Sunday I began my day in the hotel's restaurant/bar, the Daisy.
Friday evenings there is live music in the Daisy which is partially why
I had decided not to walk from the airport after arriving Friday evening.
Saturday night I stuck my head in and was quick to remember that I am not a night club goer
so was more than happy to make my trip to the Daisy for a tame breakfast.
As it turned out,
I ended up walking Sunday morning a distance equal to or greater than
what would have been necessary to walk to the hotel from the airport.
It was a lot more enjoyable to walk the route during the daylight.
I got to experience a calm Mediterranean morning in Little Italy
with a view of the bay just before the air traffic got going for the day almost
directly overhead.
My walk continued north towards the airport, but turned inland and rising up a steep slope
which reminded me of those in San Francisco which I've seen only on television.
As I climbed up the sidewalk the description occurred to me of it being so steep
that you couldn't pave it with asphalt.
I glanced to the ground and what did I see?
Indeed this one block of Laurel Avenue
was paved with lain concrete slabs while the rest of the street was asphalt.
Finally I made it to Balboa Park which had been perhaps the highest of my goals for the weekend.
With all the great and free museums available to me in Washington DC,
I did not spend any time inside any of the buildings except to pass through one or two courtyards.
After the long walk through town I was ready for a long sit, surveyed the bench scene, found one
that I liked particularly and took a rest.
From there I enjoyed a comfortable breeze imagining how nice that breeze would be
in the hot summers.
As I sat I began to observe more closely the things happening around me.
Some sort of performance was being readied complete with fancy
costumes of various styles and colors.
After my relaxing sit and some more bench hunting,
I found another bench with a more comfortable sit and closer to the outdoor organ pavilion
where I was to meet up with my co–worker sometime during the concert for the rest of my stay.
As the vocalist warmed up for the concert I shared a bench with another park goer chatting little but pleasantly.
Between sitters I was allowed to take a picture of another bench unoccupied for my Benchmark Guide website, but
not without having to explain that I was not trying to steal the bench away from the duo standing aside awaiting their turn to sit.
They did not even flinch or indicate in any way that my request was odd.
Perhaps they just thought I was odd and were used to running into harmlessly odd people,
but I prefer to think that so many people out there are bench aficionados and appreciate the value of a good bench.
My take was justified further later in the week in La Jolla
where I would be beaten to benches
not once but twice as we walked along the cliffs toward the popular Children's Pool,
popular not due to it's opportunities for children (at least not human children),
but due to its having been taken over by
seals and sea lions.
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