This evening I walked the remainder of Buena Vista Avenue in Alameda, from Grand Street to Versailles (near where I'd parked), and the rest of Fernside Blvd. (from Tilden Way to High Street).
I also had the opportunity to walk a small loop which involved crossing two bridges -- the High Street bridge from Alameda to Oakland, and the Fruitvale/Pearl Street Bridge from Oakland back to Alameda (both shown as short, solid red lines on the Bay Trail map).
After crossing back into Alameda, I made the hike, northwest up Buena Vista Ave. (double yellow lines on Bay Trail map) to Grand Street and back to the car, passing the Marketplace on the corner of Park and Buena Vista. The Marketplace contained several small restaurants and shops (Sushi King, East End Pizza, Ching Hua Chinese Cuisine, and Culina), and included Alameda Natural Grocery Store, the Beanery Coffee Company, and Farmstead Cheese and Wine. The remainder of Buena Vista was through residential neighborhoods. I enjoyed passing by the many older, wood Victorian style houses this evening.
Walking Distance: 3.7 miles
I don't always eat before walking, but when I parked in front of Pasta Pelican, I felt tempted to have a light dinner; and I thought there might be some good views of Oakland, across the water, from a table by the window.
The Shoreline Park area of trail (solid red wavy line on Bay Trail map), off Marina Village Parkway, was beautiful; and dozens of Canada geese, a few black-crowned night herons, and a smattering of ducks, sea gulls and crows apparently thought so too.
Just a short distance further northwest giant cargo ships lumbered through the Inner Harbor, but all was tranquil and calm here.
A note of caution about walking the Posey Tube: the narrow sidewalk you'll be walking on is barely wide enough for two people to pass each other.
4 pigeons; 28 sea gulls; 7 crows; 15 swallows; 5 little brown jobs (LBJs); 70 Canada geese; 9 ducks; 3 black-crowned night herons; 1 robin; 1cormorant; 2 domestic cats + 1 feral cat hunting in dry grass
Today was a short walk, with many stops in the Central Ave. area of Alameda -- looking at books on the San Francisco Bay at Wilmot's Books on Central Ave., and wandering down 4th Street and looking for places to eat in Ballena Bay. I didn't do much walking. In fact, my 1,000 mile amble may be the slowest walk around San Francisco Bay on record. Some days are like that. I get out late, and then it's dark. But, whatever time spent walking in between is wonderful.
Technically, the Ballena Bay area (shown as a gray dotted line on the Bay Trail Map) may not be a fully developed/included part of the Bay Trail (yet). However, some dotted line areas I've visited, like this one, are still walkable. And the curved portion of this walk (encompassing a marina) extends out by the Bay and affords very nice views of ships and the distant San Francisco skyline on a clear day.
I'm not sure why, or how, I'd forgotten that being in Alameda for a sunset would be a great experience. Tonight I was reminded why this was the case as I was walking through the Robert Crown Memorial State Park and Beach, Crab Cove Visitors Center, and a gated section (only open during the day, until dusk) of paved (asphalt) trail running by/through what I'm assuming was a condominium development (private property).
Robert W. Crown was evidently a State Assemblyman who helped campaign for parks in California. The Crab Cove Visitors Center, located within Crown Memorial Park, was closed when I walked by, but this center contains exhibits and information about the area.
Regarding the history of the extended Crown Memorial State Park/Beach area, the long (2.5 mile) stretch of beach on this part of Alameda was popular with past as well as present generations; and the beach has been replenished with more sand from the Bay from time to time. This beach area was once called the "Coney Island of the West."
I walked along the beach and out to the end of a rocky peninsula at Crab Cove, and enjoyed seeing a family out fishing. Three little girls danced around and jumped in a big puddle with their dolls, to the consternation of their mother, while dad fished. Kids will be kids. At least everyone looked like they were having a good time. They might be cold and wet and complaining later, but you're only young once I guess. I can say this because I'm not their mom.
On the walk back, the clouds finally dissipated enough to allow for a great sunset -- with Alameda homes in the foreground, and the distant outline of the San Francisco skyline in the distance. I think I have to come back for another Alameda sunset.
I played cat and mouse with the weather today in Alameda. I started walking in Alameda Park, but hadn't gotten more than 50 yards from the parking lot when a light rain starting falling (again), so I aborted this walk, and started to drive away, but then the rain stopped. So, I re-parked near Encinal High School -- a few blocks away (double yellow lines on map) and started walking again. Encinal High School has a jet mounted and parked in the front of the school. (The school's sports and other teams are known as the Encinal Jets I believe.) This is another symbol of times gone by -- when the island of Alameda once housed a U.S. naval air base.
The Main Street-to-Central Ave. trail segment was a mixed residential, commercial and industrial area that had sidewalks or setback areas most of the way; and traffic was relatively light, making for a relatively easy walk. If you're on a bicycle, the road narrows and becomes a bit more crowded in the double yellow lined area.
From the paved (cement and asphalt) ferry and pier area trail (solid red line on Bay Trail map), I walked southish on Main Street (double yellow line section on map), through an extended area that had once been part of, or adjacent to, the Alameda naval and seaplane base. The large, open paved area is still in transition, with some areas being fenced off, and other large hangar-sized buildings being renovated and occupied by commercial tenants.
I walked as far south as West Atlantic before turning around, largely due to the threat of rain. Best not to be too far away from the car, especially if you forgot to bring an umbrella.
Thank you to Jackie for showing me around the Rosenblum Cellars space, and for information on the company's zinfandel red wine lineup. The company buys wine grapes from several vineyards and estates in California and age and bottle their own wine.
2 little brown jobs (LBJs); 4 sea gulls; 1 pigeon; 9 chickens/roosters (through fence, at a nursery); 1 brown pelican
Even though we've been having a cool, even rainy spring this year (2011), the evenings are lighter longer, and when I walked by schools, sports teams were practicing after school, and the sounds of a lively softball game emanated from a nearby field on Fernside Boulevard. Because of the recent rains, a healthy crop of flowers were growing in almost every small yard and garden I passed.
My walk on Fernside Blvd. through or along a mostly residential neighborhood spanned from the Bay Farm Island bridge and Marina on the southwest end, to High Street on the northeast end This walk was shown as solid and double red lines on the Bay Trail map. However, sidewalks along the entire route made this a convenient and accessible walk for pedestrians. Family or young bicyclists might want to use caution as vehicle traffic moves along swiftly on parts of this road and there is a slight incline and narrowing of the road on the southwest end (approach to the drawbridge).
Partway through this walk, I also veered east to venture into a few tiny park by the water that had a sweeping view across San Leandro Bay to the south and east and of the Oracle (Oakland) Coliseum in the distance. A few vigorous looking kayakers were out on the water, paddling and making good headway.
I turned around when I reached High Street, and decided to finish walking the rest of Fernside later this month, as I wanted to complete a walk further south while it was still light.
Today's walk was a shore-to-shore walk -- from one side of Alameda to the other.
I then walked southeast on Grand Street (area shown as double red lines on map), passing through a quiet residential neighborhood with several older Victorian style (wood) homes. Near the intersection of Grand and Otis, I was able to catch glimpses of an interesting, irregularly shaped, swath of lagoon area.
Continuing a few blocks further to the end of Grand Street, I arrived at Shoreline Drive (shown as perpendicular solid red line to Grand St. on map). Having reached the other (southwest) side of the island of Alameda, I crossed Shoreline to walk out to the beach to enjoy the sand and small waves lapping at the shore; and then I turned around to walk back (northeast) on Grand.
Eventually, I connected with the Bay Trail (solid red line), and followed a waterside trail to a Shoreline Park (behind Wind River office building I believe) and public promenade area with excellent views of the downtown Oakland skyline (which was a few miles
3 sea gulls; 24 little brown jobs (LBJs), 4 finches; 2 crows; 4 pigeons; 4 butterflies/moths (2 white, 1 black and yellow, 1 skipper); 1 hummingbird; 1 killdeer; 5 swallows; 2 bumblebees; 1 lizard + 1 blur in the bushes (BIB); 1 brownish cricket or grasshopper hopping away.
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