Flâneurs

Indeed, I ended up doing the third June Challenge in September, just as I did the second in July and the first in August.

From the options for Theme III, I ruled out the first two (lately I drive to work, plus if I used the public transit route I used to use, the results wouldn't be very interesting; finally, it was a weekend, so I didn't want to end up at work) and chose option D randomly. Starting from my apartment in downtown San José, I picked an hour for my duration, and went:

left on South 2nd St. to begin, passing by familiar scenery (the only urban density on the route)

right onto Paseo de San Antonio, a pedestrian corridor going past the Camera 12 movie theater among other things (hmm, "Red Hook Summer", I should see that)

left onto South 1st, right onto West San Carlos, left onto Market: this gets closer to the convention center area, with hotels and stuff, but also lots of empty storefronts with "For Lease" signs

right onto Balbach and left onto Almaden Ave., entering a residential area (the rest of the walk continued to be residential), after which I crossed under the 280 freeway (I had thought that starting this challenge from my apartment would be tricky since I live in a neighborhood that's completely encircled by four different freeways, but fortunately there are enough underpasses).

right onto Grant, passing a bakery that smelled really nice (but seemed to be closed), left onto Almaden Blvd. (not to be confused with Almaden Ave.), which became Vine; I passed by an apparent salsa dance class going on in someone's front yard, to the tune of a Spanish cover of "My Heart Will Go On"

right onto Oak, where I found a store to buy a new flavor of paleta (changunga), left onto Locust, right onto Willow, which had a brief spattering of businesses, including several yummy-smelling taquerias, left onto Palm, right onto Humboldt, left onto Lick. From here I could see Tamien Station, the next station south of Diridon, where I get off to go home if I'm taking public transit from work or San Francisco. Only a few trains actually stop there, so I'd never been before.

Right onto Alma, where I was convinced I saw a bear in the parking lot of a new-looking high-rise development, but it was actually a woman in a brown dress. My hour ran out just before I would have crossed under the 87 freeway and train tracks. Walked back to Tamien to catch the light rail to go home (only 11 minutes, as compared to an hour walk; for once, the light rail is good for something).

Also there are pictures.

I was busy in June, so I decided to do the June challenges in July. I don't expect credit or anything :-)

Theme I, option A says:

"Get on the first bus that comes along (and that you're able to get onto).
While travelling on the bus, look out of the window until you see something interesting.
Get off at the next stop, go back, and thoroughly investigate the interesting thing"

I started from home, in downtown San José, California. I live right on a transit mall street, so I literally walk out the door and see a bus stop with six or seven different bus lines. VTA buses are terrible, but even on a Saturday afternoon, where I live is enough like a transit hub that there are buses every few minutes. I only had to wait a minute or two before the 23 bus (destination: De Anza College, in Cupertino) arrived...
( Read more... )

So the very same evening that I did my aforementioned walk, I decided to try another challenge, since the walk was kind of lackluster. Having already done one from each category, I picked a theme at random to repeat, and chose Theme I (buses). Generating another random number, I picked challenge (d), where you pick a number n between 3 and 20, figure out what the nth stop is on a bus line running from the closest stop to your home or workplace (I was at work, so I picked work), and navigate there using any method other than buses.

My random number was 12, and the closest bus stop was the westbound 22 bus stop at El Camino Real and Castro in Mountain View, CA. The 12th stop going west was at El Camino Real and Curtner in Palo Alto, near the California Ave. Caltrain station. I had the options of biking there, walking, or taking the train; generating another random number, I ended up walking. The 22 bus in this area runs down just one major thoroughfare, El Camino Real, so my walk was just down the one street.

The walk took about an hour and a half, and I left at 8 PM, so more of it was in the dark than I would have liked. It made for an interesting contrast with my suburban residential walk earlier, because El Camino Real is boring in a different way: scaled for cars, not people; businesses oriented towards keeping your car going (lube shops and gas stations) and keeping you alive and awake long enough to drive your car somewhere else (motels and fast food). That's El Camino Real. The Mountain View part is junkier and more oriented towards selling you cheap stuff you don't need; when you get to Palo Alto, it's more about motels and one contemplates a time before interstate freeways when you would take a lengthy road trip that was just down 40-miles-an-hour roads through suburban areas.

When I got to the bus stop, the terrain was just starting to look like someplace people lived instead of a strip-mall/motel wasteland. Not counting waiting, the bus ride back to El Camino Real and Castro took 15 minutes.

For theme II (lines), I picked (a), where you choose a railway terminus and walk along the line that terminates there, or as close to it as possible. Since I started my walk at 8:30 PM, I went for the minimum of one hour.
( It didn't go all that well )