Morning Moon

Daytime Moon around 7:20AM, Tuesday morning.. on Bancroft near Fulton..



taken with my iPhone so not so good..

Walk "Fail" =)

Walked up Cedar thinking: "..Yeah! today's a great day to go up into the hills!" My calves had other plans.. so I turned around and walked back down..

Oh! but it was worth the short walk uphill..


Golden Gate view..


not so much a 'fail' as a long walk postponed.. the view was still great!

"Live Outside"

Wednesday the 23rd, a few hours were spent in the city.. including some time at the library to pick up some books.

After the library I was about to head back to the Eastbay and spotted this mural on the side of the Holiday Inn just off Market and 8th..




The light wasn't ideal on one end so it's a bit over-filtered.. (which is my fault)





with very little research (and making sure to photograph the artist tag at the bottom of the piece) I found out the name of the mural is "Live Outside" and the artist is AmandaLynn..

Beautiful Day in Berkeley

Saturday around Noon..

Library Walk

I had some books due and some I was keen to take a look at, so I headed to the city Friday after lunch.. A librarian at the SF Main branch had recommended I check out the Richmond Branch up near 9th & Geary..

Since my last walk was a success I decided the day was nice enough to walk there.. Oh! but the grade was such that it took me some time!

Exiting the Montgomery BART station, the Hobart Building comes into view:



Daytime Neon.. passing "High Tide Lounge"


Drive-In..


this hill kicked my butt..


First Unitarian Universalist at Gough & Geary.. I totally got confused by this intersection at Gough.. but managed..

It was a straight shot from here to the library.. just a really long uphill walk. I've decided next time I'll take the bus there and then walk home!

The light wasn't ideal for many of the images I wanted to take, so there's very few.. When you see this next one, you'll see what the issue was:


Richmond Branch SF Public Library.. an amazing selection (considering the availability) of Russian Language reading materials.. Including children's book selections.

Once I got to the library I turned around and found I could see our friend Sutro Tower from the steps of the Richmond District Library.. So of course I couldn't end my post here without including it..


..and yes, I did check some books out. I ran into a super nice, helpful young gentleman librarian who helped me find a couple useful books and pointed me in the direction of some other books I could take a look through. I plan to read and work through over the Spring Break. When I return the books hopefully the sun will be at a different angle (time of day at least) so I can try to shoot some photos again..

I managed to run "Map My Walk" during the Geary from Downtown to 9th portion, so I know I walked well over the 4mi. here (for example: to & from home to the BART station back in Berkeley is a half mile each way, and then after the Richmond library I walked to 20th & Geary and back to 16th & Geary for tea before taking the bus back to Market from 17th..)


MAP MY WALK: Geary St. (link to route and elevation w/splits, etc..)

View from Center

The rain having let up for now, and the skies blue.. Here's a view mid-morning from the 4th floor of Berkeley City College looking to the hills..

Cats of Berkeley 4

sweet tabby taking cover under a car during the weeklong rains..

Cats of Berkeley 3

Cow Kitty seen at rest in South Berkeley Tuesday morning..

Sutro Walk Adventure

I have an assignment for my Geography class that has me thinking, (unrelated to the assignment) about how our waste gets reclaimed by nature and the land.. You think about sunken ships that become habitat for marine life.. So, I was wondering if someplace like Sutro Baths would be considered a good example of nature overtaking a wreck of architecture, far out near Ocean Beach. I headed out to the city to see if there was anything there I could also use for my project; I got some good shots (and a LOT of walking in) but am unsure if I got the proof I was looking for.

First, the bus dropped me off by the VA (I haven't taken this particular route since 2002 maybe when I tried temping out here.. the commute was always frustratingly long and exhausting, so I didn't stick with it.) Even now I consider it the 'ends of the earth,' so it's hard for me to convince myself to come out here often. However, Ocean Beach is nearby, among other things, that makes it satisfying.

There was a side trip to the Legion of Honor to check out the Pierre Bonnard exhibit and "The World in a Book"..(Oh Nürnberg! They had some Albrecht Dürer woodcuts which was nice to see..)Oh, but the key reason to come out was to walk the trails and visit the ruins and the beach..


here some lichen grows on steps..


many signs posted warning people to not venture beyond these fenced off areas due to erosion..


Sutro Ruins..

The only swimming pool action here is by ducks and seabirds.



A bit of red algae blooming in reclaimed pools of Sutro Baths.


Ocean Beach was mostly deserted because of the rain.. but some people and their dogs took the time for a wet game of fetch..


Finally here you can see Sutro TV Tower almost completely cloaked in the fog.. the legs of the tower just peeking out. While the rain wasn't overly heavy, it was constant.

I mapped the walk (via Geary for the most part) from near the Great Highway to Market (about 6.5 miles) but didn't take many pictures after leaving Ocean Beach.. My cel was practically dead.. (I took too many photos, so I couldn't run "map my walk" at the same time,) You can see the entire set from Friday's walk HERE.

Evening Long Walk on Fulton (SF)

Monday afternoon I headed to the city to attend a small gathering at the Univ. of San Francisco campus. It's a little over 2 miles from Market Street, so a completely doable distance for walking. I've walked back to Market from the school a couple times (it's mostly downhill) so walking uphill didn't seem like too much for me at all.. (nothing compares to the Great LA Walk I've attempted a couple times, so whatever.. easy stuff!)

my stats:

short walk uphill to the Univ. of SF campus..

I walked as far as Starbucks and stopped in to get a drink and something to eat, then walked the rest of the way to the school (only a couple blocks) from there.

the clouds looking especially amazing Monday above the Sutro TV Tower.. I've been fortunate to be near the campus at different times of day and it always looks so cool there.. morning fog or fading light.. or in this case, bright blue sky with moderate cloud coverage.


St Ignatius on the USF campus against the swirling evening sky.


another of Sutro Tower and the hills beyond from the USF campus.. not quite 5pm..


It's a shame USF is so out my reach, because it really is an accessible campus and a walkable campus.. and the views.. well.. I love the views, of course.

So, what made it a "long walk on Fulton" was that I didn't plan to walk back to Market. I wasn't sure what time I'd be done or if it was a good idea to walk through Civic Center after sunset.. I just started walking and figured if I felt unsure in the darkness, (or if one came along,) I'd hop on the bus.


San Francisco City Hall at night..

I'm not saying one should or shouldn't walk in the city at night, but I admit to having doubt that it would be an option before I left Berkeley, and didn't plan for it. However, the weather was good and I felt fine, secure..

I didn't need the sweater I brought (I always expect it to be chillier than in Berkeley) I was hot when I first arrived in the city before I started my walk.. and in the evening I really didn't need to be wearing my sweater, either.

Walking through Civic Center I thought I would feel uncomfortable and yes, while there were a couple sketchy areas.. In front of the Asian Art Museum (no surprise for me given my previous passing discomfort with the mentally ill there) and Civic Center/ UN Plaza area outside the BART station.. So had I taken the bus, I don't think it would have spared me any anxiety.. FWIW, outside BART was the only place I was worried for my person, and taking a bus wouldn't have helped.

The nice thing, is that the walk to & from the school gave me lots of time to think about things: to take in my day, to contemplate how school is going for me, to organize my week, to reflect on little pieces of conversations I had through the day and the evening.

Long walks are ideal for me to be "alone" with my thoughts.. though I was far from alone, as usual. There were plenty of people walking to their own destinations with me but not with me. I was alone with myself in the city and that was fine.