This summer, I had the incredible opportunity to conduct an off-campus SURF in the Fuller Lab at Stanford. Past research has shown that Bam (Bag of marbles) is required for the switch from proliferating spermatogonia to differentiating spermatocytes, and Bam’s main role is to block expression from HOW (Held Out Wings). By blocking the expression of HOW, Bam enables spermatogonia to end mitosis and switch to meiosis and differentiate. I studied the role HOW(L), the long isoform form of HOW, plays in modulating the proliferation-differentiation switch. I’ve spent A LOT of hours dissecting testes under the microscope, but overall, the research and my time in the lab has been a great experience!
Now, enough about science, keep reading to learn more about some of the fun adventures I’ve had outside of work these past few months …. 🙂
Hiking
1. Lands End Trails
During my first weekend in the Palo Alto, two of my Caltech friends and I decided to take a trip into San Francisco. We picked a trail that we thought was scenic and relatively easy, but we got a bit confused on the location. We thought that the starting point was across the bridge (though it was actually right before), so we accidentally crossed over and had to pay a toll to return back. However, it was pretty cool to see the views from the bridge, and the hike itself was breathtaking (so it was all worth it). In all honesty, the trail was more of a walking path than a hike, but it was still quite gorgeous. You can also climb down to some rocks near the ocean at the end of the trail. There was a little cave underneath the rocks, but we got a bit spooked a few steps in and quickly turned around.
2. Upper Crystal Springs Reservoir
My little sister came to visit for a few days, and we made sure to make the most of the nearby scenery while she was here. Shown below are some images from our sunset walk around the Crystal Springs Reservoir. With the distant fog above the mountains and trees, sparkling lake waters, and clumps of greenery and flowers, it was a breathtaking site!
3. Cooley Landing Trail
Next up is the Cooley Landing trail, which was about a 15-20 minute drive from Stanford campus. This trail was quite flat and seemed pretty popular with bikers (we had to move off the path several times to avoid getting run-over). The path tracks alongside a lagoon-like waterfront, and there is a pretty scenic mountain view in the distance.
4. Bedwell Bayfront Park
We actually ended up stumbling upon this trail. Located near the Facebook headquarters in Redwood City, we weren’t quite sure what exactly this park was, only that it took up a significant portion of space and was surrounded by water. The park ended up being pretty cool, and there were a lot of different trails winding throughout the park. We even stumbled upon a collection of rock sculpture exhibits scattered throughout the park.
5. Enid Pearson-Astradero Preserve
The first time we came to this park was for a chill evening hike. We explored the yellow hills, saw the neighboring lake (currently closed for renovations), and stopped for a sun-chip snack break to watch the sun come down. We even ran into a gaggle of wild turkeys dutifully following their mother leader. A few days later, we ended up returning to the preserve to have a canvas-painting session. Unfortunately, on my trip to the bathroom I saw several “watch out for rattlesnake signs,” which had me quaking in fear as I opened the door. Thankfully, no rattlesnakes were encountered (but the trauma remains).
6. Strawberry Canyon
For this hike we took a trip up to Berkeley. The start of the trailhead is located on a small parking lot on the side of the road by the Botanical gardens. Getting into this parking lot was a bit tricky (some insane parallel-parking skills required), but I managed to (1) get us parked and (2) not drive the car down the cliff (phew!). The trail itself was quite pretty, and at the top of one of the hills we got a breathtaking view of the surrounding area. We missed a turn on the way back, though, so our return back to the car ended up taking quite a bit longer than expected.
6. Windy Hill Open Space Preserve
So, when I agreed to go on this hike, I was under the impression that it would be a relatively chill 6-mile sunset hike. Of these three descriptors, only one ended up being true. We did see a nice sunset – a pastel ombre of pinks, purples, and blues – but the the hike ended up being (1) quite a bit uphill and (2) 7.58 MILES LONG! By the end of the hike we were walking in the dark by the light of our flashlights trying to find the end of the trail. We did see a family of deer, which was kinda cool, but a random runner in the dark totally freaked me out (I didn’t expect to see any other crazy people out in the dark).
San Francisco
After the Lands End Hike mentioned earlier, we grabbed lunch at a restaurant in Chinatown. Some key moments from the meal included (1) getting insulted for the inferiority of vegetarian pork-less mapo tofu both by the restaurant staff and a fellow “proud meat-eating anti-athlete Caltech classmate” (his words, not mine), (2) a second (failed) attempt at being convinced that Coca-Cola is a vegetable (something about cane sugar coming from the ground…?), (3) calling the Showgirl Magic Museum to try and get tickets to visit (they were unfortunately closed), and (4) the restaurant’s cash-only policy being disclosed only after the entire meal was eaten when our server refused to take our cards.
The rest of the trip was mildly less eventful. We bought some overpriced boba, listened to a horrible performance of Dancing Queen (maybe 20% lyric/vocal accuracy), witnessed a massive taxi-cab holdup from a malfunctioning self-driving car, and snuck into a random bar to use the bathroom.
Food tour
Saturday – California Ave. Farmer’s market
This farmers’ market is located on California Ave., a street that has been closed to car traffic for the summer to allow restaurants to open up seating onto the street. The market was super cute and spanned the whole block and parts of the surrounding blocks. There was enough space for two different guitarists to busk, and when you were listening to one of them you couldn’t hear the other at all! After browsing all of the stands we decided to eat some empanadas. We also tried some lemonade and a nutella latte at a hidden, bustling coffee-shop.
Downtown Palo Alto Farmer’s Market
On Sundays, another farmers’ market pops up, this one in downtown Palo Alto. I’m quite a fan of the pastry shop, and I’ve been here four times so far (and counting). I even ran into some Caltech grads there a few weeks ago. So far I’ve tried the cherry scone, blueberry-lemon scone, strawberry jam scone, cranberry muffin, and a lemon-poppy seed muffin. Inevitably, I’ll probably end up coming back a few more times before the summer is over. Last week, a new coffee truck came to the market, and they have some fun flavors I want to try.
Aside from farmers’ markets, I’ve also explored a few other food options around here (and picked some blackberries from my landlord’s yard). One of my favorite restaurants is the So Gong Dong tofu house, which has tofu stews, bimbap stone pots, and, of course, Korean small plates. I’ve also become a frequent visitor of Pinkberry, which is quite expensive, but the frozen yogurt is so good :).
Random Monuments and Events
Pulgas Water temple
Kind of a random find, but when I googled “free things to do in Palo Alto,” the Pulgas Water temple was one of the proposed options. Located in San Mateo, the water temple was far from campus, so it was a convenient exploration point. It was honestly a pretty scenic spot, and we brought some canvases and snacks to have a fun painting session. We both tried to copy an image we found on pintertrest (on the right), and our attempts are shown below.
Niall Horan concert
In the spirit of true honesty, if you had told me a few months ago that I would attend a Niall Horan concert this summer, I probably would have laughed at you. (I may have also previously made fun of my roommate for spending $90 to see him in LA….) However, during spring term I attended the Lizzie McAlpine concert with a few of my friends: one of which was the aforementioned Niall Horan fan, one had tickets to see him in Indiana, and the other two of us were spending the summer in the Bay. Feeling left out of the Niall-Horan-ticket-club, the other girl asked me if I wanted to go to his concert in the Bay with her. When I learned that (1) the tickets were only $20 and (2) one of my favorite artists, Del Water Gap, was the opener, I consented. Now, I know that this drastic change of heart is a bit of hypocritical behavior, but nonetheless, I have no regrets. The concert was actually quite fun! We ended up sitting with a few of my friend’s intern buddies from Google, and they were also going to the concert just to see Del Water Gap (they left halfway through Niall’s setlist)! Additionally, I’ll even relent that Niall Horan’s performance was pretty good, and I ended up knowing a lot more songs than I thought I did …
Wrap Up
Anyhow, now that the summer is over, I’ve returned to campus soccer pre-season. My last few weeks in the Bay were the highlight of my summer, and I’ll treasure the friends and the memories I made. I hope you enjoyed the read, and if you ever have the opportunity to spent a summer in the Bay, I definitely recommend taking it!
