It's been awesome tracking how far I've walked over this trip, but for the last two days my FitBit band has been on its last legs and this morning it finally snapped. I guess I just literally wore it out with all my walking. Well, not really. I think the oil in my sunscreen wore it down because the same thing happened to it when I was in Florida in February. I was smart enough (naturally) to get some scissors and cut the bad and made it fit inside the key holder in my crops. Perfect. Luckily it seemed to sense my steps just as well as on my wrist. Once I settled the FitBit debacle, I went online to HopStop directions for my two mini excursions for the day. I was going to head to Berkeley, home of the Braverman clan of Parenthood (duh!) and of course the University of California and then to Stanford University in Palo Alto. I love walking around college campuses and was so excited for this.
In order to get to both of these places which also happen to be in complete opposite directions of each other and from the city, I had to take public transportation. Alone. Ahhhhhh. I was so nervous because I suck at directions but since I HopStopped it and even printed my directions (I'm so lucky my hotel has a business center with free printing!) I decided to hit up Berkeley first. I had to take the BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) there and thankfully the station was really close to my hotel. The only reason I had heard of BART was because of the movie Fruitvale Station. If you haven't heard if it, go Google it right now and then see it. Immediately. If you have heard of it and haven't seen it, go see it immediately. Now! It's phenomenal. But bring Kleenex with you. The train I was taking was heading to Richmond which I believe is the city where Coach Carter takes place. Rich-wha? Richmond! Rich wha? Richmond. Yyyeeessss! Okay. (Another movie I need Kleenex for.) I made my way to Berkeley just fine (thankfully it was very easy to navigate) and when I got there I also realized that the train system here is similar it the Tube in London and the Metro in DC where you have to swipe in and out and are charged by the distance. It's not like the subway in NYC, but really, what is?
When I got off the train in downtown Berkeley I was so proud of myself for making it all the way there. Huge confidence booster. I get so nervous in other cities about getting lost, especially when taking public trans alone, so this was a big deal for me. I immediatley walked to campus to check it out. There were tours going on and lots of people walking around. The campus was pretty; not U of I pretty, but pretty. Gosh, I want to go back to Champaign. (Mom, we are going when I come home!!! K? Great, thanks.) The campus town was also really cute. There was even a little taste of NYC with Artichoke pizza! Who knew? Walking around the campus and the town just really made me want to be in college again! But who doesn't feel nostalgic walking around a college campus?
I was so hungry early on, that I just decided to get a very early lunch. There was a cute grilled cheese place called The Melt that I stopped at and had a grilled cheese with bacon. I can't even tell you the last time I had a grilled cheese and this one was so delicious. It gave me the boost I needed to walk around some more and then I headed back to BART so I could make my way to college campus number two. On the way there I passed this adorable little dessert shop called Cinaholic which was basically a design your own cinnamon roll place. You got to pick the frosting flavor you wanted and toppings. I didn't want a whole cinnamon roll so I got an mini one. And Although there were tons of frosting and toppings options I went with original. It was the perfect little two-bite snack. Screw cupcakes, cinnamon rolls are the way to go! I hope this is a new trend.
I successfully took BART (right back through the city where I had begun) to the Caltrain which happened to be exactly like the Metra train I take at home in Chicago. Like seriously, the exact same train cars and sounds. It was reassuring and made me feel at ease. I took my seat on the top level as I do at home and rode until my stop in Palo Alto. They conductor never checked my ticket which was annoying because I paid for it! Ugh. Waste of money, but whatever, I made it there without any issues. Go me. I am getting the hang of this direction stuff. I got off the train and headed right for the Stanford campus. It was in the total opposite direction of downtown Palo Alto which I needed to hit up after but wanted to see the campus first. When I got to there I was totally overwhelmed by its beauty and its size. I mean, I've seen a lot of college campuses but this one was just gorgeous. Like, I want to go here for school. Everything is pristine and manicured and just so damn beautiful. I think it's the prettiest college campus I've ever seen. I was totally in awe. The fact there are tons of palm trees on campus doesn't hurt their cause either but that's just a little part of its magnificence. And let's also not froget that Stanford is a phenomenal academic school. After walking around the main quad area and wandering a bit, I wanted to find the Athletic Campus and see the facilities. Using my newfound map reading skills, I made my way over there and probably the most impressive thing I saw was their aquatic center. Huge blue pools and tons of different level diving boards. It's definitely not something you see outdoors in the midwest or East Coast. The sky was blue without any clouds and the temp was just right and it just seemed like I was in a picture perfect scene of a movie. This was real people's college lives. Pretty cool. I walked passed the football practice field and even got a glimpse of some shirtless, brolic, sweaty D1 football players. No complaints here. Sure, they are 10 years younger than me, but these are grown men.
My high school friend that I had met for lunch yesterday actually had a meeting at Stanford that day and our timing worked out just right so she was able to pick me up and we drove to downtown Palo Alto and walked around. It was a cute little upscale town. We walked around a bit and got cookie ice cream sandwiches as a snack. I have been eating such crap on this trip that I would NEVER eat back at home, but I'm on vacay so trying to convince myself it's okay every once and a while to treat myself and not feel gross about it. We walked a bit more and she was nice enough to drive me back to the city. I was super grateful and we got to catch up even more on the ride home.
I covered tons of ground today. Making these two trips on one day is a lot and I feel so lucky to have the energy and ability to do so. Each one of these places is easily a day trip and of course I could have spent each time exploring both (especially Stanford), but there is only so much time in the day. It was an awesome day though and I totally felt accomplished. When I got back to San Fran, I treated myself for a much-needed and well deserved pedicure. These bad boys have been overworked the last two weeks so needed some love. I then came home, showered, and ordered some Thai take-out. Thai food is apparently big here (and something I never order in NYC) and there was a place a few doors down from my hotel. I called in my order, picked it up, and ate it in bed while watching TV. I was a happy camper. A nice relaxing last evening in San Francisco since I head home tomorrow. Waaaahhh. I don't want this trip to end.
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