High-falutin' city livin'
I've been housesitting in San Francisco since Christmas Eve and while I initially grumbled about the oh-so-faraway location and the low pay, I've really come to enjoy the gig. The client lives in a really nice loft slightly south of AT&T Park, and the dog, Bella, is extremely sweet. There are large TVs with many, many channels to watch, squishy couches to lay on, a spirally staircase to climb, and all of the city to explore.
At first I was fairly frightened by my surroundings. While there are definitely some nice, expensive stores and apartment complexes around, there is also a halfway house a couple of blocks from me and there are always homeless people wandering the streets. It also didn't help that the first two nights I was here everything was utterly abandoned because it was Christmas, and as my sister so aptly put it, "It's like 'I Am Legend'!" D:
The last couple of days I've had the time to properly explore though, and I gotta say I can see why some folks would elect to live in a city like this. There is so much to look at and explore, and so much of it can be reached on foot! I love walking cities. Plus there are shiny storefronts and interesting people. Yesterday my sister and I walked to Union Square and back, which definitely worked the feet.
Today I decided I'd go for a run along the waterfront trail that goes from the ballpark through the piers. I ran under the Bay Bridge, through the Embarcadero, and stopped briefly at Pier 39 before running back. I really enjoyed running towards the bridge and seeing it set against the sky and some tall buildings, while blasting "Dr. Horrible" and "Viva La Vida" on my iPod. It was beautiful.
I was also curious to find out how far I ran, and I looked up ways to measure a running route. This site is so amazing! I could just set little markers along the route that I ran and it'd tell me how far I went and how many calories supposedly burned. Neat.
And therefore, I must proud a little because this is the farthest I have ever run.
Then after I came home and had a hearty lunch, I took Bella on a walk to Mission Dolores Park, about two miles away. It's so intriguing to see how SF changes between a couple of blocks, going from industrial to slummy to fancy to eccentric to historic.
Anyways, the four mile roundtrip to the park, on top of the seven-ish miles I ran, ensured that my joints are now complaining heavily. My left ankle, the one that I twisted badly in July, is absolutely killing me. I'm bummed because I had hoped to run again tomorrow, but mainly I'm scared because it took me two months to get it back to working capacities.
Oh well. I had a fantastic time today, and it was definitely entertaining to pretend that I was a seasoned citizen of San Francisco as I weaved through the crowds of tourists.
At first I was fairly frightened by my surroundings. While there are definitely some nice, expensive stores and apartment complexes around, there is also a halfway house a couple of blocks from me and there are always homeless people wandering the streets. It also didn't help that the first two nights I was here everything was utterly abandoned because it was Christmas, and as my sister so aptly put it, "It's like 'I Am Legend'!" D:
The last couple of days I've had the time to properly explore though, and I gotta say I can see why some folks would elect to live in a city like this. There is so much to look at and explore, and so much of it can be reached on foot! I love walking cities. Plus there are shiny storefronts and interesting people. Yesterday my sister and I walked to Union Square and back, which definitely worked the feet.
Today I decided I'd go for a run along the waterfront trail that goes from the ballpark through the piers. I ran under the Bay Bridge, through the Embarcadero, and stopped briefly at Pier 39 before running back. I really enjoyed running towards the bridge and seeing it set against the sky and some tall buildings, while blasting "Dr. Horrible" and "Viva La Vida" on my iPod. It was beautiful.
I was also curious to find out how far I ran, and I looked up ways to measure a running route. This site is so amazing! I could just set little markers along the route that I ran and it'd tell me how far I went and how many calories supposedly burned. Neat.
And therefore, I must proud a little because this is the farthest I have ever run.
Then after I came home and had a hearty lunch, I took Bella on a walk to Mission Dolores Park, about two miles away. It's so intriguing to see how SF changes between a couple of blocks, going from industrial to slummy to fancy to eccentric to historic.
Anyways, the four mile roundtrip to the park, on top of the seven-ish miles I ran, ensured that my joints are now complaining heavily. My left ankle, the one that I twisted badly in July, is absolutely killing me. I'm bummed because I had hoped to run again tomorrow, but mainly I'm scared because it took me two months to get it back to working capacities.
Oh well. I had a fantastic time today, and it was definitely entertaining to pretend that I was a seasoned citizen of San Francisco as I weaved through the crowds of tourists.