In America

My Days in
America I first went to the US as a student of computer science in 1976. I joined Shahrzad who was at the time a student of Industrial engineering at Stanford. I was going to USF. I graduated and then started my studies at San Jose State U. We went back to Iran in 1979.

From Dec. 2000 to Nov. 2003 I was again in the USA to visit my family and friends. Also I have had lectures, press interviews and tours related to my activities in promoting science in Iran. Here are some pictures of my days in the USA.

Ali Parsa at the Golden Gate
Back at the Golden Gate, after many years. (Photo: Saba Parsa)

Sun Valley, Idaho
In Jan. 2001 Saba and I went for a short ski trip to Sun Valley. We met Peter Smith and his family there and had a very good time, benefiting from their hospitality and friendship. We met his wife Becky, daughter Alison, son-in-law Steve, sons Nick and Buck. Pete is a superb snow-boarder. He also took us to Ernest Hemingway's house in the town of Ketchum, where the great writer spent last days of his life.

Science Tour
As a return trip for the American scientists' Eclipse 99 visit to Iran, some Iranian science promoters and astronomers were invited to tour science and technology institutes in the US. This picture shows the members of the group with our hosts in the Lauch Vehicle Assembly Plant of Lockheed-Martin in Denver, Colorado: (standing) Dr. Sassan of Esfahan City Concil, Stacy Heen of Search for Common Ground, Mostafa Torabizadeh of Zirakzadeh Science Foundation, Joan Underwood of Lockheed-Martin, Bruce McCandless (SkyLab and Space shuttle astronaut), of Lockheed-Martin, Nasrin Sadeghi of Institue for Theoretical Physics and Mathematics, Neda Abbasnejad of Zirakzadeh Science Foundation, a security member of Lockheed-Martin. (sitting) Alireza Mehrani of Adib Amateur Astronomy Society, Dr. Kiyasatpour of Esfahan University, Ali Parsa, Babak Amin-tafreshi of Nojum magazine.

More pictures of this trip.

SF Bay Area
Back in the late 1970's I was a student in the Bay Area. During my current stay in the US, I visited San Francisco area many times, enjoying the hospitality of my sister's family and many friends I have there. A very dear friend, Saied Nesbat has been especially kind and generous.

This May 2001 picture shows a fundraising meeting at Rasoul Oskouii's house. SIP president Gita Kashani is talkig to Iranian engineers, scientists and business leaders of the Bay Area.

San Diego
While in the US, I mostly stayed with Ali Tassoudji, my brother-in-law, in Cardiff-by-the-Sea, near San Diego. Here, almost daily, I visited the San Elijo Lagoon enjoying its nice scenery and watching birds.

Every year there is an air show in the Marin Corps Air Base in Miramar, near San Diego. In October 2002 we visted the interesting air show. Here are some pictures of the event.

Yosemite
I have tried to see as much of the American natural beauties as possible. We had a trip to the Yosemite National Park. We were joined by Mike Simmons, his wife Sherri and Babak Amin-tafreshi, a science journalist from Nojum magazine in Iran. (Photo: Babak Amin-tafreshi)
Ali Parsa in yosemite

Hiking, Deserts, etc.
I have done some hiking and desert crossing in California. A backpacking trip to the Sequoia National Park's Eagle Lake, hiking and desert crossing in the Anza Borrego desert near San Diego, a short backpacking trip to Joshua Tree National Park and many day hikes with the hiking group of the American-Iranian Professionals Association (AIAP) are among these activities. The picture is from a trip to the Anza-Borrego desert.
I climbed Mt. Whitney in May 2002, together with Yazdan Aghaghiri and two other young Iranian scientists, Hossein Hashemi and Kasra Moghareii. Check the pictures out in Yazdan's Mt. Whitney pages.
AIAP hike

Mt. Rainier
In Aug. 2021 I joined my friends Kiana and Hamed to climb Mt. Rainier in Washington. They intended to climb to the top, using ice techniques. I was not prepared for such a climb and settled to stay in Camp Muir.
Here are pictures of that trip.