Travel Diary

I got to sleep in until around nine or 10 and simply relax a bit. The weather was outstanding for December. Not warm, of course but definitely not freezing cold like Seattle. The skies were clear. I got a few things done and then was picked up to go to Livermore around 1 PM. We left early enough to beat the traffic which would be getting pretty bad on a Friday afternoon going east on 580.

After unloading at the client's place, an optometrist business, I opted to walk around 1st and 2nd Street and see some of the old places. It was fun to see how things had or had not changed. The Donut Wheel was still there so I went in and violated my “do not buy” that one time and got a doughnut. It was decent – nothing particularly awesome, but it was still fun to it out once again. Then I headed down 1st street and saw that the Vine Cinema was still there, which was cool. After that, I headed over to the venue to get ready for the show.

The client turned out to be an exceptionally good audience, and everyone appeared to have a wonderful time. Afterwards, we took some photos and I chatted with some people since we had Livermore in common. It looked like most of them grew up there and remained in town. After the show I opted to skip getting a ride back and just walk. Yeah that's about 7 to 10 miles but I had nothing but time and it was still early around 5 PM.

I first headed east and found that around the Carnegie Park building. There was a small Christmas festival with music and food booths, and people having a great time. It was nice to see a glimpse of what life was like for them around the holiday season. I then headed over to the big new part of Livermore downtown and walked by those shops and places. Things were quite busy. Next, I headed west down 1st Street, taking photos of many other places and noticing which businesses were still around after so many years. I then passed by the Vine Theater and noticed how they were still playing current movies instead of old ones, which used to be their formula. I suppose it works, even though there's another theater playing the same movies down the street.

I walked over to Stanley Boulevard and got on the long road to Pleasanton. Stanley is a straight shot to Pleasanton, but at night it's completely dark, and even the path isn't visible at times. But no one is really on it. I think I only saw one person walking the entire time, and maybe two bicyclists. It's just not something people take at night. (I mean people that aren't me.) In Pleasanton, I stopped at McDonald's for a bite to eat. I always try to check out the Value Meals as sometimes you can find something pretty decent. I found that I could get a chicken sandwich, a small fries, four chicken nugget nuggets, and a soda for five dollars, which was an exceptionally good price.

I walked along Valley Boulevard, going past one of my old neighborhoods and then on over to Stonebridge, which led me back to the hotel. By the time I got there, I had a few blisters and 0% on my phone. I guess I used up the entire battery for the day, but that was fine. I took a shower after that and settled in for the night.

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