San Jose was founded in November of 1777 as Pueblo de San Jose de Guadalupe. San Jose was the state’s first capital from 1849 to 1851. It is now known as “The Capital of Silicon Valley." San Jose has a lot of history, today it is probably best known for it’s 50 wineries and the Winchester Mystery House. We didn’t get a chance to go to any wineries, but we did go to the Winchester House.
The Winchester Mystery House was built to baffle the evil spirits that haunted the owner Sarah Winchester. They did a great job, because it was very baffling. The mansion had 160 rooms, 2,000 doors, 13 bathrooms, 10,000 windows, Forty-seven fireplaces, blind closets, secret passageways, and forty staircases. Our tour guide told us it was even baffling for the owner and the servants. The grounds held the Winchester Historic Firearms Museum and Winchester Products Museum. Here is a link to the Winchester Mystery House if you’d like to read more about Sarah and the house.
Another fun place we went to was the Tech Museum of Innovation. There was a lot of interesting and informative exhibits. Unfortunately, their were a lot of exhibits that were not up and running. It is definitely a place for people who are into tech and tech technology.
We also visited the San Jose Museum of Art. . This is a small museum that contains mostly contemporary art. There were quite a few interesting pieces. We were on our way to San Francisco and only wanted to spend a day or so in San Jose. We didn't get to see too much, but had a nice time. Here are a few things we thought would be interesing to check out the next time we are in San Jose:
| History Museum of San Jose | Egyptian Museum | Institute of Contemporary Art |
| Raging Waters | San Jose State University | Happy Hollow Park And Zoo |