In fact, beyond climing stairways and hills for exercise, I've developed a growing urge to get to the top of things, to see what's in the distance. I suppose I'm looking for a reminder that there's a world out there.
See, I've been working from home this summer, and while I think it would be a lot easier in a city where I was better settled, telecommuting from the study/guest room has been a bit isolating. TCH is pretty busy with his resident schedule, so finishing work and heading out to explore the city solo, rather than staying home and feeling lonely, has taken some discipline. I enjoy this place so much more, though, when I put on my sneakers and head out to find a new peak with a new view. The other day I climbed a stairway, then hiked up the rest of the way, to the top of Twin Peaks. The stairway (Pemberton Place) was very well-maintained, and featured a water fountain that would allow me and my dog, if I had one, to get a simultaneous sip. Like this:
Which reminds me: does anybody but me remember the 'Love Toilet' spoof from Saturday Night Live? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EBmvlvZQIcM
But I digress.
Anyway, after the staircase ended, it turned out the sidewalk didn't go all the way up the hill, so for a while I practiced Defensive Walking (people coming down the winding road were way too psyched about taking the hairpin curves fast and wide), and then I ended up bushwacking my way up the hillside on a sort-of path. When I got to the top, I was rewarded by a 360-degree view of San Francisco and the Bay Area. Beautiful!!! It was windy, and at one point I glanced down and saw a hawk below me, floating in mid-air and held aloft by the breeze. I would have a picture to show you, but the camera ran out of batteries. [Note: the camera being out of batteries was the end of a bigger oops involving a dropped (and broken!) camera, new camera purchase, trying out new camera, forgetting to charge batteries - so by that point I was done complaining.]
I climbed steps (yes, more steps) to the tops of both of the twin peaks, then headed down, bushwacking my way down the hill on loose red soil. It turns out that when you slip and fall, the red soil melds almost completely with your clothing, and for the next several hours, people give you and your rear end funny looks. I suggest wearing rust-colored pants for this expedition, or perhaps just trying to be more coordinated than I am!
The really interesting part of all this is that even within the city, there are a lot of sort-of-natural places you can get to. The stairs up to Coit Tower wander around terraced gardens with gorgeous flowers (yes, I stop to smell them sometimes!), and many of the little adventures I've gone on count as bonafide "urban hikes." Sometimes I feel a little wistful that my own apartment is a bit far from many of these places, so that in my day-to-day life I don't see a great deal of greenspace. However, there are green areas all around the city, and it just takes a little time to get to them. The other place I've visited that had such an intertwined relationship with nature even in the urban environment was Norway, which I visited several years ago for work. Even in the biggest cities in Norway, there are dedicated urban forests and hiking areas, because the Norwegians believe that people need contact with unplanned, unharnessed nature on a regular basis.
Anyway, is it any surprise that it's taking me a little while to feel at home here, given that the city reminds me most of a foreign country 6,000 miles away?
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