The Inaugural GDG Fresno GooglePlex & Computer History Museum Trip

In the early months of 2018, I set out to revitalize a cherished tradition: organizing Google Campus visits for the tech community in Fresno. Years earlier, former GDG Fresno organizers James Cha and Joshua Woodward had led a couple of unforgettable trips—including one memorable hackathon where developers coded and slept inside a Google building, and another where Google dispatched official commuter buses equipped with onboard Wi-Fi. Those experiences left a lasting impression on me.

After taking the helm of GDG Fresno, our calendar was dominated by massive flagship conferences like our International Women’s Day Conference (IWDC) and DevFest. But I couldn’t let the Google trip tradition fade away. I reached out to Jensen Vang at the Fresno Economic Opportunities Commission (EOC), who enthusiastically championed the initiative and secured the bus rental funding—the single largest logistical hurdle. With two chartered buses from Fresno EOC and one for GDG Fresno, we gathered around 60 participants, many of them young students of Hmong heritage, to give them a firsthand look at Silicon Valley and inspire future technology careers.

Arrival, Morning Briefing, and Campus Tour

Our Googler host for the day was Martin Omander, who graciously stepped in to shepherd our 60-strong contingent across the Googleplex and print out visitor badges. We kicked off our morning near the Google Visitor Center beta and the iconic Android Sculpture Park.

From there, Martin led our group on an extensive walking tour of the Mountain View campus. The attendees marveled at Stan the T-Rex skeleton, checked out the outdoor recreational areas, and gathered around a Waymo self-driving prototype vehicle parked on campus.

The Domino’s Pizza Disappearance Panic

While the attendees were happily taking photos, I was silently navigating every event organizer’s worst nightmare.

Ahead of time, I had placed a massive catering pizza order with a relatively new Domino’s branch in Mountain View to feed 60 hungry guests. As Martin guided the group through the campus courtyards, I kept one eye on the Domino’s mobile app, periodically refreshing the pizza tracker.

Around 40 minutes into the campus tour, I opened the app only to discover that the order had completely vanished. No confirmation, no baking status—just a blank screen.

I immediately called the Domino’s branch. When I reached the manager, they casually told me: “Oh, we canceled that order because it was way too large—we thought it was a prank!”

My heart skipped a beat. I had 60 people expecting lunch in less than 45 minutes! I clarified in no uncertain terms that the order was very real, backed by a real credit card, and urged them to start firing up the ovens immediately.

I quickly caught Martin’s eye and discreetly signaled that we had a major food delay. I advised him to stretch out the campus walk—looping through the Permanente Creek / Kaiser stream pathway and pointing out additional campus landmarks to buy us precious time. Meanwhile, handling our attendees’ dietary restrictions added another layer of complexity: to accommodate everyone, I was simultaneously coordinating separate deliveries across three different delivery apps—vegan orders via Grubhub, lactose-free meals via Uber Eats, and gluten-free items via Postmates. Wrangling four simultaneous food deliveries across a sprawling campus while keeping a large tour on track was an adrenaline rush I won’t soon forget!

LMK2 Classroom, Microkitchen Raids, and Nancy Mohamed’s Session

Originally, we had planned to eat outside in the courtyard cafeteria area. But given the pizza delay and the fact that it was Saturday, Martin came through with a lifesaver move: he booked an indoor classroom for us in the LMK2 building.

Thanks to Martin’s badge access, we moved our entire group inside. The pizzas ended up arriving about half an hour late, but our attendees hardly noticed: they were invited to raid the Google microkitchen! The students went to town sampling the high-end espresso machines, sparkling waters, dried fruit, chips, and snacks. When the delivery drivers finally arrived with the pizzas, the boxes were inhaled in minutes.

Once everyone was fed, our keynote presenter took the stage: Nancy Mohamed.

Nancy had previously served as the lead organizer for GDG Fresno’s DevFest 2017 before landing an engineering role at Google. Seeing someone from our own Central Valley community standing at Google was tremendously inspiring for our attendees. Nancy shared her personal journey, talked candidly about breaking into tech, and spent over an hour fielding questions:

Computer History Museum & The Locked-In Attendees

In the afternoon, our buses made the short trip down to the Computer History Museum. The museum offered an incredible hands-on journey through technology, from ancient calculating engines to supercomputers. One highlight was the live IBM 1401 mainframe demonstration, where museum volunteers operated the historic punch card reader and line printer:

When 5:00 PM arrived and the museum closed, all our bus captains—Jensen Vang, Andrew Runner, and myself—conducted head counts as people returned to the buses.

Two attendees were missing.

We waited a few minutes, called phone numbers, and walked back to the museum lobby. The museum doors were already locked, but looking through the glass at the coat and bag check counter, we spotted two checked backpacks still sitting on the rack!

We alerted security, who reopened the doors so we could search the quiet, dimly lit museum halls. Sure enough, deep within the exhibits, we found the two students completely immersed in a display, oblivious to the fact that closing announcements had been made and the building had cleared out. They were genuinely captivated by the tech history!

Wrapping Up

With everyone safely accounted for, our three-bus convoy headed south. On the way back across Pacheco Pass, we stopped at Casa de Fruta. Some participants ordered custom sandwiches at the deli counter, which took over 20 minutes to fulfill—yet another lesson in group travel pacing!

Despite the unexpected pizza panic, dietary coordination challenges, and search-and-rescue mission at the museum, the trip was a resounding success. Seeing the spark of curiosity in the students’ eyes made every minute of stress worthwhile.

For more interactive 360° panoramas and video clips from the visit, explore our dedicated GoogleTrip2018 360 Website.