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Open Streets, Etc.
Oct. 14th, 2012 10:44 pmToday was Berkeley's first Open Streets, where they blocked off about two miles of Shattuck to make it an open walking/riding thoroughfare. (They also blocked off most of the crossings, to make it really feel like a pedestrian plaza.)
So Kimberly and I headed out a bit after 11 to see the various cool stuff that was being done. There was lots of music. I think a group of kids on fiddles and a Jewish folk bands were my favorites. REI had a few different things going on including a climbing wall. I of course had to try it. I got about halfway up the wall, but just couldn't get up further. I think maybe if I'd taken my shoes off I might have done better, as the main problem was not getting a foothold on some of the smaller surfaces. I was also, actually, getting a little nervous from the height, since I hadn't yet tried the harness descender to see how totally secure it felt, very. Anyway, very cool.
Lots more going on too. We saw kids (and one adult!) riding around a bike course that showed them how to stop and signal. We saw lots of people playing chess and mostly kids hula hooping. We saw at least two groups of yoga people, which was well attended, and one instance of zumba dancing which was almost empty. Lots of people seemed to like the ecstatic dancing though, and looked like totally spazzes. We spoke with the East Bay Bike Coalition and they talked me into voting yes on B1 even though it's a sales tax without a sunset, unlike the one it's replacing. We also talked with Transit to Trails and got a nice map of Berkeley (which I think was on my Amazon wishlist) and a nice map of trails that you can take transit to.
I was generally surprised by the lack of foodage on the street, but when we got to North Berkeley, we found a scant couple of food displays. We ate at some grill where Kimberly (sadly) got a fatty pork sandwich and I (happily) got a delicious heirloom tomato, mozzarella, and basil sandwich.
By the time we'd walked all the way to north Berkeley and back, I was pretty tired out (on top of standing most of the day yesterday), so I collapsed.
This evening, after dinner, I decided to do a bit of biking, since I felt like I'd neglected that lately. So I went straight up the hill, then over the top of the stadium, then through some of the North Berkeley hills to the top of Cordonices Park, and back.
It wasn't a long ride, but it had some nice hill climbing. I enjoyed seeing some beautiful scarlet sunset views of the Bay, though I never really got clear enough of houses for it to be spectacular. I also had some fun on pitch black North Berkeley Hill roads.
I used that new Berkeley map that I got from Transit to Trails, because it showed grades, and it did a great job of guiding me through streets that I could bike (basically by avoiding the ones with grades of 10%+). Why doesn't Google Maps show grades!?
This evening, after snack, Kimberly and I emptied our living room of furniture. That's because we have painters coming tomorrow. The main purpose is for them to finish our bathroom with a nice set of paint. However, we also decided to have them repaint our living room ceiling which has been flaking and cracking as long as we have lived here.
But, we'll have medium-level inconvenience for a couple of days, as our living room and main bathroom are out of commission.
Then no more house renovation for quite a while.
Tomorrow, I'm off work as I was conning on Saturday and I badly need my weekends nowadays. Kimberly has very kindly offered to coordinate with the painters, so I get to go out and get lunch, ride up into the hills, and then do some research for Designers & Dragons at Lake Temescal or at Shepherd Canyon.
So Kimberly and I headed out a bit after 11 to see the various cool stuff that was being done. There was lots of music. I think a group of kids on fiddles and a Jewish folk bands were my favorites. REI had a few different things going on including a climbing wall. I of course had to try it. I got about halfway up the wall, but just couldn't get up further. I think maybe if I'd taken my shoes off I might have done better, as the main problem was not getting a foothold on some of the smaller surfaces. I was also, actually, getting a little nervous from the height, since I hadn't yet tried the harness descender to see how totally secure it felt, very. Anyway, very cool.
Lots more going on too. We saw kids (and one adult!) riding around a bike course that showed them how to stop and signal. We saw lots of people playing chess and mostly kids hula hooping. We saw at least two groups of yoga people, which was well attended, and one instance of zumba dancing which was almost empty. Lots of people seemed to like the ecstatic dancing though, and looked like totally spazzes. We spoke with the East Bay Bike Coalition and they talked me into voting yes on B1 even though it's a sales tax without a sunset, unlike the one it's replacing. We also talked with Transit to Trails and got a nice map of Berkeley (which I think was on my Amazon wishlist) and a nice map of trails that you can take transit to.
I was generally surprised by the lack of foodage on the street, but when we got to North Berkeley, we found a scant couple of food displays. We ate at some grill where Kimberly (sadly) got a fatty pork sandwich and I (happily) got a delicious heirloom tomato, mozzarella, and basil sandwich.
By the time we'd walked all the way to north Berkeley and back, I was pretty tired out (on top of standing most of the day yesterday), so I collapsed.
This evening, after dinner, I decided to do a bit of biking, since I felt like I'd neglected that lately. So I went straight up the hill, then over the top of the stadium, then through some of the North Berkeley hills to the top of Cordonices Park, and back.
It wasn't a long ride, but it had some nice hill climbing. I enjoyed seeing some beautiful scarlet sunset views of the Bay, though I never really got clear enough of houses for it to be spectacular. I also had some fun on pitch black North Berkeley Hill roads.
I used that new Berkeley map that I got from Transit to Trails, because it showed grades, and it did a great job of guiding me through streets that I could bike (basically by avoiding the ones with grades of 10%+). Why doesn't Google Maps show grades!?
This evening, after snack, Kimberly and I emptied our living room of furniture. That's because we have painters coming tomorrow. The main purpose is for them to finish our bathroom with a nice set of paint. However, we also decided to have them repaint our living room ceiling which has been flaking and cracking as long as we have lived here.
But, we'll have medium-level inconvenience for a couple of days, as our living room and main bathroom are out of commission.
Then no more house renovation for quite a while.
Tomorrow, I'm off work as I was conning on Saturday and I badly need my weekends nowadays. Kimberly has very kindly offered to coordinate with the painters, so I get to go out and get lunch, ride up into the hills, and then do some research for Designers & Dragons at Lake Temescal or at Shepherd Canyon.