As soon as you've confirmed your arrival to this stone manor in the tree-dotted countryside, lend your ears to sounds that don't require a plug-in.

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It starts as an exit off the Dumbarton Bridge, which cuts across the southern edge of San Francisco Bay, runs though rough-and-tumble East Palo Alto, then tree-lined stretches dotted with multimillion-dollar mansions, and eventually hits, as the name implies, the Stanford campus.

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And for a tropical trip akin to the South Pacific, visit The Quarter, the Tropicana's palm-tree dotted shopping, entertainment, and dining complex within the resort.

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