Mandela Pkwy - June 12, 2011

Walking Distance: 4.1 miles
Walking Time: 4 hrs., 5 min. (11:15 - 3:20 p.m.) includes 2 long stops
Start and End Point: Best Buy parking lot; East Baybridge Shopping Center; near north end of Mandela Parkway, Oakland, CA

Today's walk was along Mandela Parkway in Oakland (shown as double red lines on Bay Trail Map).

After stopping to look for a camera-related item at Best Buy, I walked north toward Emeryville, to the Rug Depot Outlet on Hubbard St. (previous stopping point in the area), then south on Mandela Parkway in Oakland.

This mixed industrial and residential area had some interesting examples of graffiti and street art, and along much of parkway was a median park strip with grass and flowers in the middle, making for a pleasant walk.

What should have been a 2-hour walk down Mandela Parkway to the West Oakland BART station on 7th and back, stretched into a 4-hour walk, because I stopped to see some artists' works (part of Open Studios weekend) at Peralta Studios; and I also stopped to eat a late lunch at the Brown Sugar Kitchen.

Wildlife Sightings:
3 butterflies/moths (1 white, 1 black and yellow, 1 skipper); 2 doves; 11 pigeons; 12 sea gulls; 1 robin; 1 blur in the bushes (lizard?); 2 crows; 1 blue tennis ball; 1 stool, 1 chair, 1 couch