Sunnyvale

from http://www.lockheedmartin.com (Corporate Lockheed Martin is in Bethesda,MD though).

Did you know that in

1959 Lockheed’s Agena spacecraft puts America’s first Earth-oriented satellite into orbit.

1958 Lockheed introduces the first FAA-approved flight data recorder. The ‘black box’ is now standard equipment on commercial airliners and many military transports.

1955 Lockheed’s top secret U-2 reconnaissance aircraft makes its first flight.

1943 Lockheed’s Burbank, California
operation begins development of a new jet fighter for the U.S. Army Air Corps (predecessor to modern military branches)—in secret. The development team adopts the name “Skunk Works”.

1932 Amelia Earhart lands her Lockheed Vega in a meadow in Northern Ireland, becoming the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic.

1926 After the demise of the original company, Allan Loughead officially forms the Lockheed Aircraft Company, this time in Hollywood, California. The name is spelled phonetically to alleviate earlier problems with pronunciation.

1916 The Loughead brothers establish the Loughead Aircraft Manufacturing Company in Santa Barbara, California.

1913 Aircraft designers Allan and
Malcolm Loughead fly their wood and fabric seaplane over the San Francisco Bay.

1912 Allan and Malcolm Loughead form the
Alco Hydro-Aeroplane Company.

Most people would associate Sunnyvale with Silicon Valley. To me, it’s the idyllic suburban town of my childhood, where I lived in the 1950’s till age seven. In those days, there were no computer companies. My memories revolve around playgrounds and grassy fields, backyard badminton, shuffleboard, and neighborhood playmates. In 1998 while at Stanford in nearby Palo Alto, I took an opportunity to see the house I once lived in and the school where I attended first grade. Oddly enough, the reality matched up quite well to my recollections. Things had not changed very much… only the distances seemed shorter.

No matter where I live, Sunnyvale and my parents’ house will always be my home.

We enjoyed Scruffy Murphy’s for a drink and Il Postale for dinner…

They have a really great climbing gym!