I came across the border early this morning and decided to try a shortcut walking to downtown; first took the shortcut across the overpass at the end of San Ysidro Boulevard, then right into the housing development, left on Brando and left again on Wardlow; follow it to International, then right onto it and follow it around and out. Then you're on Tocayo, hang a left; follow it to Hollister, then right. On Hollister somewhere between Iris and Coronado you'll find, in a vacant unfenced lot, a lemon tree and a fig tree side by side on the right side of the road as you're walking roughly North. I picked three of the figs, they were soft, plump, and purple, just perfect. Wasn't desperate enough to eat the lemons; a little further down, on Saturn between Coronado and Palm, there was an orange tree within reach of the sidewalk; I picked a small one, ate half of it, and used the juice of the half remaining to wash off the figs, which were already falling apart in my pocket, and ate them. Yummy. The orange was very sour, but the sweetness of the figs was a perfect complement. Rounded out my diet with a dollar Whopper Jr. at Burger King. Jack in the Box has a better dollar burger but for some reason I didn't stop there, I think it was on the wrong side of the street.
Anyway, I walked up the Silver Strand peninsula; I was almost dehydrated by the time I got to the state park, but there were plenty of water fountains once I got there. Sacked out on the beach for a few hours after quenching my thirst, and moved on. The sun was getting low by the time I reached the fancy, expensive shops of Coronado, and stopped at McP's for a Guinness and the cheapest thing on the menu, the clam chowder for $3.95. When the server came back to ask if I wanted another pint, I asked the price: $5. I said no thanks and handed her a $20 to pay my tab; when she came back with the change, she brought me another Guinness on the house! What a sweetheart. I probably should have tipped $3, considering, but I left $2 which turned out to be a good thing.
By the time I reached the bridge from Coronado into San Diego, the sun was already below the horizon but it wasn't yet dark. I saw the signs saying no pedestrians, but as far as I knew there wasn't any other bridge so I was going to go for it anyway. As I continued up the ramp, it became obvious that it was suicidal to try it, as there was no shoulder whatsoever, not a single inch of space. Maybe that's why there was a suicide hotline sign partway up the ramp! Major suckage, especially for a city and a state which usually provides excellent bicycle and pedestrian ways. The cops were waiting for me when I got back down the ramp, but they didn't hassle me much. I had just the right change, $2.25, for the bus to take me over the bridge, then used the transfer to catch the Blue Line to Hazard Center, where I'm typing this at the 24-hour Kinko's. But this Kinko's doesn't have free net access at the laptop workstations, so I'm going to have to wait to upload this; I don't want to guess an IP as I did here once before, and knock one of the paid workstations offline.
Anyway, that's not a workable pedestrian shortcut. Stick to the old reliable Beyer to Broadway to Main St. method.
last updated 2013-01-10 20:37:26. served from tektonic.jcomeau.com