Walking San Francisco

I announced last week sometime that I planned on walking the streets of San Francisco as soon as the weather cooperated. Well on Wednesday March 17th, it did and at 10:00 a.m. with my work out gear on, my man and I ventured to take the walk I had been planning to do for months.

I did mention I believe that after years of bashing the city, I realized I have grown to appreciate and love it in more ways than one. I normally drive through the city to get a dose of my appreciation, but Tuesday I opted to walk it.

We started out at the Cliff House, an area called Lands End and decided to follow the trail eastbound and see where the road took us. I must say the terrain was a bit muddy and uneven, but the scenery most wonderful and the ambiance perfect for meditation, minus the fear of coyote signs. Anyway, that stretch of our walk was about 3 miles and was along the coast, we were done by about 11. At the other end of the trail was the Legion of Honor Museum and El Camino Del Mar, where some of the beautiful homes are located, we passed through the neighborhood and headed toward the Presidio area leading to the Golden Gate Bridge,which was another 3 miles. This part of the trail was pretty gruesome and tiresome, because walking through the woods was most difficult and having to walk parallel to the cars zooming along the highway was not the best thing to do. I really didn't care for this part.

When we got to the Golden Gate Bridge, we took a water and restroom break, and opted to continue through the Presidio to Fort Winfield Scott and then some more through the Presidio heading toward the Marina Green. This was yet another mile or so. This part was not fun either but since I was curious to know how the trail was, I kept going. By this point it was one in the afternoon and the sun was beaming. I think it was about 70 degrees. The most interesting part of the trail is the fact that the city is doing an amazing job of creating these wonderful walking, biking and hiking trails for people.

The Marina greens seemed dirty and muddy on Wednesday, of course because of all the rain we had weeks before. It was not the best area to walk through either because of all the dirt and construction but since everyone seemed to have taken a day off Wednesday to enjoy the weather, there were alot of people walking along with us as well

By this point we felt completely dehydrated and stopped for a smoothie but because it was so close to lunch, we decided to share a strawberry, banana and mango juice smoothie. It was so delicious, I wish we each had our own. I realized by this point that I didn't care to go toward Fisherman's wharf and suggested to my partner we turn right and head toward the Palace of Fine Arts so we could tackles the hills heading toward Pacific Street. I love architecture and being able to taking a walking tour of the beautiful homes along Pacific Heights was most ideal for me. So when we got to Union Street we decided to have lunch in order to get some energy to go on. So we stopped at AScew and had a salad and lots of water.

At 2p.m. we decided to head up Buchannan Street and turn right on Vallejo and walk, as we walked we noticed the hills ahead of us and although I was aching by this point, we decided to go up the steepest anyway on Vallejo. I must say it was very difficult to enjoy the homes along the way, when you are worried about a possible heart attack or a seizure of some sort. What was so funny along this "trail" was a man passing out pamphlets on the steepest hill in the city. We couldn't believe what he was doing and whatever he was passing, believe me no one in those homes was interested in it.

Anyway, we finally reached the top of the hill and then decided to move toward Pacific Avenue so that we could make our way West toward the beach in order to pick up the car. Three miles to Lake Street and then down another 4 miles toward the car. When I looked at the sign we hadn't even hit the numbered streets and I just wanted to jump on a bus and head toward the beach. My partner, an avid competitor in most sports pushed me to continue. From 2nd Avenue to 48, it felt like there was no hope as we continued to walk slower and slower. I wanted to stop, he didn't let me (very typical), so we walked and ached and when we finally got to 46th Avenue, I told him I was having a meltdown so he started to push me from the back. I was delirious and completely out of breath. We finally got to the car and didn't know how to sit down in it.

It was 5p.m. when we finally got home and I jumped into the shower, ate a quick dinner and went to bed. The funny thing is I love the outdoors but after Wednesday, I don't want to be out for a while. I haven't yet fully recovered, my mind was mush and my body aches in places I never knew could ache. I think he feels the same as me and I know for a fact, he has no plans on walking for a few days or perhaps weeks or maybe even a month. So now I can check this goal off my list of things to do in 2010.