"Do you know the way to San Jose?" a San Jose Travel Page by MDH

When my mom grew up in San Jose fifty years ago, the city was surrounded by farms and orchards and didn't have a population over 50,000 Now with the advent of the Silicon Valley, the orchards are gone, replaced by rings of superhighways, neighborhoods, computer companies and a population of 900,000; San Jose is one of the fastest growing cities in America. If it keeps up it's pace, it'll be the second largest city in California within a few years (after Los Angeles).

But maybe its importance has already been achieved. This city, as well as its surrounding suburbs, make up the Silicon Valley--the tech capital of America, if not North America, if not the planet. A technology that is born here will become the norm around the world within a few months. Corporate leaders, computer nerds, and regular people hoping to jump on the bandwagon all converge here.

Although San Francisco, only forty miles north, maybe the real jewel of the Bay Area, "San-Ho" as San Jose is sometimes called by a lot of locals, holds up in its own right. Sure it might lack the hills and picturesque scenery of San Francisco, or its street cars, or even its air quality, San Jose is a cosmopolitan, fresh and developing place where people the world over immigrate to start something new.