Alviso Bay

This weekend we took a little walk around Alviso Bay. The marina is a 5 minute drive from our home. As you approach Alviso, crowded industrial tech buildings give way to cute little beach houses and small owner-run restaurants. It's a place that time forgot in many ways, but has a very East Coasty, Cape-Cod feel to it. Alviso was once a booming port that shipped agricultural products all over The Valley, but then in 1864 a new railroad line was put in. Alviso's become a veritable ghost town compared to it's micro-chipped neighbors over the years, but is listed on the National Register as a historic gem.

Alviso now attracts nature lovers and health enthusiasts from all around. One can capitalize on the miles and miles of dirt trails surrounding the bay. There are thousands of acres of marshes and salt ponds. Wildlife is dense, and bird-watchers would probably find this place paradise. There are informative plaques explaining more about marshes and indigenous species of plants and animals, too.

We had a nice time walking around the desolate, windy bay. After exploring a bit it got sortof creepy how devoid of human life the place was, but in a beautiful way. It seemed strange to find so much nature right in the backyard of the largest tech community in the country. But, it was a lovely way to spend some weekend family time apart from the computers and video games and televisions and iPods and iPhones and AppleTVs and DVRs and DVDs and CD-ROMs and Facebooks and Twitters. Apparently my camera was spared such neglect, though ;0)