Sunday on my own

Yesterday was much more relaxed than the other two Saturdays I've had in California. I had planned to check out the Oakland zoo with one of my roommates, but it was supposed to get into the low 90s so we decided not to stand around outside all afternoon. So, instead we took a nice stroll down to the shopping area here in Emeryville. We stopped a couple of places, but mostly just explored to see what is available. I bought an armband for my MP3 player, an instructional book for playing the drums, and a little bit of See's candy. We then came back to the apartment and just relaxed the rest of the day.

Today however was another crazy exploring day. I really wanted to go back to the church I visited last Sunday so last night I figured out the quickest route to get there via public transit. Then, I got up and headed out. I ended up not taking the bus I normally take to the train station, but just walked the 2.5 miles instead. This sounds a little crazy, but I wanted to stop at Pixar on the way to pick up my earphones that I left at my desk cause I knew I'd want them for the rest of the day. So, it was a little easier to walk to Pixar than to ride, and I ended up just missing the bus from Pixar to the train station, so I walked that too. I then rode the Bart over to San Francisco and walked the three blocks to the church. The service was very good again and the worship was simply outstanding. i hung around for a little while afterward and met the pastor and a few other people before walking over to another burrito restaurant and getting lunch. This time I took a picture of my mostly eaten burrito. The picture doesn't do it's size justice, and it's just $5.

Once I was done eating I was craving some soft serve so I stopped at a McD's (I know, how lame), and got a cheap hot fudge sundae. I very much enjoyed it while I walked up several blocks to the southwestern edge of downtown to catch a bus. The bus took me over to the eastern edge of Golden Gate Park. Now this park is actually several miles from the bridge which I found rather confusing when I first heard about the park.
It is 176 acres larger than Central Park in NY, so in other words...it is HUGE. I ended up walking the full length of the park (about 3.5 miles!) and getting see a lot of the diversity it offers. I was so surprised to see all the different little sections of the park. After I'd been walking for probably 45 minutes, I started hearing some music, which I soon found out was some type of large rock concert. There were probably 5,000+ people there and I just "stumbled" across them in the middle of this park. Most of the park was fairly empty and I enjoyed the peacefulness a lot. I finally exited the western end of the park which is right across the street from the Pacific Ocean! This was actually the main reason I went to the park in the first place.

The beach was wide and sandy, but very windy and cool. There were lots of people out on the sand but no one was in the water for several reasons (deadly undertow, great whites, and freezing water). I called Jessica to share the beach with her (we both love the beach), and then just sat at the edge of the sand and took in the air/sound/smell/feel that comes with the open sea. After that I walked a couple blocks inland and caught a bus, got off that bus and caught another, which didn't go far enough so I caught another, to end up at the Golden Gate Bridge. The winds were even stronger near the bay, but I walked about 1/3 of the way across the bridge and back and took several pictures as you can tell. I waited around for a bus that was heading back towards the city, and ended up having to ride three more buses to get back to the Bart station to get back to the east side of the bay. I finally got back to Emeryville at about 7:30, which was an hour after the last bus left that goes by my apartment. (It only runs till 6:30 on Sunday, stupid bus) So, I decided to just walk it, and walked the 2.5 miles again.

So, just in case you couldn't tell, the theme of my day was walking and buses. I figured out that I walked more than 11 miles today and rode 7 different buses! But, even so I knew God was helping out. First of all, my feet really held out and I can tell I'm getting in better shape cause the walking is much less intrusive than it was just two weeks ago. Also, I ended up only having to spend about $1.00 more for transportation, than it would have cost to just go to church and back home! The SF buses have a transfer ticket that allows you free transfers for 90 minutes after you've purchased your ticket. Well, today, for some reason when I got on my first bus after church and paid my $1.50 fare, the bus driver gave me a transfer ticket that expired at 7:00 pm, 5 hours after I got on the bus! Then throughout the day I took my time and didn't feel like I needed to rush at all and just figured I'd pay for another fare if i was out later than my transfer ticket allowed. Well, it ends up I boarded the last bus I needed to take at about 6:52. So, I rode 7 different buses all over San Francisco for a grand total of $1.50! And that last bus took me to a Bart station that is closer to Emeryville than the one by the church so it was actually cheaper to get home than it would have been.

So, all that to say I had a great day with a lot of virtually free fun. I hope you enjoy the pictures. Oh, and I also added a picture of the 20 foot tall Wall-E that was inflated in the Pixar Amphitheater this last Friday. The whole place is abuzz with excitement for the upcoming release. You better all go watch it or I will be greatly disappointed in you!