Trina's page of Blogginess

Dick and I took a little bit of an urban hike around San Francisco this afternoon to enjoy the beautiful weather.

Here are a few of the things that we saw....


This cracked us up. We noticed it as we were walking past a window to a neighborhood bar. We named him "Bloody Mary Man". :)


It's hard to tell from this photo, but it was a crowded day at Dolores Park!


And finally - this was the long line outside Bi-Rite Ice-Creamery.

Labels: city walk, san francisco

It was sunny and beautiful this weekend, so Dick and I decided to take one of our nice, long urban hikes around the city today.

We did our usual Sunday-walking-thing of stopping at interesting looking open houses along the way.

We saw 4 properties in total today. All were really great in their own way. We don't usually like every house that we see in one day.

It's an interesting time to watch the housing market. Prices are certainly lower than they have been in the last couple of years, and places are staying on the market longer. The listing agent at the first house we went to literally said, "Tell all your friends!" to us at least 4 times while we were there.

The first house we saw is just a couple of blocks from our house. It's a single family home that was remodeled within the last two years. They did a really nice job. It's a nice, but smaller size for a single family home - around 1500 sq. feet, but has a nice layout and good size rooms. (Tell all your friends!)

The second house we walked to was all the way past Alamo Square Park. We had actually seen this article featuring the house on sfgate.com this morning. Dick not only loves old, Victorian houses, but he also loves the old Victorian style of decorating. This house was totally up his alley. If he had full-say in the matter, I think this would be how he would want to decorate our home. (It's a little too much for me, personally, but I totally appreciate the attention to detail, and the antique furnishings). The bones of this house are really pretty great - they managed to keep most of the original floor plan, which I always love to see. This house has a very similar floor plan to the house that Dick used to own in the Mission. The owners that had it before Dick had gutted the entire back half of the house, though, to make larger rooms. They had removed the servants stairs in the back of the house, which this house still had.

The third house we say today was a gorgeous and HUGE Queen Anne near Alamo Square. When I say huge, I'm talking 4,200 sq ft, and on an over sized lot (almost 5,200 sq. ft.) We actually spoke with the owner as we were leaving. He said that he/they had bought it 5 years ago, and had been working on renovating it ever since. It's quite the house. Really nice floor plan, really nice, large rooms, and good quality choices and craftsmanship. I'm wondering who has the $$ to pay $3 Million on a house outside of Alamo Square, though.

The last place we saw was a nice condo near Duboce Park. I can't find a website for the listing. Nice place, though. :)

We really enjoyed our walk around town today. It felt great to get some exercise and some sunshine!

Labels: city walk, san francisco

really?

Wow. Here's a surprise. According to this article, Madison, WI was voted the #1 city in the US for walking.

Having had the pleasure of living in Madison for 2 years, I have to admit, that I'm quite surprised. Now granted, I lived there during the months of October through May, so I was certainly there during the cold season.

But the truth is, I don't remember ever walking anywhere when I lived there! It was simply too cold. It's a beautiful place, and really pretty during the spring/fall, but what about the rest of the year? It's really, really cold during the winter, with a LOT of snow and ice. And it's hot and humid during the summer.

San Francisco ranked #3.
Hmmmm...
All I can say is that, personally, I walked in San Francisco on a regular basis a heck of a lot more than I ever walked in Madison.

curious.

In case you're wondering, Austin, TX was ranked #2.
I haven't been there, but I hear it's lovely.
...and warm.
...and it doesn't snow.

Labels: city walk, san francisco

Wow! What a day!

The weather today was spectacular (especially for February) so we decided early on that we should get outside, and do a big city walk.

We walked all the way from our house to the Pacific Ocean! That was a first. It was just over 7 miles.

We walked from our house, over the hill to Buena Vista Park, down Haight Street, and into Golden Gate Park. We walked the entire length of the park - through Sharon Meadows, pass the Tennis Courts, pass the Conservatory of Flowers, along the new De Young Museum and the Japanese Tea Gardens, and around Stow Lake. We grabbed a hot dog at Stow Lake, and watch the pedal boats, ducks and turtles in the lake. Afterwards, we continued west, past the track, the fly fishing pond, the lakes and the bison. We make our way around the Windmill, then crossed the Great Highway 'til we reached the Ocean!

It took us about 3 hours in total, which we were pretty amazed at.

We stopped for a drink at the Beach Chalet, and snacked on some yummy garlic fries :)

Afterwards, we walked along The Great Highway to Judah Street and caught the N Judah MUNI, took it back to Duboce Park, then walked home.

The temps were supposed to reach up to 70 degrees today, which was just amazing. It was a crystal clear day, too. By the time we reached the Ocean, it was about 2:30, and still clear and sunny. As we were taking a break at the Beach Chalet, the fog started to roll in, and the temp dropped a good 10 degrees or so. That was well timed.

It was really a great day - great walk, great weather, and a great park! Plus, it's so fulfilling to say that we walked all the way from our home to the Ocean.

Labels: city walk, san francisco

I love a good urban hike!

Today, we set a new personal best by walking over 8 miles!

We left the house at Noon, and returned home at 5:00. When we left our house, we had no plan of where we were going, or how far we wanted to go. We just walked....

Around 1:00, we found ourselves on Eddy Street near Fillmore. I asked Dick, "You know what we're near, right?" He knew exactly what I was talking about! We turned onto Eddy Street, and stopped at Powell's Place for lunch! For those of you who have never been, Powell's Place is the place in SF for Soul Food. Yep. Fried Chicken, greens, and yams. It was delicious!

After lunch, we walked all the way to Pacific Heights, down to Chestnut Street. We even managed to squeeze in a few open houses in Cow Hollow!

We thought we'd make our way back up Van Ness Street to Market, then take the MUNI back Castro Street. As we were walking down Van Ness, I suddenly felt the need to complete the full loop of our walk - something we'd never done before. We took another break at a cool little bohemian cafe in Hayes Valley. Two drinks, and a chocolate chip cookie later, we were back on our feet, and walked back home.

So, we walked a little more than 8 miles in total. I'm feeling really good right now. It felt so good to really stretch our legs and breath in the fresh air all day. I'm sure we'll sleep well tonight! (and not feeling at all guilty about the fried chicken and chocolate chip cookie!)

sidenote: I always really feel really good about ourselves after Dick and I complete a big, urban hike.

...and then I remember that Tyler walked the entire length of Japan in 3 months straight!

It's really humbling to compare, because there's really no comparison at all! Oh well - I still feel good! :)

Labels: city walk, san francisco