Filed under: Macworld, Cult of Mac, Apple
C-Mac and Steve's excellent Cupertino adventure
Every other year for the last 7 years, Shawn King of the Your Mac Life podcast has given the Apple faithful a chance to go on a pilgrimage to 1 Infinite Loop in Cupertino, the location of Apple headquarters.As part of our continuing coverage of Macworld Expo 2009, Christina Warren and yours truly hopped on the bus along with about 30 other alpha geeks to visit the Mecca of Macdom and pick up some Apple swag at the Company Store. Former TUAW blogger and Realmac Software PR Ninja Nik Fletcher joined to take photos.
I dropped some spendolas on Apple gear, including a logo hat, long-sleeve black mock tee, polo shirt, and three big coffee mugs. C-mac, being the resident TUAW fashionista, bought an Apple notebook (the kind with paper sheets in it), a couple of pens, a navy hoodie, a knit cap, two caps (one knit, one military), and a short sleeve tee.
There were several prize drawings on the ride home, and I won an 8GB blue iPod nano courtesy of a "Secret Santa." Suh-weeet!
It's too late to join this year's Tour de Cupertino, but keep your eyes and ears open before future Macworld Expos to see if Shawn is planning another trip. Check out the gallery below.
Gallery: 2009CupertinoBus
![TUAW [Cafepress]](http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.tuaw.com/media/tuaw-cafepress-promo.png)
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Oliver said 8:59PM on 1-05-2009
i second that!
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meizlizard said 8:59PM on 1-05-2009
I have the pleasure of living within walking distance of Apple, but the store isn't anything particularly special. When a family friend brought me inside though, I was amazed at how awesome it is. They really should give tours of some sort or another!
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Scratic said 9:13PM on 1-05-2009
I didn't even know this existed. Now I know what I must do.
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Rylin said 9:37PM on 1-05-2009
I still remember my first trip to the U.S. and the Valley a few years back.
A colleague/friend and I rented a car and drove around, snapping photos of the "wildlife".
We didn't find Apple until the second day though, despite having driven past the nearest access road a few times -- but then again, that's probably a bit because driving in the US is so different from driving over here. Sadly, the entire campus was closed that day.
We were ushered away from a MS campus, Apple appeared empty, there were a few people at the googleplex. Lockheed Martin had barred security gates, preventing us from slipping in there.
Intel had some nice signs saying it was illegal to take pictures there.
Naturally, we couldn't resist.
All in al, I believe we managed to hit roughly 60 companies while driving around, stopping for food, drinks and what not -- everything with accompanying touristy pictures ;-)
The houses around 1IL though.
YIKES.
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angeL said 1:58AM on 1-06-2009
Those are some pretty middle class looking houses (google street view), but I'm sure the price isn't middle class. Anything near the bay area is just crazy expensive.
G said 9:40PM on 1-05-2009
No reason to be led around a few square yards by the bumptious. Just hit Google maps and go.
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Greg said 10:29PM on 1-05-2009
Why does Apple not sell the "gear" you discussed (shirts, mugs, etc.) on their web site? Free advertising, another source of revenue, and plenty of people willing to buy- it's a win-win-win situation that they simply don't tap in to.
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eric f. said 11:18AM on 1-06-2009
I don't know. they should at least have a little section in the Apple stores. it makes me sad.
Shawn King said 11:14AM on 1-12-2009
"Why does Apple not sell the "gear" you discussed..."
(Sorry to be replying so late)
Apple doesn't sell that logo gear anywhere else because Steve Jobs thinks that kind of stuff "devalues" the brand of the company.
L. Monahan said 11:30PM on 1-05-2009
The gear is cool and all, but a hottie Mac chick sporting said gear (Christina Warren) is way cooler!
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mark said 1:00AM on 1-06-2009
It's even more fun when you have family members that are employees at the mothership. Getting to go inside the buildings and the quad and eat in the commissary are fun too. Good food!
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irishghost said 1:35AM on 1-06-2009
C-Mac is hot! Man, geek girls are cuter every year! That's just awesome.
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jeff said 2:56AM on 1-06-2009
lame. absolutely lame. lamest of the lame. lame lame lame lame lame. been there. its so much more awesome than that. the holy grail is 1000000 times better than you just described. you should feel like absolute sad tourists. clearly you don't belong. sad really. maybe try again? this is fail. and im not an ass, ive just been there. fail yourmaclife and tuaw, fail. clearly you didnt get to go in, did you. fail fail fail.
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TK101 said 8:44AM on 1-06-2009
I enjoyed the story, but I have to agree with the earlier post that C-Mac is ridiculously cute. Sorry to objectify, but she can write AND is easy on the eyes - major points awarded.
TK
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Andrew said 3:11PM on 1-06-2009
I absolutely love the Company Store in Cupertino. Was there about a year ago and it was a great experience. While you can't buy the merchandise online, it's probably for the best - it makes taking the trip to the Mothership even more special (and plus you can brag that you're the only one at work/school with an Apple mug!). They have everything you can think of - mugs, shirts, hats, baby clothes, luggage tags, pads/notebooks, watches, keychains, pens, mousepads, badge holders, etc. It's way too easy to drop $200+ in there...
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