Welcome, Sunnyvale Delight-full People!

A member recently described another Meetup group most humorously as "An eating group with a hiking disorder." As "Walking thru the Valley" has evolved over the last couple of years, it could now be described as a social/cultural/educational group with an exercise disorder.

Lots of us have become good friends, and the group makes a good format for us to announce concerts, try ethnic restaurants, get together for spur-of-the moment events. We frequent museums, old houses, free TV comedy tapings, outdoor concerts and movies, artist receptions, and most anything with free food. We've toured the Jelly Belly factory and the Anheuser Busch Brewery for the free samples, and tasted countless flavors of olive oil at Sepay Groves store. Some of us meet weekly for movies about California history with a menu appropriate to the week's theme. Others are now getting ready to head for a baseball game.

The original purpose of the group was for finding walking partners, so that is still our emphasis: walking and hiking, right in The Valley of Heart's Delight [aka Silicon Valley] or in the surrounding counties of the Bay Area. We incorporate at least a bit of walking in about 98% of our activities; lengthy walks and fairly-hearty hikes are the main focus. We have a couple of our own rangers and docents who'll kindly do hikes for us at our request.

This is an inter-generational group with several senior people as well as many delightful whippersnappers in their 30s and 40s. All ages and status are welcome, although the group seems to consist largely of single people.

We're definitely NOT a speed-demons hiking group, but we do try to get some decent workouts and longer hikes in along with everything else. We never mind if the faster folks want to zoom along to the top and enjoy the view till the slower ones [such as Fearless Leaderess] finally make it there. Our longest walks are about 7 miles, and it's usually less. But we've nothing against a longer hike if you want to become an assistant organizer and plan one!