Taking it on the Road

I am on vacation and facing the challenge of staying on my exercise program while away from home. This morning two of my grandsons and I drove to the track at Berkeley High School. While I did three blocks of walking and stretching, they lapped me as they jogged several miles. This is their month of vacation from swim practice, so they are staying in shape along side me. Surprisingly, Astroturf, or whatever they call it these days, is great for floor exercise. It's very clean compared to real grass or even the floor of my living room.

It was such a pleasure to walk on a track in morning fog, with the wind of the of San Francisco Bay in my face as I made the first turn. Now I know why all the US distance runners train in Oregon. I wish I could join them. Despite knowing its a necessity, I really hate to sweat. I have very thick hair and at home the sweat starts within in my scalp, wetting the the roots of my hair and working its way outward until it is drips off my bangs into my eyes. Walking in fog reverses this process. The cool vapor condenses on the ends of my hair and gradually works its way inward cooling my scalp.

After our workout we headed for San Francisco, and spent the rest of the day at a science museum and walking in the beautiful landscaping of Yerba Buena Gardens. I easily got in another block of stair climbing and ramp walking as well as just general city strolling. This was all well and good until we happened to pass " Ice Bee, Free Style Swirling," an extraordinary ice cream parlor. The place was tiled with exquisite Biazza Italian glass mosaic tiles, and lined with an even more exquisite line of softserve ice cream nozzles. There were twenty flavors, or thirty if you count swirling two conjoined flavors together. Each customer takes a pint cup and works their way down the row of nozzles taking whatever they want. I took banana, chocolate, and peanut butter and crowned it with smashed-up peanut butter cups from the toppings bar.

Oh well, as my grandson said, "We're on vacation!"