Paddle boating at Shoreline Lake

My life is full of activities these days, and I meant it in a good way! This week, Flora, our Mountain View associate, suggested going to Shoreline Lake for some water fun.

The FC Housewives Club had planned to do a strawberry U-pick at Swanton this week, like what we did last summer. But the recent, unprecedented drought in California foiled our plans. We were racking our brains, thinking of what to do, when help came in the form of paddle boats!

Mountain View's Shoreline Lake must be one of the best kept secrets. It is in some ways equivalent to San Mateo's Coyote Point, but cleaner and more scenic. The wind is not as strong as Coyote Point, a big plus point for ladies who don't want to end up like Medusa on a bad hair day.

Parking was easy to find since it was mid-week. We found water crafts for rental beside the cafe (price list here). In addition to pedal boats, we had a choice of canoes, kayaks and rowboats. There are also windsurfing and sailboat equipment for rent. 

Apparently, if you don't feel like heading out to the waters, there are bicycles for rent too. 

So spoilt for choice!

On this day, a lot of pre-school teachers were taking children out for a fun day at the lake. We saw youths having camps, families having picnics, young adults kayaking and standup paddle-boarding. Even the nearby Google and Chrome folks were having their team building activity at the lake. 

Everyone was taking advantage of that last bit of summer.

We opted for an hour of paddle boating after checking with the rental person that we could fit all five of us onboard, including little Z. We thought it was a great idea to have all five persons squeeze onto the teeny weeny metallic blue paddle boat. 

Nobody warned us about the potential hazards of having a cumulated weight of 230kg in one boat. A boat where only two pairs of slender legs can paddle each time.

Look at our happy, unsuspecting faces smiling for the camera as we donned our life jacket. 

And off we go!

Paddle, paddle, paddle... 

Paddle, paddle, paddle... 

And paddle, paddle, paddle.... 

Getting... 

Out... 

Of... 

Breathe...

Half an hour later, we were wheezing like asthma patients, and not even a quarter past the lake. 

Maybe it was the current. Maybe it was the wind. Maybe it was because we kept spinning round and round the same spot. 

Either way, it was not a bright idea to have all five of us on the same boat. We realized it only when we saw how much faster other boaters were moving. 

They must be laughing at how silly we looked.

Heeeeeeeelp!

Miraculously, we managed to make our way back to the shore without popping our knee caps. Little Z, who was in charge of navigating the boat, was the only one with strength left to cycle and play at the nearby playground after our morning paddle boat endeavor. 

The rest of the aunties were ready to peng san (faint).

We retreated to the Lakeside Café to nurse our wobbly knees and rumbling tummies after that. I was still thinking if we should try the 4-person canoe. 

Hey, our knees are gone but we still have hands and arms, no?  

Too bad it was almost three by the time we finished lunch, and we had to start on our return journey to beat the office traffic.

Next time, definitely!

A quick peek inside Google Campus

Make an intelligent guess on where we went this week. That's right! Google Headquarters at Mountain View!

What's the big deal? Well, it's the first time we ever went INSIDE the company, thanks to Panda's colleague. Lisa's husband, T, works there so we were given a tour. Woohoo!

Pardon the lack of good photos because I didn't want to appear like a dork by snapping everywhere, although I really wanted to. Did you know they have awesome slides inside their offices, so that employees can just 'whee!' their way down? So sad that visitors aren't allowed to try that.

 

What we were able to do, however, was to go inside Building 44, the one behind the famous lawn of giant android mascots and statues. That's the tourist spot. You snap photos of these life size desserts. But to go behind those forbidden doors... you need a status higher than a regular tourist. A visitor pass!

So what did I find inside the Android Building? A toilet hidden behind a wall panel (high tide was the reason I entered the building in the first place), a dysfunction android mascot standing in a corner, and Predator guarding the reception area.

Cool.

During our visit, we saw four topless hunks having a game at the beach volleyball court. We also caught sight of those cute conference bikes, although compared to the omnipresent Google bikes, they were not in use. Pool tables are a given. A pity we didn't get to see the swim-in-place swimming pools or the bowling alley. 

But we did swing by to say hi to Stan, the famous T-Rex skeleton, which had pink flamingos dangling from its mouth.

We had lunch at one of the staff cafeterias. They were serving mussels on the day we visited. Contrary to what some people said, the food actually tasted quite yummy. Or maybe we were just in awe of everything. In any case, free food rocks!



A visit is not a visit without the purchase of Google merchandise at the onsite store! We each bought a Google t-shirt. Panda also got me an infuser water bottle. If we were to stay longer in the States, I would love to have one of those brightly coloured jackets.

It was a short but fruitful two-hour tour, thanks to T! We didn't see all the stuff listed here, but what we saw was sufficient enough for us to add to the cliché:

GET ME A JOB AT GOOGLE!!!