Palo Alto, California

The city of Palo Alto lies 33 miles (53 kilometers) south of San Francisco in Santa Clara County, in the San Jose-Sunnyvale metropolitan area.

Palo Alto means "tall tree" in Spanish. Known as the "Birthplace of the Silicon Valley," the city has been the focal point of the Silicon Valley since the 1980s, due in large part to the presence of Stanford Research Park and the number of well-known high tech companies (including Google, Hewlett-Packard, and Agilent Technologies) that call it home.

Palo Alto's downtown strip is a vibrant mixture of coffee shops and bookstores, in addition a number of upscale retailers and equally posh restaurants. Surrounding the downtown, Palo Alto's residential neighborhoods are made up of old and new housing developments, and recreational parks. In fact, one-third of the city is devoted to parkland.

For those interested in art, Palo Alto is home to the Museum of American Heritage, as well as the Iris & B. Gerald Cantor Center for Visual Arts. The latter is located on the Stanford University campus and houses a collection of over 25,000 objects spanning 4,000 years. As for music – the Palo Alto Chamber Orchestra has been performing since it was founded in 1966, and in the interim has garnered a national and international reputation for excellence. The Palo Alto Philharmonic is equally famous, and offers a full season of performances.

And, California being California, the fun in Palo Alto isn't restricted to the city limits. The ocean, the Bay Area, wineries, and numerous state parks are all a short drive away!

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