle physics, Berkeley Lab long ago broadened its focus. Of our nine Nobel Prizes, five are in physics and four in chemistry. Today, we are a multiprogram lab where research in advanced materials, life sciences, energy efficiency, detectors and accelerators serves America's needs in technology and the environment. Berkeley Lab is located in the Berkeley Hills, next to one of the world's great universities -- the University of California at Berkeley. Altogether, we have some 3,800 employees, of which about 600 are students. Each year, the Lab also hosts more than 2,000 participating guests. We are managed by the University of California for the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). More research money is on the way." [Tours Possible, Info on three of the more interesting sites within LBL follow.]
  
• LBL: National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center (NERSC)
  "NERSC is a world leader in accelerating scientific discovery through computation. NERSC provides high-performance computing tools and expertise that enable computational science of scale, in which large, interdisciplinary teams of scientists attack fundamental problems in science and engineering that require massive calculations and have broad scientific and economic impacts. Leading-edge computing platforms and services make NERSC the foremost resource for large-scale computation within [The Department of Energy]. As new machines are added to support aggressive science-of-scale projects, our systems experts carefully analyze performance and work with manufacturers to ensure that the equipment meets the high performance needs of NERSC clients." [Tour Approved for June 1999]
  
• LBL: National Center for Electron Microscopy (NCEM)
  "The National Center for Electron Microscopy is a U.S. Department of Energy user facility providing scientific researchers with essential resources for electron beam microcharacterization of materials. Located in Berkeley, California, east of the University of California, Berkeley campus, NCEM operates as part of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. Established in 1983, NCEM houses several of the world's most advanced microscopes and tools for microcharacterization. Since its inception, the Center has played a key role in supporting vital research efforts carried out by hundreds of visiting national and international scientists." [Tour Approved for June 1999
  
• LBL: Advanced Light Source (ALS)
  "The Advanced Light Source (ALS), a division of Berkeley Lab, is a national user facility that generates intense light for scientific and technological research. As the world's brightest source of ultraviolet and soft x-ray beams--and the world's first third-generation synchrotron light source in its energy range--the ALS makes previously impossible studies possible. The facility welcomes researchers from universities, industries, and government laboratories around the world. Scientists use the Advanced Light Source - a tool the size of a football field - to learn about structures as small as atoms and molecules. It is funded by the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Basic Energy Sciences. Visit their award-winning interactive educational web site, MicroWorlds, and discover a wealth of educational activities and resources. Teachers will find classroom teaching modules for exploring the world of material sciences while students can meet some of the people who work at the ALS through interactive biographies in The Bright and the Busy." [Tour Approved for June 1999]
  
• University of California at Berkeley
  The highest ranked tax-supported university in the United States. The web site has extensive data on the campus, student info, teaching and research units, libraries and museums with various exhibits, computing resources and student-run resources.
  
• Chiron
  "Headquartered in Emeryville, California [East Bay, S.F. Area], Chiron is a leading biotechnology company that participates in three global healthcare markets: diagnostics, therapeutics and vaccines. Chiron also conducts research and development in the fields of recombinant technology, gene therapy, vaccines, small molecule discovery, and genomics."
  
• Pixar Animation Studios
  "Pixar [Steven Jobs, President] is an Academy Award-winning computer animation studio with the technical, creative and production capabilities to create a new generation of animated feature films, merchandise and other related products. Pixar's objective is to combine proprietary technology and world-class creative talent to develop computer-animated feature films with a new three-dimensional appearance, memorable characters and heartwarming stories that appeal to audiences of all ages. The first such film, Toy Story, was created and produced by Pixar and is distributed by Walt Disney Pictures... In total, Pixar employees have been awarded 15 Academy Awards." [Tour Inquiry Pending]
  
• Center for Commercial-Free Public Education
  This organization warns about corporate activities, such as Cisco Systems Inc. - Networking Academies (see below under "Silicon Valley: San Jose") that intrude into the public education system (with, for instance, curriculum outlines, computers, hardware, software and brand-name display) to improve corporate employee recruitment (or build sales) for the corporation. They say corporations shouldn't have control over public school curriculum. Says a spokeswoman: "When a company comes in saying `this is what we need to teach you,' it blurs the line in a dangerous way." (S.F. Chronicle)
  
• Oakland Technology Exchange
  In the basement of the enormous Oakland Tech (a public high school), thousands of PCs wait to get recycled. Run by a retired IBM engineer, started in 1992, what happens down in the basement of this operation is the complete reassembly of computer systems to be used within a school - mostly as network clients, Web browsers and word processors. Students do a lot of the work, get classroom credits, and learn a lot about how these machines work and how they are repaired. From ZDNet article.
  
  

Sample BioTechnology Destinations in South S.F.

Biotechnology is important around the San Francisco Bay Area, but Ground Zero is South San Francisco. With 38 biotech firms located there at the end of 1998, an educational tour could be developed - if only one or two stops as part of a larger Science and Technology educational tour. Elsewhere in Silicon Valley to the South, "owing to some of the same geographic factors as South San Francisco -- namely proximity to research universities and venture capital -- smaller biotech clusters have sprung up in Foster City, Redwood City, Menlo Park, San Carlos, Belmont, Burlingame and San Mateo. Together, San Mateo County boasts over 70 biotech companies with a combined employment of about 5,100, according to the county's economic development association."[From the Summary Article cited below.]


• Summary Article: Genentech's Birthplace Evolves Into a BioTech Mecca
  "Through a combination of luck, geography and city planning, South San Francisco has quietly become the world capital of biotechology. With 38 biotech firms and more than 5,000 employees clustered in a 2-square-mile industrial zone east of Highway 101, South San Francisco has a higher biotech profile than most U.S. states and many foreign countries, said Peter Pellerito, a consultant who has studied the rise of the industry for the Bay Area Bioscience Center. ... 'South City is almost an ideal location,' said Andrew Perlman, Tularik's vice president of medical research. 'It's halfway between Stanford and UCSF, two centers of excellence in biomedical research. And it's strategically located close to the venture capital community on Sand Hill Road' in Menlo Park." San Francisco Chronicle, Dec. 14, 1998. [Click heading for full text with map and graphics.]
  
• Update Article: Biotech Firms Meeting in S.F. To Woo Investors
  "At the four-day meeting starting [January 11, 1999 in San Francisco], 240 large and small firms will do their best to wow [3000] institutional investors with their latest scientific and financial results."
  
• Genentech
  "Genentech, Inc. [about 3,100 employees in late 1998] is a leading biotechnology company using human genetic information to develop, manufacture and market pharmaceuticals that address significant unmet medical needs. Genentech commits itself to high standards of integrity in contributing to the best interests of patients, the medical profession and its employees, and to seeking significant returns to its stockholders based on the continued pursuit of excellent science. The company has headquarters in South San Francisco."
  
• Aesculap Inc.
  Based in Germany, AESCULAP was founded in 1867 as a workshop making instruments. Today, AESCULAP AG & CO. KG is the largest manufacturer of surgical instruments world-wide. AESCULAP¹s products are used in the medical profession. The Company¹s extensive range stretches from general surgery via arthroscopy and orthopaedics (joint implants, osteosynthesis, motorised systems) through to special disciplines, such as micro-neurosurgery, cardiac/thorax/vascular surgery, maxillary surgery, gynaecology, abdominal surgery, urology and ENT. A wide range of appropriate services supplements the Company¹s range of quality products for surgery. New and innovative surgical techniques and instruments are constantly being developed for the welfare of patients in close collaboration with leading surgeons, all over the world. AESCULAP entered South S.F. in 1977 and now has about 250 employees there.
  
• Athena Neurosciences Inc.
  "Athena, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Elan Corporation, plc, is a biopharmaceutical company headquartered in South San Francisco, California, that discovers, develops and markets therapeutic products and diagnostic services for people with neurological conditions." They had about 225 employees in late 1998.
  
• Toshiba America MRI Inc.
  "Toshiba America MRI, Inc. is a researcher, developer and manufacturer of magnetic resonance imaging equipment. This unit was formed in 1983." They had about 200 employees in South S.F. in late 1998.
  
• Univ. of Calif. S.F. (UCSF) Research - and Mission Bay "Biotech Complex" Plans
  "City business, political and academic leaders are betting that early next century, Mission Bay will be a world center for biomedical research -- and the magnet that attracts some 20,000 academic, biotech and drug industry jobs to one of San Francisco's underdeveloped corners. The next, most important chapter in the Mission Bay saga will occur March 18, when the University of California Board of Regents is expected to approve funding for a $222 million molecular research complex, the first of 20 buildings that eventually will house 9,000 scientists, graduate students and staff at what will be called the University of California at San Francisco's Mission Bay Campus. UCSF's research campus will be surrounded by a commercial ring of land zoned for 5 million square feet of research, office and manufacturing space." [S.F. Chronicle Article]
  
• Geron
  Located a bit further south in Menlo Park, "Geron is a biopharmaceutical company exclusively focused on discovering, developing and commercializing therapeutic and diagnostic products to treat cancer and other age-related diseases. Geron is uniquely positioned to pursue this goal given its breakthrough discoveries surrounding telomeres, telomerase and pluripotent stem cells." See the May 5, 1999 article on Geron's purchase of the Scottish cloning technology that created "Dolly" and their success, according to one analyst, "garnering attention for novel and provocative approaches to biotechnology."
  
  

Sample Silicon Valley Destinations
Silicon Valley is the world-famous high-technology development region that begins about a half-hour drive south of downtown San Francisco and continues southward around the south end of the San Francisco Bay. This area exports more than any other area in the U.S. and absorbs 1/3 of U.S. venture capital. This solidly urban area includes the contiguous cities of Menlo Park (USGS), Palo Alto (Stanford Univ., SLAC, Hewlett-Packard, etc.), Mountain View (NASA Ames, etc.), Cupertino (Apple, etc.), Santa Clara (Intel Corp., etc.), San Jose (General Electric Nuclear, etc.), and many others.

GENERAL OVERVIEWS

• Satellite Photos of the Region
  These photos show the size, shape and topography of Silicon Valley [January 22, 1998 radar image of San Jose, California: P-49500, P-49501].
  
• Jan. 8, 1999 News Article on Silicon Valley
  S.F. Chronicle writer Mark Simon reports January 8, 1999 on: "Joint Venture is a consortium of leaders in business, government and education who work on key issues facing Silicon Valley.... The Chronicle obtained an advance copy of Joint Venture's report, scheduled for release Sunday. Paradoxically, the economic slowdown was greeted as good news by Joint Venture officials."
  
• Bay Area ISPs Face DSL competition and have Urge to Merge
  "PacBell [DSL] customers [in California] will receive guaranteed minimum downstream connection speeds of 384 KBPS. That's three times as fast as my ISDN line, which usually costs me, all things considered, about twice as much per month. In second link above, in the second topic in a S.F. Chronicle column, is the "Urge to Merge" by Bay Area Internet ISPs: "Slip.Net, Netcom and the parent company of Best Internet Communications [three Bay Area ISP's] were gobbled up [early January 1999] by larger communications companies that intend to blend the ISPs into their vast networking and online operations.
  
• Links to Other Silicon Valley Companies
  Alphabetical links to Silicon Valley High Tech Business Websites or e-mail addresses. Rich's High Tech Data On CD-ROM.
  
• Tech Workers
  "A history of the tech industry would not be complete without mentioning the shadow army of tireless workers that was and still is the lifeblood that moved the Valley's economy from obscure to booming. ... They were dedicated, they were excited and they were creating revolutionary technology. You couldn't get them away from their computers with a cattle prod. These Jolt-drinking uber-geeks might be surprised to learn they were the model for a new kind of workforce. All over the world execs were watching these workers sacrifice their private lives and leisure time to companies which weren't paying all that much. They smelled opportunity and it smelled like a huge pile of money." SF Gate.
  
• Girls and High Tech
  A topical non-geographical category of activities around the S.F. Bay Area to help girls get interested in Science and High Technology.
  

THE FOLLOWING CITIES (except S.F.)
ARE ADJACENT WITHIN SILICON VALLEY;
ORDERED FROM SAN FRANCISCO, FROM NORTH TO SOUTH:
Linking to Full Information Below

• San Francisco (Silicon Valley's northern outpost)
• Redwood City
• Menlo Park
• Palo Alto
• Mountain View
• Sunnyvale
• Milpitis
• Santa Clara
• Cupertino
• San Jose
• Scotts Valley
  
• Topical Non-Geographical Category: Girls and High Tech

SAN FRANCISCO (Silicon Valley's northern outpost):

• Slip.Net (an ISP)
  Located in San Francisco, Slip.Net was voted Best ISP AND Best Webhosting Company in Reader's Choice Awards!. [Tours Not Currently Possible]
  

REDWOOD CITY:

• Oracle Corporation
  Oracle is a Redwood City developer of relational database and information management system software. "Oracle Corp. is the world's second largest software company, and the leading supplier of software for enterprise information management. The company has two major businesses: one aimed at providing the lowest cost information technology infrastructure, and the other to provide business and competitive advantage through high value applications. With annual revenues exceeding $7.5 billion, the company offers its database, tools and applications products, along with related consulting, education, and support services, in more than 140 countries around the world." [Tour Arrangements in Process, Likely]
  
• Excite.com
  "Excite.com (Redwood City) is the free, personalized online service that gives Web users everything they want, all in one place. Excite offers 18 programmed channels of Web content, state-of-the-art search technology, private Web-based email with MailExcite, PAL instant messaging, chat, and online shopping. Our partnership with AT&T not only gives Excite's audience access to mulitmedia communication services on the Web, but gives Web users a fast and easy way to connect to the Internet with Excite Online. [Tours Temporarily Cannot be Confirmed]
  

MENLO PARK:

• U.S. Geological Survey (USGS)
  The nation¹s and perhaps the world¹s foremost center for earthquake science as well as the study of other natural hazards. 800 scientists (down from 1200 a few years ago) and support staff work at the 16-acre Menlo Park campus. It includes earthquake, volcano and landslide hazards; marine and coastal research; water quality studies; San Francisco Bay and Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta water research; and new techniques in topographic mapping. Lately the service has had a role in investigating El Nino¹s role on floods in the Bay Area now and in the future. They have a unique relationship between the geological survey staff and several Bay Area universities, including Stanford and the University of California at Berkeley and Santa Cruz.
  

PALO ALTO:

• Stanford University
  Private research university in Palo Alto with 14,000 students. Illustrious faculty includes 12 Nobel laureates and 6 Pulitzer Prize winners. [Student Led Tours by Reservation]
  
• Stanford University Linear Accellerator (SLAC)
  A national laboratory operated by Stanford University for the Department of Energy and home of the first U.S. Web site. SLAC is a national research laboratory, investigating the structure of matter with x-rays and with electron and positron beams. [Lectures and Site Tours by Reservation]
  
• Hewlett-Packard Corporation
  The innovative industry leader setting standards for printers and more. [Tours in Past if Home Country Refers]
  
• Pacific Data Images Inc.
  "PDI is an animation studio located in Palo Alto... Our specialty is computer-generated 3D animation. During our 18-year history, we've developed a wide range of creative styles and worked on hundreds of incredibly cool entertainment projects from feature films to commercials and other special projects. We've animated a stellar cast of comic characters and fantastic creatures, and created jaw-dropping photorealistic 3D effects. And we've just wrapped production on our first full-length animated feature film, ANTZ." [Tour Approved]
  
• Xerox Research PARC
  At the heart of Palo Alto based Xerox PARC's research agenda are five strategic themes: "Smart Matter": explores new ways of designing and manufacturing devices, on a multitude of scales. "Emerging Document Types": the nature of the document is continually changing: how documents themselves change, how people use these new forms of documents. "Knowledge Ecologies": explores not only how knowledge within documents can be utilized effectively, but defines new roles for documents in the fostering of individual and organizational knowledge. "Network Devices and Document Services": expands the solutions and services Xerox can offer around the digital document. "Document Information Fabric": creating the computational infrastructure that will be the backbone of Xerox' digital products and services...shaping the standards and protocols. [Student Tours Currently Not Permitted]
  
• E-Commerce Consulting by "Vicinity"
  "Retailers are just beginning to see the potential for bolstering sales at their physical stores by using the Web to increase traffic. 'Retailers have viewed the Net in a confrontational way,' said Scott Young, senior vice president of operations at Vicinity, a Palo Alto firm that helps conventional merchants take advantage of the Web. 'I think they are waking up and figuring out how to use the Web to increase sales, decrease costs and improve their customer service.'"
  

MOUNTAIN VIEW:

• NASA Ames Research Center
  Aeronautics and space research in supercomputing, artificial intelligence and networking. "NASA's [FY2000] budget proposals include an allocation of $625 million for Ames, with $150 million of that devoted to the new Astrobiology Institute, which coordinates research at 11 universities and NASA centers into the origin of life and its existence elsewhere in the universe. Another $250 million would go for advances in information technology -- where Ames has long developed leadership in applying its supercomputers to the field. In that budget, $23 million is earmarked for 'intelligent systems'. Mounted aboard spacecraft, such systems could sense dangers on their own or home in on attractive targets rapidly, without guidance from earthbound mission controllers. The controllers would no longer be forced to make split-second decisions because of the lengthy travel time for radio signals to make between home and distant planets." [From S.F. Chronicle article on NASA nationwide.] See photo of a group leader at NASA-Ames. [Tours Possible by Reservation]
  
• The Computer Museum History Center
  The History Center (at Moffett Field adjacent to NASA Ames Research Center) is home to the most comprehensive archive of computing artifacts -- hardware, software, films, photographs and ephemera -- in the world. The tour covers over 100 years of computing history, beginning with a Hollerith census machine up to a Cray-3 supercomputer. The archive is the result of The Computer Museum's 14-year mission to preserve significant achievements in the history of computing. [Tours Possible by Reservation, typically Wednesdays and some evenings, but, as of September 1998 (after US Embassy bombings), security concerns require foreign students to send or fax the names of the students along with a copy of their passport; and the expiration date of their passport - all due at least 2 weeks prior to the tour.]
  
• SUN Microsystems Corporation
  The Mountain View company that created Java and declared that "The Network is the Computer." A leading player in Internet technologies. Announced Jan. 99: Jini, a technology designed to let consumer devices connect easily to networks. With it, a person on the way home from work theoretically could turn on the lights and the TV, turn up the heat and start to defrost the chicken, all by sending simple instructions over a pager, cell phone or handheld computer." [Tours Possible with Home Country Referrel.]
  
• Silicon Graphics Corporation
  Silicon Graphics (Mountain View) corporate overview, product info, techno resources, visual adventure and more. See Photo of a Global Seminars group inside Silicon Graphics. See S.F. Chronicle article for a January 11, 1999 update. [Tours Possible with Home Country Referrel.]
  
• Space Systems Loral
  Space Systems Loral - Manufacturer of telecommunications and weather satellites. Products are sold to commercial industries and to the government. [Tours Sometimes Possible]
  
• Netscape
  "Netscape Communications Corporation, based in Mountain View, California, aims to be the leading provider of open software that links people and information over the Internet and intranets. Netscape offers a full line of clients, servers, development tools, and commercial applications to create a complete platform for next-generation, live online applications." [Tour not normally allowed, Special Inquiry Pending]
  
• WebTV
  Home of WebTV Plus and WebTV Classic. One unexpected application: a large number of senior citizens making a hit out of WebTV, which connects to the Internet over people's television sets. [Tour Inquiry Pending.]
  
• Best Internet Communications (an ISP)
  "Founded in 1994, Best Internet Communications is a leading supplier of web site hosting, electronic commerce, network connectivity, and Web server co-location solutions. The company is also the premier provider of custom Internet access services for the San Francisco Bay Area and Greater Los Angeles regions. Located in Mountain View, California, the company operates multiple fiber optic T3 connections to Internet backbones that provide customers with the fastest, most reliable access to their Web sites. Best Internet is a privately held company serving an international customer base of more than 28,000 customers." [Tour Approved]
  

SUNNYVALE:

• Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (AMD)
  Sunnyvale manufacturer of intergrated circuits. According to PC Data, systems powered by AMD-K6 family processors captured 31 percent of the total U.S. retail market for desktop systems in August 1998, the latest period for which data are available. In the rapidly growing market for sub-$1,000 systems, PCs powered by AMD-K6 family processors captured a 54 percent market share ‹ the highest penetration achieved to date. The highest-volume desktop system sold in the United States retail channel in August 1998 was a system powered by an AMD-K6-2 processor with 3DNow! technology, even surpassing sales of Apple Computer¹s successful iMac system. [Tour Inquiry Pending]
  
• PointCast Inc.
  PointCast Incorporated [Sunnyvale] was founded in 1992 to provide current news and information services to viewers and corporations via the Internet and corporate intranets. The PointCast® Network is the first free news network to broadcast up-to-the-minute news and information directly to a viewer's computer screen via the Internet. Viewers of the PointCast Network enjoy the ability to personalize the service according to their interests. The PointCast Network employs PointCast's SmartScreen� technology, which automatically begins running headline news when a viewer's computer is idle." This onetime hot-shot firm is undergoing a radical reincarnation to reverse its fortunes, according to sources. For March 1999 update on company problems, see S.F. Chronicle article. [Tours Not Currently Possible]
  

MILPITAS:

• Adaptec Inc.
  Milpitas R&D/Disc Drive Controllers. Adaptec-designed hardware and software products are used wherever data must be transferred from a computer to a peripheral device or network. Founded in 1981, the company achieved profitability in 1984, went public in 1986, and to date has achieved 54 consecutive profitable quarters. Revenues for fiscal 1997 were $934 million, a 42% increase over the prior year. Net income, excluding acquisition charges, for fiscal year 1997 was $198 million or $1.72 per share. [Tour Approved]
  
• Quantum Corporation
  "Founded in 1980, [Milpitis-based] Quantum Corporation designs and manufactures storage products... The largest global supplier of hard disk drives... Storage products are the "parking lots" on the Information Superhighway which make it possible for computer users to create and capture the data, images and sounds that are at the heart of the Information Revolution. Quantum sells a broad range of storage products to OEM and distribution customers worldwide. The company's sales for the fiscal year ending March 1998 were $5.8 billion. [Tour Inquiry Pending]
  

SANTA CLARA:

• Intel Corporation
  World-leading manufacturer of processors and PCs, communication and networking, embedded design products, and more. See photo of a group visiting Intel. [Docent Led Tours of Intel Museum at Corporate Headquarters]
  
• Yahoo!
  The two developers of Yahoo! (Santa Clara), Ph.D. candidates in Electrical Engineering at Stanford University, started their guide in April 1994 as a way to keep track of their personal interests on the Internet. During 1994 they converted Yahoo! into a customized database designed to serve the needs of the thousands of users that began to use the service through the closely bound Internet community. They developed customized software to help them efficiently locate, identify and edit material stored on the Internet. The name Yahoo! is supposed to stand for "Yet Another Hierarchical Officious Oracle" but the founders insist they selected the name because they considered themselves yahoos. Today, Yahoo! contains organized information on tens of thousands of computers linked to the Web. The San Jose Mercury news recently noted that "Yahoo is closest in spirit to the work of Linnaeus, the 18th century botanist whose classification system organized the natural world." [Tour Inquiry Pending]
  
• Paramounts Great America Amusement Park
  This park full of thrilling rides and some stage performances easily fill a full day. Open in the summer and on school holidays. [Major Admission Fee]
  

CUPERTINO:

• Apple Computer Company
  "Apple Computer, Inc., [Cupertino] ignited the personal computer revolution in the 1970s with the Apple II, and reinvented the personal computer in the 1980s with the Macintosh. Apple is now committed to its original mission‹to bring the best personal computing products and support to students, educators, designers, scientists, engineers, business persons and consumers in over 140 countries around the world." [They will only allow student visits if someone traveling from their office abroad attends the briefing with the student group.]
  
• Symantec
  "Founded in 1982, Symantec Corporation (in Cupertino) is the world leader in utility software for business and personal computing. Symantec helps make its customers productive and keeps their computers safe and reliable, anywhere and anytime. Symantec is the seventh largest PC software company in the world, with annual revenues of more than $575 million in fiscal 1998. Millions of customers around the world use Symantec products, including customers in corporations, government agencies, higher education institutions, small offices and home offices, and individual users." See S.F. Examiner article of May 2, 1999 on new CEO and new products. [Tour Approved for June 1999]
  

SAN JOSE:

• General Electric - Nuclear Power Systems
  Electric utilities around the world depend on GE Nuclear Energy to meet their Boiling Water Reactor (BWR) economic and performance goals. Today, there are 95 BWR units based on GE's design in 11 countries. [Lectures and Reactor Tours Possible]
  
• Tech Museum of Innovation
  An educational resource established to inspire the young to become innovators in the technologies of the future. Recently expanded into new building. [Admission Fee, Self Guided]
  
• Cisco Systems Inc
  San Jose headquartered Cisco Systems, Inc. is the worldwide leader in networking for the Internet. Cisco products include routers, LAN and ATM switches, dial-up access servers and network management software. These products, integrated by the Cisco IOS software, link geographically dispersed LANs, WANs and IBM networks. See May 5, AP article on "Massive yet obscure Cisco Systems wants to be a household name....An identity crisis for the third largest company listed on the Nasdaq stock exchange? Yes indeed. Cisco is to networking gear what Microsoft is to operating system software, but don't expect your neighbors to know that." [Tour Approved for June 1999]
  
• Cisco Systems Inc. - Networking Academies
  "The Santa Clara company has set up academies in more than 1,000 schools across the country and also offers the program overseas [for instance, 6 in Singapore in 1999]. More than 17,000 students are now enrolled in a Networking Academy, which operate in all 50 states. The program is open to any student -- there is no prerequisite or entrance exam. It gives kids a chance at a $40,000-a-year job out of high school. Although it's designed mainly for students who don't plan on going to a four-year college, some students who do plan to attend a university take the course for experience. Cisco launched the program a little more than a year ago [1997?] to help fill a high-tech worker shortage... Designed primarily for juniors and seniors in high school, who take the courses during regular school hours as an elective... Students are taught at the school by a staff teacher, usually a computer science instructor. But the curriculum is provided online by Cisco. Tests are also administered on the computer, although some teachers substitute their own written exams. At the end of the two-year program, which takes 280 hours to complete, students get a certificate that qualifies them to be network administrators. Cisco donates the curriculum and online support, but schools must pay for the networking equipment, which costs about $14,000. Schools also pay about $2,500 to have the academy's teacher trained by Cisco. Many schools apply for grants from the state or nonprofit agencies to cover the costs" (S.F. Chronicle). For a dissent see "Center for Commercial Free Public Education" described among the "Sample Berkeley/S.F. East Bay Destinations" above.
  
• Netcom (an ISP)
  "All [Netcom ISP] services are backed by the company's expansive high-speed nationwide network and world class customer service. Netcom is a wholly-owned subsidiary of ICG Communications."
  
• Adobe Systems Inc.
  Corporate HQ San Jose. Offices also in Seattle. "Bringing advances in web graphics into the mainsteam. Adobe swept Macworld Editor's Choice Awards." [Tour Approved for June]
  
• eBay
  "eBay is the world's largest personal online trading community. eBay created a new market: efficient one-to-one trading in an auction format on the Web. Individuals (not big businesses) use eBay to buy and sell items in more than 1,000 categories... Users can find the unique and the interesting on eBay... As the leading person-to-person trading site, buyers are compelled to trade on eBay due to the large amount of content available. Similarly, sellers are attracted to eBay to conduct business where there are the most buyers. We provide over a half million new auctions, and 250,000 new items every day from which users may choose." [Tour Enquiry Pending]
  

SCOTTS VALLEY:

• Inprise Corporation
  Scotts Valley software publishing for IBM PCs. "Today's Inprise combines the best of Borland‹its long heritage of world-class development tools and intelligent middleware‹with the strength of Visigenic's industry-leading object request broker technology. The result...uniquely positioned to capitalize and service the distributed enterprise computing marketplace. Inprise raises the competitiveness of its customers by radically simplifying the development, integration, deployment, and management of their enterprise applications." [Tour Approved]
  
  

Topical Category: Girls and High Tech

Most links not yet installed.

• American Assn of Univ Women: TechTrek, Foundation, Report
  "[TechTrek:] Some chapters of the American Association of University Women sponsor computer camps for girls. ... [The AAUW Foundation] issued a report this [1998] fall warning of a gender gap in technology education. Researchers who have studied technology education say there are several reasons for the paucity of girls in computer classes and clubs: -- Most computer and video games still have violent themes geared toward boys. So girls don't grow up routinely playing electronic games and don't feel as comfortable as boys do when it comes to experimenting with computers. -- Despite the rising number of female high-tech executives, computer programming still carries a stereotype of being a male 'geek' profession. -- Many schools teach computer programming as an end in itself, divorced from other subjects. That's an approach that experts say alienates many girls, who want to know how computers can be used in their daily lives. ... AAUW Published 'Gender Gaps: Where Schools Still Fail Our Children,' $13.95." (S.F. Chronicle)
  
• Jo Sanders
  Jo Sanders is a researcher at the Washington Research Institute in Seattle who has studied girls and computers for more than a decade.
• Ex'pression Center for New Media
  "In conjunction with the Universal Women's Expo in San Francisco, Ex'pression Center for New Media [Emeryville, S.F. East Bay] hosted (Saturday, April 17, 1999) a day-long exchange on Women in multimedia careers, meant to encourage young women to pursue multimedia careers. Women in Media Day [brought] approximately 250 high school women together with inspiring and influential women who have succeeded within the industry. ... Ex'pression teaches digital visual media and sound arts using an intensive, 14-month curriculum and high-end equipment and platforms. Classes include instruction in 3-D modeling, 3-D and 2-D animation, digital visual effects for films and video, Internet, music recording and mixing, sound effects, live sound, 5.1 Surround Sound, design and acoustics. Ex'pression has admitted two classes of students since January. The program's graduates will emerge ready to work in a wide variety of coveted positions in Silicon Valley, Hollywood, and arts and high-tech centers around the world." (S.F. Chronicle)
  
• Camp Start-Up
  "Presented by Independent Means, Inc., Camp Start-Up helps teen women achieve economic self-reliance by introducing them to the fundamentals and vocabulary of business, and combines teaching the essentials of business and entrepreneurship with fun activities designed to send girls home feeling fit, confident and filled with entrepreneurial ideas for their own futures. The skills taught at Camp Start-Up helps empower girls to take charge of their lives, both in school and in business. The Camp is staffed by a diverse visiting faculty of women business owners and executives, along with recent MBA graduates from top schools, who provide girls with access to real-world experiences and perspectives." (S.F. Chronicle)
  
• Carlmont High School in Belmont
  "Richard Tingey [teacher] is proud to have half the seats in his computer programming classes filled by girls. That didn't happen by accident. 'To get that many girls in the class, you have to recruit,' said Tingey, who teaches computer science at Carlmont High School in Belmont. 'I send them letters. I call them up. I tell them it's a class about problem-solving, that a lot of kids do well in it and that it gives them a big advantage in life.'" (S.F. Chronicle)
  
• Presentation High School
  "An all-girls Catholic school in San Jose, has students flocking to take its computer-art and desktop publishing courses. It expanded its programming class from 20 to 30 students this year [99]. ... Students use computers in every aspect of academic life. 'Our students use the computer for everything they do here,' said Adrienne Renner, the school's technology coordinator. 'They use the Internet for research, Powerpoint for oral reports, multimedia programs for multimedia presentations. Girls take to it like water, and it becomes just another tool.'" (S.F. Chronicle)
  
• Alvarado Elementary School in Union City
  This school "launched an after-school computer academy several years ago just for girls -- and the girls ended up teaching the rest of their classmates, male and female, how to use the Internet." (S.F. Chronicle)
  
• Backyard Project
  "Nonprofit group based in Burlingame that runs a summer computer camp for girls, plus some activities during the school year. Two dozen girls took part in this all-girls computer camp last summer. Several now are working on after-school computer projects and planning to major in computer science in college. 'It's amazing to look at what computers are doing to the world around us,' said Roma Jhaveri, a senior at Carlmont High who attended the computer camp and wants to pursue a career in technology. 'They're revolutionizing the world. I want to be part of that.'" (S.F. Chronicle)
  
• Girls Inc.
  "Nonprofit group that will open an after-school computer center in 1999 in San Leandro geared toward low-income girls." (S.F. Chronicle)
  
• Expanding Your Horizons
  "National program offers free one-day workshops aimed at encouraging school-age girls to take math and science classes, including computer classes." Workshops have been held [e.g. March 1999] around the S.F. Bay Area. (S.F. Chronicle)
  
• FIRST (Females Involved in Real Science and Technology)
  "Program based at the Chabot Observatory offers after-school technology and science clubs for girls in some Oakland elementary and middle schools." (S.F. Chronicle)
  
• S.F. Webgrrls and Silicon Valley Webgrrls
  "Some local chapters of this women's high-tech group provide mentoring to get girls interested in technology." (S.F. Chronicle)
  
• Women's Economic Agenda Project
  "Oakland nonprofit offers free computer-training classes to low-income women and teens. WEAP plans to offer a class sometime in 1999 aimed specifically at girls." (S.F. Chronicle)
  
• National Coalition of Girls' Schools
  "Published 'Girls & Technology: An Idea Book for Educators & Parents,' and offers a shorter resource guide on girls and technology. $15." (S.F. Chronicle)
  
• Ceel Pasternak and Linda Thornbury
  "Authors of 'Cool Careers for Girls in Computers,' by Impact Publications, forthcoming in 1999. $12.95. Written for girls ages 11 to 14." (S.F. Chronicle)
  
• YWCA TechGirls Clubs
  "The YWCA has seven pilot TechGirls Clubs around the country, including one in Palo Alto. The clubs typically offer mentors and hands-on technical activities to girls ages 9 to 13. ... The Mid-Peninsula YWCA in Palo Alto does a lot of work with low-income girls who don't have computers at home and who have had no reason to think this field is accessible to them. This YWCA has done a daylong technology workshop for girls. (S.F. Chronicle)
  
• Autodesk's "Design Your Future" program for girls
  The San Rafael software firm offers internships targeted at Bay Area girls, e-mail mentors and an annual daylong software design program for girls. (S.F. Chronicle)
  
• Roberta Furger
  Roberta Furger is "a contributing editor at PC World who recently wrote a book titled, 'Does Jane Compute? Preserving our Daughters' Place in the Cyber Revolution,' (Warner Books, 1998. $10.99). 'It's a shame to think that because of the choices we let girls make in middle school or high school, they're closing off options they might otherwise explore in college.'" (S.F. Chronicle)
  
  

Sample Southern California Mountain and Desert Destinations (Not L.A. Area)

• Map of Southern California
  This Southern California map shows the location of National Parks, etc.
  
• Pinnacles National Monument
  South of San Francisco and Silicon Valley, spire like rock formations 500 to 1,200 feet high, with caves and a variety of volcanic features, rise above the smooth contours of the surrounding countryside. The acreage is 16,265, and the Wilderness area is 12,952.
  
• Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks
  Sequoia is the second-oldest national park in the United States. It was established in 1890 to protect the Big Trees in Giant Forest, including the General Sherman Tree, the world's largest living thing. Sequoia also contains the Mineral King Valley and Mt. Whitney, the highest mountain in the U.S. outside of Alaska.
  
• Three Rivers
  This is the Web Site for the Tourist Agency for the area around Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks.
  
• Death Valley National Parks
  Death Valley National Park has more than 3.3 million acres of spectacular desert scenery, interesting and rare desert wildlife, complex geology, undisturbed wilderness, and sites of historical and cultural interest. Bounded on the west by 11,049 foot Telescope Peak and on the east by 5,475 foot Dante's View, Badwater is the lowest point (-282 feet) in the western hemisphere.
  
• Mojave National Preserve
  Mojave National Preserve was created in October, 1994 by the California Desert Protection Act. Congress acted to protect one of the most diverse desert environments in the world. This area lies at the confluence of three of America¹s great desert regions: the Mojave, Sonoran and Great Basin Deserts. The three systems mix here creating an array of desert plant and animal communities. When you add in the major range in elevation from below 1,000 feet to almost 8,000 feet, you create the conditions for an explosion of ecosystems each with their own plant communities. The result is an area of incredible diversity, ranging from creosote bush dominated flats in low areas to pinyon pine and juniper woodlands in higher elevations. Everywhere there are surprises. Sand dunes, volcanic cinder cones, Joshua tree forests, vast vistas and mile-high mountains help define this amazing area within the Mojave Desert.
  
• Joshua Tree National Park
  Joshua Tree National Park¹s 794,000 acres span the transition between the Mojave and Colorado deserts of Southern California. Proclaimed a National Monument in 1936 and a Biosphere Reserve in 1984, Joshua Tree was designated a National Park in 1994. The area posseses a rich human history and a pristine natural environment. Two deserts, two large ecosystems whose characteristics are determined primarily by elevation, come together at Joshua Tree National Park. Below 3,000 feet, the Colorado Desert encompasses the eastern part of the park and features natural gardens of creosote bush, ocotillo, and cholla cactus. The higher, moister, and slightly cooler Mojave Desert is the special habitat of the Joshua tree. Joshua tree forests occur in the western half of the park. The western part of the park also includes some of the most interesting geologic displays found in California¹s deserts. In addition, five fan palm oases dot the park, indicating those few areas where water occurs naturally and where wildlife abounds.
  
• Other National Parks, etc. in Southern California
  This completes the list of National Parks, National Monuments and Historic Sites, etc. in California - with links to their web sites.
  
• Other California State Parks
  This website enables you to search for California State Parks both alphabetically and by county.
  
  
  

Sample Pasadena Destinations (L.A. Area)

Pasadena is within the Los Angeles urban area, a half-hour drive northeast of downlown LA at the base of the San Gabriel Mountains


• NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL)
  Funded by NASA and managed by CalTech, JPL is best known for managing interplanetary exploration, sending probes into the solar system such as the Mars Pathfinder with its little Sojourner car.
  
• California Institute of Technology (CalTech)
  The leading private technological university of the U.S. west coast.
  
• Earthlink
  Located in Pasadena, a suburb near downtown L.A., "EarthLink is the world's largest independent Internet service provider. Through its unified EarthLink Sprint Internet access service, the company makes the Internet relevant and productive to hundreds of thousands of individuals and businesses every day. Headquartered in Pasadena, EarthLink provides a full range of innovative access and hosting solutions to thousands of communities internationally from more than 1,700 points of presence. EarthLink and Sprint Corporation (NYSE: FON) have formed a broad business relationship to create an Internet service with the potential to reach millions of new customers. Sprint is a global communications company and one of the world's largest carriers of Internet traffic." [June Tour Approved]
  
  

Sample Los Angeles Destinations

High Technology:

• Information Sciences Institute of U.S.C.
  Located in the L.A. ocean side town of Marina del Ray, "Part of the University of Southern California (USC), ISI is involved in a broad spectrum of information processing research and in the development of advanced computer and communication technologies. The Institute maintains a synergistic relationship with the School of Engineering, particularly the Departments of Computer Science and Electrical Engineering. ISI benefits from interaction with the faculty of USC and other local universities, and in turn provides opportunities for research and Ph.D. thesis supervision to graduate students from these universities. Research divisions are directed by nationally recognized research scientists. The Institute's divisional structure allows for vigorous interaction among naturally related projects, and provides opportunities for beneficial interdisciplinary exchanges among the divisions." [Tours not currently possible]
  
  Entertainment Industry:
  
• Digital Domain
  Located in the L.A. beach town of Venice, "Digital Domain was conceived by ex-Industrial Light + Magic Vice President Scott Ross, four time Academy Award® winning creature-creator Stan Winston, and Academy Award® winning writer, producer, director James Cameron. This creative business team partnered with IBM and Cox Enterprises with the goal of being the finest digital studio in the world." [Tour Inquiry Pending]
  
• Dreamworks Interactive
  Steven Spielberg's Los Angeles based major new film studio. [Tour Inquiry Pending]
  
  Pure Fun:
  
• Disneyland
  Needs no introduction. Located about 1 hour south of Los Angeles in Anaheim.
  
• Universal Studios
  Needs no introduction. Located in the Hollywood hills, in the heart of the land of Hollywood studios.
  
• Six Flags Magic Mountain
  This amusement park is located about 1 hour north of Los Angeles on the way into the central valley of California!
  
• Griffith Observatory
  The Griffith Observatory has been a major Los Angeles landmark since 1935. It is visited by nearly two million people each year end ranks seventh on the list of major tourist attractions of Southern California. It sits on the southern slope of Mount Hollywood where it commands a stunning view of the Los Angeles basin below. Thousands of people enjoy the view from its balconies, especially at night. The Observatory is a non-profit educational institution whose purpose is to provide information on astronomy and related sciences to the public. It is not a research institution, although from time to time it carries out modest research projects.
  
• Buena Park
  Buena Park sets it offers more family entertainment than any other city in California, with five major tourist attractions within walking distance of each other. Buena Park is just minutes from Southern California's leading attractions and cultural centers.
  
• Six Flags Hurricane Harbor - Los Angeles
  Located about 1 hour north of Los Angeles on the way into the central valley of California!
  
• Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area
  Santa Monica Mountains rise above Los Angeles, widen to meet the curve of Santa Monica Bay and reach their highest peaks facing the ocean, forming a beautiful and multi-faceted landscape. Located in a Mediterranean ecosystem, the Santa Monica Mountains contain a wide variety of plants and wildlife. The mountains also have an interesting and diverse cultural history which begins with the Chumash and Gabrielino/Tongva peoples and continues today in "L.A.'s backyard."
  
  Adjacent Cities:
  
• Santa Monica
  The tourist office of the city of Santa Monica, squeezed between the City of Los Angeles and the Pacific ocean to the west.
  
• Long Beach
  The tourist office of the city of Long Beach, squeezed between the City of Los Angeles and the Pacific ocean to the south.
  
• Anaheim/Orange County
  The tourist office of the city 1 hour south of downtown L.A. that includes Disneyland.
  
  

Sample San Diego Destinations

• San Diego
  Web Site of the tourist agency for the City of San Diego.
  
• SeaWorld
  This famous sealife exhibition park is in Mission Bay park near downtown San Diego.
  
  

Some Other California Tourist Offices with Web Pages

• California Tourism
  
• Mammoth Lakes
  
  

Sample Las Vegas and Nevada Destinations

• Las Vegas, The Essential Guide(sm)
  Las Vegas, a guide to hotels, casinos, attractions and activities.
  
• Hoover Dam
  John F. Karpovich Travel Pictures of Hoover Dam. Description: The Hoover Dam (or Boulder Dam if you prefer) project was part of the New Deal program to create jobs during the Depression.
  
• Nevada State Tourism
  Tourist Office for the State of Nevada.
  
• Tourist Offices Without Known Web Sites Listed
  Other tourist offices in Nevada without known web sites.
  
• Lake Mead National Recreation Area
  Lake Mead National Recreation Area (NRA) offers a wealth of things to do and places to go year-round. With 1.5 million acres, it is twice the size of Rhode Island. Its huge lakes cater to boaters, swimmers, sunbathers, and fishermen while its desert rewards hikers, wildlife photographers, and roadside sightseers. Three of America's four desert ecosystems--the Mojave, the Great Basin, and the Sonoran Deserts--meet in Lake Mead NRA. As a result, this seemingly barren area contains a surprising variety of plants and animals, some of which may be found nowhere else in the world. Established October 8, 1964. Lake Mead NRA is home to bighorn sheep, mule deer, coyotes, kit foxes, bobcats, ringtail cats, desert tortoise, numerous lizards and snakes, and a wealth of bird species. Threatened and endangered species such as the desert tortoise and peregrine falcon are found here, as well as ancient Colorado River fish species. A long geological history can be seen from the 1.8-billion year-old gneiss of Black Canyon to the lava flows capping Fortification Hill formed about 6 million years ago during the last Ice Age.
  
• Other National Parks in Nevada
  This site has a map of Nevada State with links to all National Parks, National Monuments, National Historic Sites, etc. in the state.
  
  

Sample Canyonland and Arizona Destinations

• Arizona State Tourism
  The tourist office for the state of Arizona
• Map of Arizona
  This site has a map of Arizona State with links to all National Parks, National Monuments, National Historic Sites, etc. in the state.
  
  National Parks along the Las Vegas > Grand Canyon > Phoenix corridor:
  
• Grand Canyon (Official Site)
  Located entirely in northern Arizona, the park encompasses 277 miles of the Colorado River and adjacent uplands. One of the most spectacular examples of erosion anywhere in the world, Grand Canyon is unmatched in the incomparable vistas it offers to visitors on the rim. Grand Canyon National Park is a World Heritage Site.
  
• Grand Canyon (UnOfficial Site
  At this unofficial site, you will find articles about the Canyon and information on what to see and do, guided tours, history, weather, special alerts, lodging and other services, backcountry trails, river running, how to get there, maps, photos, other things to see and do in the area and more.*
  
• Wupatki National Monument
  Pueblos and cliff dwellings so well preserved it's hard to believe their builders moved on 700 years ago. Here you'll see stunning artistry in masonry pueblos that emerge from bedrock to stand several stories high. And this amid lava and cinder one can imagine a landscape still hot to the touch.
  
• Sunset Crater Volcano National Monument
  Ancient Indians undoubtedly witnessed the eruption of Sunset Crater Volcano in A.D.1065 which blanketed the region with black cinder. Today the volcano's rim of red cinders and the lava flows near the cone seem to have cooled and hardened to a jagged surface only yesterday. Squeeze-ups and hornitos are just two of the fascinating volcanic features you'll encounter while exploring the park. To protect this fragile resource, Sunset Crater Volcano is closed to climbing and hiking. However, other cinder cones in the area may be climbed. Sunset Crater Volcano is often confused with another nearby attraction, Meteor Crater. At Sunset Crater Volcano you will see a cinder cone rising 1,000 feet above the surrounding landscape. Meteor Crater, located 35 miles east of Flagstaff on I-40, is an impact crater measuring over 500 feet deep and 1 mile across.
  
• Walnut Canyon National Monument
  Walnut Canyon preserves prehistoric cliff dwellings.
  
• Montezuma Castle National Monument
  It's not a castle and Montezuma was never here. Nestled into a limestone recess high above the flood plain of Beaver Creek in the Verde Valley stands one of the best preserved cliff ruins in North America. The five-story, 20-room cliff dwelling served as a "high-rise apartment building" for prehistoric Sinagua Indians over 600 years ago - and is of the greatest ethnological and scientific interest. Early settlers to the area assumed that the imposing structure was associated with the Aztec emperor Montezuma, but the castle was abandoned almost a century before Montezuma was born. Acreage: 840.86, federal; 16.83, non-federal.
  
  Tourist Offices in Arizona:
  
• Tucson Area
  
• Others Without Known Web Sites Listed
  

Sample Hawaiian Destinations

• Map of Hawaii
  This site has a map of the Hawaiian Islands with links to all National Parks, National Monuments, National Historic Sites, etc. in the state.
  
• The Insider Hawaiian Guide
  The Insider is one guide for visiting Hawaii.
  

ISLAND OF OAHU (AND HONOLULU):

• Arizona Memorial (Pearl Harbor)
  The Memorial straddles the sunken hull of the battleship USS Arizona and commemorates the December 7, 1941, Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.
  
• Pearl Harbor and the Arizona Battleship Memorial
  The Insider guides introduction to the sites where the U.S. was attacted, leading to U.S. entrance into World War II.
  

ISLAND OF MOLOKA'I:

• Kalaupapa National Historical Park
  Two tragedies occurred on the Kalaupapa Peninsula on the north shore of the island of Moloka`i; the first was the removal of indigenous peoples in 1865 and 1895, the second was the forced isolation of sick people to this remote place from 1866 until 1969. Kalaupapa National Historical Park, established in 1980, contains the physical setting for these stories. The park contains the Kalaupapa Peninsula, adjacent cliffs and valleys, and submerged lands and waters out to 1/4 mile from shore. The peninsula and valleys were inhabited by Hawaiian people for hundreds of years and the area one of the richest archeological preserves in Hawai`i. The Moloka`i Lighthouse, operating by 1910 and standing on the northern tip of the peninsula, is the tallest US lighthouse in the Pacific Ocean. Spectacular north shore sea cliffs, narrow valleys, a volcanic crater, rain forest, lava tubes and caves, and off-shore islands and waters are in the park. Several of these areas provide rare native habitat for threatened or endangered Hawaiian plants and animals.
  

ISLAND OF MAUI:

• Haleakala National Park
  The Park preserves the outstanding volcanic landscape of the upper slopes of Haleakala on the island of Maui and protects the unique and fragile ecosystems of Kipahulu Valley, the scenic pools along Oheo Gulch, and many rare and endangered species. Haleakala National Park was designated an International Biosphere Reserve in 1980. Of its 28,655 acres, 19,270 are wilderness.
  

ISLAND OF HAWAII ("BIG ISLAND"):

• Hawaii Volcanoes National Park
  Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, established in 1916, displays the results of 70 million years of volcanism, migration, and evolution -- processes that thrust a bare land from the sea and clothed it with complex and unique ecosystems and a distinct human culture. The park encompasses 230,000 acres and ranges from sea level to the summit of the earth's most massive volcano, Mauna Loa at 13,677 feet. Kilauea, the world's most active volcano, offers scientists insights on the birth of the Hawaiian Islands and visitors views of dramatic volcanic landscapes. Over half of the park is designated wilderness and provides unusual hiking and camping opportunities. In recognition of its outstanding natural values, Hawaii Volcanoes National Park has been honored as an International Biosphere Reserve and a World Heritage Site.
  
• Pu`uhonua o Honaunau National Historical Park
  Pu¹uhonua o Honaunau National Historical Park preserves the site where, up until the early 19th century, Hawaiians who broke a kapu or one of the ancient laws against the gods could avoid an otherwise certain death by fleeing to this place of refuge or pu¹uhonua. They could then be absolved by a priest and free to go. Defeated warriors and non-combatants could also find refuge here during times of battle. The grounds just outside the great wall that encloses the pu¹uhonua was home to several generations of powerful chiefs. A complex of archeological sites i