We live in Los Altos in the heart of California's Silicon Valley.

We are offering our 4 bedroom single family home (= detached) (2,200 sq. ft. / 200 m²), 1 master bedroom with 3 childrens' bedrooms.  One of the children's bedrooms can accommodate 4 people - it has a queen bed + a pull out double bed. We have a comfortable living room, a separate dining room, a nicely equipped kitchen, an office, 2 bathrooms and laundry in the garage.  The office has high speed internet and free phone to USA and Western Europe.

We have a huge back yard (1/2 acre) with a new patio and furniture for entertaining, a large barbecue grill and a shady gazebo. Our area has one of the World's most ideal climates: mild winters and warm, dry summers.  For summer exchanges you will be unlikely to see a single drop of rain and it will be sunny every day.  Temperatures are typically in the 80-90s (25-35 C). 

We have a Mazda 5 minivan (people carrier) for you to drive, which will seat 6.  We also have 3 bicycles for you to use. We have 2 cats which we would want you to care for.  They are indoor/outdoor and have their own cat door.  In summer, they spend some of the day outside, and then come in at night - they will curl up on the kids' beds if they keep their doors open.  With previous guests we have provided a cat sitter if they wanted to go on overnight excursions, we offer that to you.

Los Altos is leafy, affluent suburb of both San Jose and San Francisco.  Steve Jobs grew up in Los Altos. There is a good train service nearby to both cities that runs until midnight, or a quick drive up the freeway.  Also within driving distance is Yosemite National Park, the Gold Country, the Wine Country, the High Sierra (mountains) and beaches.  A little further drive is Los Angeles and Las Vegas. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Los_Altos,_California