News from San Jose

Hakone Gardens with UCSC Alumni

Whale Watching wasn't all the Silicon Valley chapter of the UCSC Alumni Association did last year. We had Happy Hours around the valley, a baseball game outing, and a tour of Hakone Gardens. I'll tell you about Hakone Gardens, because that's the one that took the most effort for me to organize. (Mark Adams organized the baseball game thing, and I didn't even go.)

It turns out that the gardener for Hakone Gardens, a small Japanese tea garden just off Highway 9 in Saratoga, is an alum of UCSC: Jack Tomlinson. After months of trying to get in touch with the guy, I finally got him on the phone and convinced him to give fellow alumni a tour of his gardens.

We had a great time! I organized a carpool, so we wouldn't have to pay so much for parking. I had 3 people in my car. We started off the event with a very successful potluck. Something like 20 people showed up with a variety of dishes. Then the gardener took us on a tour, telling us interesting things about the gardens I can't remember anymore, including: its similarity to gardens in Kyoto, why the gardens were created and how it came into the city's hands, some of the Japanese gardening traditions, and the meanings of the lanterns and the shape of the Koi pond (which is a Japanese symbol).

Afterward, Jack gave such a great spiel on becoming a member that I walked over to the gift shop and became a member right away so I could apply that day's parking fees to the membership.

last updated May 11, 2001