Alameda

A trip into downtown Oakland for just the second time in two and a half years came with a few surprises. First, we ended up in the exact same neighborhood as we did the first time. 

In January of 2019, we road the BART into to town to watch Kamala Harris announce her candidacy for President.This is in no way a political blog, but I do talk about the events of MY life so I will occasionally talk about things that may cross lines. 

Before my father passed away, he would put up signs for his Republican friends who were running for office on one side of his front yard and the signs for his Democrat friends who were running for office on the other. He would not understand this world. 

Neither do I.

Walking in downtown Oakland, we were surrounded by over 10,000 people in a non-pandemic world. People were shoulder to shoulder to shoulder and no one thought twice about it.

Today the streets were quiet. Yes, it was 7:00 am, Still, notice there are no cars anywhere on a Wednesday morning. You can also see a mural of George Floyd in the left had side of the photo above. If was one of many we saw painted throughout the city. 

When we heading into town this time, it was cloudy, even a bit dreary. To stay off the freeways, we ended up driving under the Bart for a good portion of the trip. It was a unique perspective having ridden over the top many times on the train into San Francisco. 

We drove past the Oakland International Airport. The Coliseum, home of the Oakland A and the former home of the Oakland Raiders now the Las Vegas Raiders. 

Numerous, numerous homeless encampments, most seemed to be empty. Perhaps due to the pandemic.  Many of the homeless have been moved into local hotels to prevent spread of the coronavirus.

We also drove past Lake Merritt, a tidal lagoon, meaning salt water lake in the center of Oakland. Shocking, a salt water lake just off the San Francisco Bay. The lake was beautiful, even in the gloomy grey fog covered morning. I hope to come back and see it in the sparkling sunshine.

By time we left the doctor it was pushing noon. My scan had turned into outpatient surgery. Bah. The sun was shining brightly as we went past Lake Merritt on our way out of the city. This time, it was my brain that was covered in anesthesia fog, and I don't actually recall going past the lake, at all.

Driving back on Mission, we decided to go out onto Alameda (Island). Greg continued to quote, "There be whales here," from Star Trek, years gone by. 

We drove around in circles for a while. Found a donut shop called, Homemade Donuts, so we will never find that one again. They were delicious. Of course, they were DONUTS, and I had been fasting for FIVE days.

Eventually we found water! On an island! Go us!  It was right at the USS Hornet Museum.  Sadly the museum was closed due to COVID. It would have been closed to us because it was Wednesday, as well. So either way, we were not getting in to see it.

It is planning on re-opening in August, so we will have to go back. We will bring Natalie with us, for sure. There were several planes displayed outside like the one pictured above.

Pictured above: see Mary trying to walk around big rocks on flat beach while still under influence of anesthesia. They warn you about driving machinery or signing important papers, but they don't say anything about ROCKS!

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Three swimmers in the Bay with floaties.

Greg and a crane.

The coolest thing was the three different colored layers of rocks against the water,

 dark green, white and gray.

Greg scallop hunting on the beach. No otter showed up to swap his scallop for some pearls.

We found this sweet heart someone had made out of rocks in the sand.

The beaches of Ballena Isle Bay.