The Great (North) American Road Trip: Do You Know the Way to San Jose?

San Jose, CA
San Jose is a great city. Jen and I didn't want to leave on our last visit when we saw the Rangers get whooped by the Sharks a year and a half ago. There is something about a city that is laid back but yet still gets things done. San Jose is very clean with some exceptions that every major city has. The old downtown is interesting and we even found the coolest salvation army thrift store on Earth. They also have a great used bookstore named Recycle Bookstore, that is one of the most organized bookstores as well as a well collected amount of books. If I had to live in California, it would be in San Jose.

First thing first, we needed to get internet so we went to local library. The library was fantastic and really nice on the inside. We sat around and took care of our business, email, and other random things we needed to do. After an hour or so we decided to grab some food and came across a place called Falafel's Drive In. A gyro sounded amazingly delicious, so we flipped a U-Turn at the next light and parked the car. The line was wrapped all the way to the sidewalk, which told us that it had to be good food. The line moved quickly and we ordered a gyro and hummus plate to share. The gyro was, at first, skeptical since it had chunks of meat instead of the standard shaved look, but after one bite, all doubts were erased as it was one of the best gyro's that have ever graced my taste buds. The hummus was also interesting as it was a peachy red color, but we should have known better to second guess the Falafel Drive In because it too was great. Although we wish that they had a more substantial pita bread, as theirs were a bit flat and bland, we left very satisfied since it was delicious food.

This being our second trip to the San Jose we wanted to make a point to visit the one place we really wanted to go last time, The Winchester House. We didn't go last time because our last run through the city was on budget mode as it was near Christmas time and we had little money to spend. This time we prepared ourselves and needed to go. The Winchester House is a house built by Sarah Winchester, who was married to, William Winchester, the last living heir to the Winchester gun empire. Following Williams’ death, Sarah visited a psychic who told her to move west and build and never stop building a house or the spirits of the dead killed by the Winchester guns would haunt her. So Sarah did just that.

She built a house and then kept on building. When that part of the house was done she built more around it. When that was done she built more above it. When that was done she had them build even more. I think you can get the point. The house resulted in 160 rooms and the property was a whopping 162 acres, at its most established. Since then, it has been shuffled and sold off to a mere 4.5 acres due to city streets and heirs selling of their shares of the property.

The Winchester House is amazingly spectacular to look at. Jen and I wandered through a two and a half hour tour that covered well over a mile of walking while visiting over 110 of the rooms. The fun part of the house is since it was built on top of existing parts of the house it has really weird architecture. There are staircases that go to the ceiling and nowhere else. Doors open up to the exterior of the house but they are 2 or 3 stories up from the ground. There was a séance room that had three exit doors but only one entrance since there was only hardware and doorknobs on two out of the three doors. Windows looked into bathrooms and into other rooms and even into other windows. Doors open up to walls. Most stairs are no more than an inch high but a foot and a half on the landing because in Sarah's old age, her arthritis prevented her from lifting her feet higher than an inch or so, these were called easy risers. The house is a grand Victorian house like you've never seen before.

The details within the house shows that even though they were building just to build there was still that level of craftsmanship that you barely see any more in housing. Double hung windows with huge counterweights could be seen in areas where the walls had deteriorated and were in the process of being restored. The hardware on the doors and hinges on the cabinets were all eloquently shaped and fit a style that made it unique to the house. Chandeliers hung from heavily decorated ceilings. The woodwork was spectacular in everything from banisters to fireplace mantles to the extraordinary master bedroom set that was so overwhelmingly gigantic, it’s hard to imagine anyone sleeping in it and not feel claustrophobic. The 47 fireplaces throughout the house were all decorated in ceramic tile that had some of the most amazing glazes I have ever seen, Colors that splashed from orange to dark brown and yet did not look cheesy in the least. There were subway tiles and even mosaic work around the fireplaces. I was in awe of the fireplace that was decorated with huge tiles of Italian marble that was reminiscent of a sandstone pattern. The place was gorgeous and well protected since they did not allow photography within the walls of the house.

For more info and pictures of the interior check out the folowing.

http://www.winchestermysteryhouse.com

After the house we drove around for a bit and tried to find that amazing bookstore we had previously visited. With a bit of smart phone research, we found the place. Recycle Bookstore was just as we had remembered. We split up into our own corners of interest and started hunting. I went to the comic book section because they have a nice assortment of old and rare collections, but not the one I wanted. However, I did pick up a first edition copy of an early Matt Fraction book that was signed by him and the artist for only six bucks. Jen had found a couple books she had been interested in as well and after a half hour or so of cruising the bookshelves, we decided to pack it in and checkout. This concluded our short story based on the real events that transpired in San Jose but was opening the next chapter in our epic journey through San Francisco to meet up with a great friend.