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This 508-acre preserve has limited parking, but 5.4 miles of trails, including Crazy Pete's trail, a beautiful hike with a great view. Maybe the best part of this hike is the history. "Crazy" Pete was a miner who lived in Coal Creek preserve and built a road -- named Crazy Pete's road -- in the 1800s. Most people don't know how Crazy Pete got his moniker.
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A 533-acre open space that contains hiking, biking and equestrian trails.
A prestigious university that is sometimes nicknamed the "Harvard of the West". Offers cultural, athletic, natural and educational resources to Palo Alto visitors. For example, Outdoor Sculpture at Stanford University includes a very large collection of large scale works by Rodin in a garden immediately adjoining the Museum of Art, which is also home to a large collection of Rodin sculptures including one of his most famous works, Le Penseur (The Thinker). Look for Andy Goldsworthy's River of Stone a few steps from the museum's front entry. A guided outdoor sculpture tour is conducted the first Sunday of each month at 2PM, rain or shine. The tour lasts about 1½ hours, and begins at the entrance of the Main Quad (where The Oval meets Serra Street). The New Guinea Sculpture Garden, created by New Guinean tribes people, is a beautiful collection of wooden sculptures (next to Roble Dormitory, near the intersection of Lomita Drive and Santa Teresa Street).
A free museum sponsored by Stanford that hosts art from around the world. It's small size makes it perfect for a couple of hour visit. It has a nice cafe where you can get lunch and coffee.
A modern art museum that features contemporary works with an emphasis on Californian creators.
The other birthplace of Silicon Valley. The first transistors were made here. It was later an international grocery store, but is now vacant. William Shockley was a brilliant researcher, but a lousy manager. His team - which included Gordon Moore and Robert Noyce (co-founders of Intel), Eugene Kleiner (founder of Kleiner-Perkins), Jean Hoerni (founder Union Carbide Electronics), Sheldon Roberts, and others - left to start Fairchild Semiconductors, which led to Intel and many other companies. It was the silicon transistor that created Silicon Valley.