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Our first stop on this mini-vacation was Berkeley, CA.  The city of Berkeley sits on the east shore of the San Francisco Bay.  Berkeley is home to the oldest campus in the University of California system, the University of California, Berkeley, which was founded in 1868.

UC Berkeley is generally considered one of the top universities in the world.  It ranks 5th internationally in the Academic Ranking of World Universities and 4th in the U.S. News & World Report Global University Rankings.  The university has many notable alumni:  Earl Warren, 14th Chief Justice of the Supreme Court and 30th Governor of California;  Jerry Brown, 34th and 39th Governor of California; Steve Wozniak, cofounder of Apple Inc.; Gordon Moore, cofounder of Intel; Pete Wilson, 36th Governor of California; and Janet Yellen, 15th Chair of the Federal Reserve.

We went onto the campus of UC Berkeley and visited Sather Tower.  This tower was a gift to the university from Jane K. Sather in memory of her late husband.  At 307 feet, it is the 3rd tallest clock and bell tower in the world.  It has a clock face on all four sides and has a 61 bell carillon.  You can take an elevator up to the observation deck which is 200 feet above the base.  From there you can get a terrific view of the campus, the town of Berkeley, San Francisco Bay and the city of San Francisco.

Later we spent some time checking out the McLaughlin Eastshore State Park.  The park has 8.5 miles of shoreline on the San Francisco Bay between the cities of Richmond, Berkeley and Oakland.  The portion of the park near Berkeley encompasses the Berkeley Marina and the 90 acre Cesar Chavez Park which offers spectacular views of three bay bridges, Alcatraz, and Angel Island.

Next stop:  Oakland, CA