UC Tech
With UC Tech this year being hosted at UC Merced, checked flights on Contour Airways, thought about things like car rental once there, decided that driving up was the thing to do. This let me stop by Bakersfield on the way, meet up with Jerry and his wife Esther, grab a rather decide beef bone pho for dinner at Saigon Bistro, and then finish the drive up to Merced.
With UC Merced being the newest University of California, founded in 2005, and plunked down in a little town, most of the hotels are pretty new, and the TownePlace Suites in Merced is no exception. It's a little bit out of the heart of downtown Merced, but given how hot it gets here in the summer, that isn't a big deal, as you'll likely be driving everywhere anyway.
Plus side of staying in a TownePlace is they have a proper kitchenette, and that meant a real refrigerator to store the six (!) bunches of grapes that Jerry and Esther gave me. Fresh from Sun World's tasting, they were delicious, but also, holy crap, six bunches is a lot of grapes.