It's that time of year when the countdown to Back-to-School begins. We have just three weeks until Albert goes back to school (Kindergarten!). So I made a list of things that we might do. Some of these are things I had planned in advance, some of these we may not get to at this time but we'll come back to it later when we have more money and time.
beach Zoo Discovery Cube San Fran Central Library Water slides Playdates Getty museum Botanical garden Dodger game Drive-in movie San Diego Santa Barbara
Shampoo rugs Declutter tv stand in Queen suite Declutter closet in Queen suite
Declutter close in King suite Declutter kitchen corner cabinet
CicLAvia the Valley Feb 26, 2023. We biked to it down the Reseda protected bike lanes. Changed a flat tire. Drank champurrado. Albert napped on the bike. Couldn't make it all the way back home. But it was exciting.
Amtrak to Disneyland May 14, 2023. We took the car-free vacation of our dreams. Got on a bus going the wrong direction in 90 degree heat with sleeping babies. Our strollers kept tipping over and spilled our luggage in the street. An IKEA bag was a lifesaver. We got sick of the train on the way home because it struck and killed a person.
Trainfest and Universal Studios September 12, 2023. This was an epic transit and walking adventure. We did train + subway + bus.
CicLAvia mini NoHo September 17, 2023. This was the first CicLAvia we didn't bring bikes to. We walked with a stroller and ate some doughnuts.
Holiday Lights Ride December 17, 2023. We decorated our bikes with a new set of Wheel Brightz. Albert scooted the majority of the ride and we ended up with hot cocoa.
It's been a great year and we are so blessed to have our health, our home, safety and job security.
This weekend we worked on our house tasks and took a day in LA. Last weekend, we did some shopping, then more shopping, then house tasks. What I mean by house tasks is furniture assembly and redistribution of items into the new furniture.
When we moved to our Northridge condo around 2.75 years ago, we agreed that we wouldn't buy any furniture or decorate until we had lived there for 1 year. After that time, we bought a few bookshelves, a pair of lamps and some end tables. Nothing too expensive, since we live across the street from the Goodwill. Maybe all together it cost $200 (or less). It doesn't look bad, in fact we were so overjoyed to have the extra space and white walls.
Now, we are preparing to babyproof the house, which means getting everything up off the floor and into containers that the baby can't get into. Hence the need for furniture. We bought two dressers at IKEA which have 6 drawers each. The space we were concerned about was a metal shelf that had everything exposed.
Xmas 2017 / New Year 2018
I don't know if you can tell, but the dry goods in the metal rack above are organized by plant family. Other items moved into the new dressers included: glassware, tablecloth, fabric napkins, dishrags, aprons. And my seed library!
The day in LA was fun and we did a lot of walking. Seeing the Walk of Fame is always an eventful day. We saw a movie at the Cinedome (56 years old) on Sunset and Vine, which is now called the ArcLight Hollywood. We ate lunch at Miceli's (a 70-year institution on Hollywood Blvd). I did wear my BellyBandit belt for a few hours in the morning, but I took it off at lunch. It was fun showing my in-laws how to ride the subway (Metro) red line.
I wish I had time to write more, but tonight we have a doctor's appointment and then Bradley birth class and then I am DETERMINED to get to the grocery store and get re-stocked. We've been eating out quite a bit since devoting our weekends to "home tasks" instead of grocery shopping and cooking.
Today I want to check-in. We have had our fetal echocardiogram at 21 weeks. We have had our 22 week appointment at the OB. Everything is looking good. No "holes" where they shouldn't be in baby's anatomy. Cervical length is good. Upcoming appointments at 24 weeks will re-check cervical length and at 26 weeks test for gestational diabetes. I thought my blood pressure was high at 137/77 but my birth class teacher says that something like 150/90 would be cause for alarm.
Tonight is the fourth of my pregnancy HIIT workout classes (out of 6). I think it came along in just the right time of my pregnancy, where I had energy, which I am starting to feel is dwindling.
Last night was the second of our Bradley birth class. I am grateful for the information we get in these classes. Such as, the Babycentre diet I've been following lists papaya as a common food for the second trimester but I didn't know why. Our teacher explained that it is a natural source of digestive enzymes which can act as a natural antacid. The Bradley birth diet emphasizes eggs as a protein source. I also didn't know why, but our teacher explained that eggs represent complete protein that is easy to digest. As the baby gets larger, he will occupy more of the volume of my body cavity, leaving less and less room for my stomach. Hence, I will need to rely on eggs to get the protein I need rather than beef or other slower-digesting foods.
I started to google "bicycling while pregnant" this past weekend. The articles I found suggested that women experience a range of reactions from stopping entirely right from the moment you get a positive pregnancy test (like myself) all the way to biking until delivery. I feel comfortable with my decision, I don't regret deciding to step away from the bicycle, but some days I do miss it. For example, there is a CicLAvia coming up near our house and I guess I'll be supporting it in some way other than on a bicycle. Maybe we'll do some tabling.
We completed the third part of our three-weekend babymoon. First, Sept 13-15. Second, Oct 11-13.
Third, Oct 25-27: It was kind of sad because my nephew tore his ACL in a football game so he is out for the rest of the season. But we did have a great time walking around Dana Point. We parked at the corner of Golden Lantern and Dana Point Harbor Drive. Then we walked to the Ocean Institute. It was beautiful and so relaxing. On the map it looks small, but in person it felt like a very long walk. Luckily there were restrooms along the way so nobody had to be uncomfortable.
I've been assigned a nurse by my insurance company who follows up with me about lots of things. She gave me some dietary guidelines to follow:
whole grains (1/2 cup cooked or 1 cup raw)
vegetables (3 cup)
fruits (2 pieces)
milk (3 cup)
protein (6 oz = 170 g)
water (64 oz)
The Bradley method diet recommends similar things:
whole grains (4 servings)
vegetables (3 servings)
fruits (1 serving)
milk products (4 servings)
protein (80-100 g)
water (to thirst)
I have been feeling well when I eat 2100 calories and unwell if I eat 1600-1700 only. Last post, I wrote that I was afraid of gaining too much weight too fast. My birth class teacher suggested that I wouldn't need to worry about an overweight baby (9 lbs or greater) unless I start to show symptoms of gestational diabetes. So I think I'm going to stop worrying about gaining too much weight, because restricting my calories really made me feel like crap (bad headache) and I lost 2 pounds pretty quickly. A big take-home of yesterday's class meeting is that diet is something we do have control over so we might as well be mindful of it. And a healthy mom has more choices when it comes to labor and delivery. Next class, we'll be getting into drugs.
Another great thing about our babymoon holidays was that I got into the swimming pool. It felt good the first time in mid-October (pregnancy week 18). I mostly just stood there in the water. I also tried taking a shallow bath at the hotel. I was scared the water was too hot and I was scared to fall getting in or out of the tub so dear husband helped and supervised me. It felt really good getting in the pool during the third babymoon weekend at the end of October (pregnancy week 20). I actually did some light treading water and swam some very slow laps. This past Sunday night (pregnancy week 22), I took a bath at our house. My birth class teacher said that swimming pools and bath tubs, in general, are good for baby unless there is any reason to suspect that the cervical plug has been disrupted. If we get any leakage of amniotic fluid, then public bathing will have to stop.
I had a big technology scare last week. My work computer wouldn't turn on (semester week 10). This was a big problem because my home computer also wouldn't turn on and we got rid of it mid-October (semester week 5). Time is flying by so quickly yet slowly. It didn't seem like that long ago but it didn't seem like such a crisis because we were starting to consider nursery configurations. But to have both computers go out, I started panicking because I still have 5 weeks to go in the semester and I need to do a lot of grading and preparing lessons. I ended up using an old laptop from 2011 that had Word 2003 installed. It was crazy. I couldn't find any of the functions because they've all moved around. But dear husband found a PC that wasn't being used. We put my hard drive in there and it booted right up (after we bought a $30 cable to convert from DisplayPort to HDMI).
We finished-ish our baby registry. It was kind of fun trying on babywearing stuff. I bought a couple pairs of new shoes in 1 size up from my normal size. They are both slip-ons because tying shoes is getting trickier by the day. I got a few new pieces of maternity clothing. I started getting excited about the upcoming holidays (Thanksgiving and Christmas) and wanted to have a few nice things to wear. It seems like each month is more expensive than the one before it, there are just so many little expenses that we have as we prepare for the arrival of this baby. Tomorrow we're touring a day care. They don't accept children under 12 months of age and they want a deposit to hold our spot.
I am looking forward to that time in pregnancy when I can stay at home and lounge around in yoga pants and a sweatshirt. I want to take my dog out on dog walks and eat whenever I feel like it.
Today, Wednesday, we are again in Week 1 of The IVF Diet. I weighed in at 196.5 lbs today. Not as much weight loss as I wanted, but at least I have not gained it all back.
I had a great time with my sister when she visited during the second half of May. I had hoped to do a lot more hiking with her, but we only had one epic day on Santa Cruz Island.
Then my dad came into town and we did a lot of sightseeing. Here is a list of what we did:
Saturday, May 25th
Old house / Glendale / Neon Museum ($10) / Brand Library & Park
Sunday, May 26th
10 am acupuncture / Skateland ($8, skates included) / BM e-bikes / CSUN campus tour / Japanese Garden ($5) / Water Reclamation Plant / India's frontier trains movie
Wednesday, May 29th
Griffith Observatory ($7 for planetarium show) / Autry Museum (FREE) / LA Zoo ($11 with 50% zoo reciprocity discount) / Griffith Park via LADOT DASH bus ($1) / picnic
Thursday, May 30th
Citrus Sunday @ Dearborn Park (~1320 pounds of citrus collected)
The Discover & Go passes from the LA County Public Library saved us $42 at the La Bra Tar Pits and $24 at the Autry. I recommend checking that out if you are expecting out-of-town guests and want to do some sightseeing on a budget. Even though the e-bikes were expensive to rent, that was one of my favorite things we did. I also loved the gardens (Japanese and Rose).
It was hard to keep to the diet while playing tour guide, but it was equally awesome to spend time with family. Keeping busy and doing lots of light walking kept my mind from stressing out.
We've ordered the next round of medications: estradiol, delestrogen, methylprednisolone, endometrin, and progesterone. I'm doing my best to stop from googling all those names to read up on the side effects. I'm just waiting for my period to start. This cycle has been long: today is day 33 and it has not started yet.
I have been going to acupuncture. I finally found a practitioner who took my insurance with no issues. I've had 3 visits now. The first visit, he told me that his goal was to increase circulation. I had a wonderful explosive diarrhea when I got home, so I'm guessing that worked. The second visit, he told me his goal was to make me feel safe. He said, "unless the mother feels safe, there can be no baby." The third visit, I found myself meditating on that feeling of safety and love. I was chanting a mantra of: I am ready and I am willing. Also: I am safe and I am loved.
At the Last Bookstore, I found a book called Sacred Woman which has some ideas for altars. I was thinking of putting together an altar anyhow and I have some time now to do some sculpting and painting so I will incorporate her suggestions for altars in those craft projects. I don't know if I can follow the author, Queen Afua, in all of her herbal recommendations and suggestions towards veganism, but I can definitely consider some of her yoga poses and dance moves for tapping into the divine feminine energy.
On Monday, May 7th, my dear husband attended Metro Vision 2028 Stakeholder Summit. He left the DRAFT of Metro's plan on the kitchen table and two figures stood out to me. Sometimes, I'm just not into reading text and I want to get everything I need from an image.
I love how the figure above gives you a visual representation of something invisible (carbon dioxide emissions). Single Occupancy Vehicles (SOV) are a selfish way to travel. You can see the huge cloud of combustion product generated. Driving to a light rail station, then taking a train can cut down your emissions by more than half! Taking the bus then taking a train cuts your emissions by a factor of 8. Doing the bike plus light rail reduces your carbon footprint by more than 20 times. That's powerful!
The appealing thing about the graphic above (to me) is the wait time of 15 minutes. If you factor in the time it takes to find a parking place and the time it takes to walk to and from your car, fifteen minutes is not a long time to wait to catch a bus or train. As dear husband always points out, how do you feel when you get out of your car after sitting in traffic for 2 hours? Don't you need time to refresh yourself and rest from that experience? When you get off a bicycle, it's so stress-relieving and wonderful that you're already refreshed and ready to do whatever comes next in your day.
I love love LOVE living on Reseda Blvd. We have lots of options for transit. It's hard to get to downtown LA using only the buses, not impossible, but it takes about 2 hours. But the Metrolink is fantastic, it's so fast! I hope to see more dedicated bus and bike lanes.
I have to write about my experience with Metro's bikeshare. I was totally pumped to try out the new docking station right in front of Pasadena City College, since I'll be teaching there again in the fall. Here's what happened...
(1) I bought a 1 month pass online using a TAP card I already had. A day later, I saw all the codes for one month free and felt like an idiot for paying. ooops!
(2) It was easy to walk up to the kiosk, which sent a code to my phone, and borrow a bike.
(3) The bike was so heavy, the first thing I did was drop it. ooops!
(4) I didn't realize the front basket was hinged. It looked REALLY small and my bookbag didn't fit and I thought "Why did they equip these with such a pathetically small basket?" Only upon returning the bike did I realize that I could've expanded the basket and fit my entire bag in there. ooops!
(5) After I started pedaling, I had to stop twice to adjust the seat height. I ended up leaving it at a 7, even though that was a wee bit too high for me. The bike was SLOW and I wanted as much leverage as I could get. And I stopped in the middle of Del Mar Blvd to adjust the seat. ooops!
(6) Then I realized that I had no idea where I was going. I had no plan. I didn't know where the bicycle network was. I was rolling on a bike that wasn't mine through city streets with moving traffic and the bike was SLOW, did I mention that? I wasn't lost, it just wasn't easy to locate preferred bicycle routes so I made a loop on streets with no bicycle infrastructure. ooops!
HERE is where you can find/return Metro Bikeshare bikes
(7) Along Del Mar Blvd, some cars/trucks/vans didn't want to give me 3 feet. Scary! And even more scary to be on an unfamiliar and SLOW bike. It's really hard to keep up with the speed of traffic. Honestly I felt the safest on Walnut when I was taking the lane. I guess it's OK that the bike is slow since I wasn't wearing a helmet, but a car could still have hit me going fast and I could have died. ooops!
(9) I was looking for stations to return the bike, but I didn't see any until I was back where I started. https://bikeshare.metro.net/stations/ Maybe a person has to get used to the network and where the stations are, and this familiarity will come with time, but I couldn't return that bike soon enough. I was looking everywhere for a docking station. ooops!
I'm not saying you should't try Metro Bikeshare for yourself... definitely try it. But I do feel like Bikeshare is better suited to a bike path (Waterfront), like down by the beach. When you don't have the infrastructure on your streets, it's just unsafe. Maybe the map on The Source's website could be somehow attached to the bicycle or posted on the kiosk so that people can more easily locate a safe bike route.
It's kind of crazy to me that Metro is suggesting you use Google Maps to navigate when there's no place to put your phone. Maybe if the bike had a built-in smartphone cradle, that would make sense. It's hard enough to manage navigating an unfamiliar bike in an unfamiliar place. Add to that navigating from a phone that you have to hold in your hand... that's a recipe for an accident.
Since I have a month pass, I'll try it again (maybe Downtown LA). What I've been saying since the beginning of Bikeshare's launch is that it's safer to take your own bike. It's cheaper too. $20 x 5 will get you your own bike. $20 x 30 will get you a pretty good bike. I find it hard to see how bikeshare fills a gaping hole in the transit network. And I fear that when/if Metro offers bikeshare ubiquitously they will try to ban bikes on trains.
I wanted to share a few experiences I've had with attending conferences on my bicycle, using the network of trains and buses that weaves a web throughout Southern California.
On Friday, November 4, 2016 I attended the ALEKS Chemistry Symposium in Irvine, CA.
On Thursday, November 3rd I took the Ventura County Line Metrolink train #150 from Northridge to LA Union Station and transferred to the Orange County Line train #606 to the Irvine Station for $10.75. Then I biked less than 3 miles to the La Quinta Inn and Suites.
It’s not that often that you can say you’ve stayed at a hotel listed under the National Registry of Historical Sites. Rooms are former lima bean silos and have a hexagonal shape. I stayed two nights for $217.78. Due to the concrete walls, the rooms are super-quiet even though the hotel is right next to the train tracks.
The conference went great, ALEKS employees that ride bicycles had a storage "under-the-stairs" area where there were already a few bikes and a few tools. It was hospitable and secure. It's always nerve-wracking taking your bicycle to a new place, not knowing if there will be bike racks outside or a safe place to lock-up. When you can bring your bike inside, it's always a great thing!
This last photo shows all the modes of transportation I used on that trip. (1) sweet bike lanes (2) nice sidewalks (3) convenient bus service. Traveling without a car is even easier when you can use Google Maps and other transit apps to buy tickets and access schedules to predict exactly when your next train or bus will arrive. There were about 20 people at the conference.
After the conference ended, I took an Amtrak Pacific Surfliner train from Irvine all the way straight to Glendale for $19. They have roll-on service for bicycles, but you must make a reservation to let the conductor know you are bringing your bike on board.
On Friday, March 3, 2017 I attended the 1st Annual Collaborative Chemistry Conference in Oxnard, CA.
After work on Thursday, I jumped on Metrolink Ventura County Line train #119 from Northridge out to Oxnard for $11.50. There was a group of commuters playing some kind of card game on their phones. One lady was celebrating her 20 year work anniversary. It's always a party on the bike car!
I stayed at the Flamingo Motel. It was not too fancy, not too expensive ($65). It was a short (0.5 mile) bike ride from the Oxnard Transit Center. The great thing is that there was a taco truck parked next door with fresh, hot food. The cable and wireless internet were fantastic, and the shower had great water pressure. It was quiet and I got about 10 hours of sleep!
To get from the Oxnard downtown area to the conference location, it was about a 6 mile bike ride. I left my hotel at ten minutes to 8am. Checking out of the Flamingo was easy. Google Maps gave me turn-by-turn directions for a scenic ride through Oxnard along mostly bike lanes. There was only one small climb, and the view was so fantastic I had to stop and take a photo.
I arrived at the conference location, Channel Islands Boating Center at 3880 Bluefin Cir, right on time for the continental breakfast. We got a swag bag from Cengage, which was awesome. The lunch was sponsored by Pearson. In total, about 30 people attended the conference. Again, I was able to bring my bike inside the conference room, it was a great conversation starter.
After the conference ended, I biked the 6 miles back to the Oxnard Transit Center again along mostly bike lanes. Although a few people shouted out their window, what I choose to believe are encouraging remarks, it was a safe and scenic bike ride. The Oxnard Transit Center (like the Irvine station) has a great waiting room. There are restrooms, benches, tables, and a cafe.
I recommend taking public transportation to conferences. It is a liberating experience.
I'm preparing to attend the 253rd American Chemical Society National Meeting in San Francisco. I'm presenting a poster entitled "Comparison of adaptive and traditional online homework systems in a preparatory chemistry course" CHED 157. The poster session will be from 7:00-9:00pm on Sunday, April 2nd in Hall A - Moscone Center.
Instead of taking my bike on a train, I'm taking an overnight Greyhound bus. It's a bit crazy, since I'm going up there on Saturday night (schedule 6862), presenting on Sunday, then coming back Sunday night (schedule 6849). The transportation cost is $85. The Greyhound operates these express buses that only make 4 stops: LA --> Avenal --> Oakland --> SF. The Avenal stop is 40 minutes, allowing passengers to get food.
It will be nice not to have to worry about locking my bike somewhere, no getting the bike on and off a bus or train. I'm looking forward to using my new Cotopaxi Luzon 18L Daypack. I'm going to make some progress on the billion step challenge by doing more walking. I'm definitely bringing a neck pillow and possibly some noise-canceling headphones to make sure I can sleep on the bus.
The Los Angeles Greyhound Bus Station is a 2 mile walk from Los Angeles Union Station (even though you would think they would be in the same location). Then from the San Francisco Greyhound Bus Station it's less than 1 mile walk to the Moscone Center. After presenting my poster, I'll have an hour to walk back to catch my bus to LA, arriving at 5:30am. Then at 6:51am I'll catch our normal train, Metrolink Ventura County Line Train #101 in order to arrive at CSUN to teach my class at 9:30am. I'll let you know how it goes.
Plan to take advantage of the opportunity to ride Metro Gold Line between South Pasadena and Azusa. I'll be in my Bikecar101 T-shirt leading the feeder ride from Glendale.
Having taken a bike on Friday afternoon, a car on Friday night, and a walk to the bus on Saturday (both ways), we knew we had to take a train on Sunday. Luckily, it was a CicLAvia (open street) weekend in Downtown LA and we got to ride bicycles from Glendale to MacArthur Park with an awesome group of people.
Since we had spent the majority of the weekend talking about bike advocacy, we cut our CicLAvia experience short and caught the early train back to Glendale.
The nice thing about catching Metrolink is that it is a short 10-12 minute train ride back to Glendale and then a 10-12 minute bike ride back to our house.
Metrolink monthly pass holders (like us) can ride the train system (bus and light rail, too) for free on weekends. Non-monthly pass holders have access to the entire system by purchasing a $10 weekend pass. There is now an app that you can use to purchase your Metrolink pass virtually, in case your trip starts with a bus instead of starting at the Metrolink station (like we did). Screenshots from the Metrolink app are shown side-by-side below.
Remember, your bus pass will not get you on the light rail. Nor will your light rail pass get you onto the Metrolink train. But a Metrolink ticket will get you on the bus and light rail.
Last, but not least, if you're going for a short trip, your one-way ticket on Metrolink will be cheaper than a Day Pass. But if you're traveling a long way (Lancaster to LA Union Station, which costs $11.50 one way) then the Day Pass will be cheaper even if you're not returning on that day to your original destination. The app makes it easier to comparison shop on your own schedule, without having to mess around with the ticket vending machine (TVM) at the actual train depot.
There is an agreement between Amtrak and the Glendale Beeline and several other bus providers for free transfers, but LA Metro buses only offer a discount to Amtrak passengers, according to Fox 5 News San Diego. If you do take Amtrak, you must call and make a bike reservation (800-USA-RAIL). Roll-on service is possible on the Pacific Surfliner AND the Coast Starlight. I guess Amtrak also has a mobile app, but I don't have experience with it yet.
Also, I learned that a Metro TAP card is how you use Metro Bike Share, but I haven't tried it myself yet. Have you?
On Saturday, October 15th we took Metro Bus 94 from Glendale to Downtown LA. It was totally liberating to travel without a car or bicycle. It was also totally convenient since we live 0.3 miles from the San Fernando / California bus stop, and the training we were going to is 0.2 miles from the Hill St / 6th bus stop.
Of course, we wouldn't have had to leave our bikes at home to take the bus... you can always put your bike on a bus. Also we learned that Metro has purchased enough 3-bike racks for all their buses, but they won't replace a bike rack on a bus until the old one breaks!
When people complain that Glendale isn't well served by public transit, I have to laugh because that just isn't true. They'll say, well I have to drive because it isn't convenient for me to get to a bus stop. Or something about their schedule being not so flexible. We left our house an hour before the event we were trying to get to, waited at the bus stop for over 10 minutes and still arrived at our destination 20 minutes early.
Taking transit gives you the freedom to allow yourself extra time. Therefore you arrive at your destination less stressed. We were the first to arrive at the training we were going to. We had time to get a cup of coffee and relax before the meeting got underway. It's a good thing we were there early so that we were there to greet the other attendees who were worried about being in the wrong place. We didn't have to pay for parking or remember where we had left our car.
An interesting thing we learned was that 80% of people in Los Angeles county live within biking distance of Metro Rail or fixed-guideway bus service like the Orange Line. I learned this fact from downloading the podcasts of KPFK Bike Talk. If you haven't listened to it, it's a great way to feel like less of a bike nut. Another thing I learned from Bike Talk is that when someone in a car makes you angry (or almost runs you over), the best thing to do is wave at them with all 5 fingers. It sounds simple, but really just hearing someone else tell me to do that goes through my mind when I really want to wave only 1 finger.
When Metro holds an open house workshop, it's important that community members participate because many of the city planning professionals don't bike, take transit, or walk. For example, we recently attended a Walkabout in our community. The planners that are writing the Community Plan asked the people who actually live in the community to come out and let them know what needs fixing in their neighborhood.
Unfortunately turnout was low and it was mostly people from outside our neighborhood who were making the observations. The planners are objective, but they don't have the perspective of how those streets actually work on a day-to-day basis because they don't live here. Maybe a Saturday observation is nothing like a Monday-Friday observation. A morning observation is not reflective of how that street flows in the evenings.
My apologies for the tangent... back to the 94 bus. It was great. We've taken it from our house before, but going in the opposite direction. When we've left our car at the Downtown Burbank Metrolink station, we can take this bus (stop Olive / San Fernando) walk over the I-5 freeway on a bridge, then take an elevator down to the train platform. We have also taken it to see a movie at AMC Burbank 16.
This MultiModal weekend showed us that we can take the 94 bus to access Angel's Flight, Metro Bike Share, the Jewelry District, and Chinatown. At Pershing Square, it's also possible to access the Metro Red or Purple lines (below-ground light rail, a.k.a. subway). It would also be possible to access the Mission San Fernando on the 94 bus, if you don't mind a 1.8 mile walk. It could also get you to the Sylmar/San Fernando Metrolink station (which actually runs on the weekend) to Newhall, Palmdale, and Lancaster.
Transit really works wonderfully when different modes have points of contact or intersections. Sometimes I think people are simply unaware of how to make those connections. For example, those city planners I mentioned gave us a token to take the bus and the bus driver said, "we don't accept those tokens anymore." Again, those who are making transit planning decisions don't even take transit enough to know how it works and how it has evolved.
We (my dear husband) and I were at odds with how to get to downtown LA. I insisted (for Friday night at least) on biking, while he insisted on driving. What we found using Google Maps is that Google suggested that the bus was actually the best way at 5:00pm on a Friday. After driving, dear husband acquiesced the next day and agreed to ride the bus. We both enjoyed the trip.
The NextBus app has really changed our lives and our confidence and security with taking transit. If you allow the app to use your phone's location, it will tell you the nearest bus stops and routes on the "Nearby" tab. For visual people, you can click on the "Map" tab and get the same information. For more sophistocated users, click on the "Transit" tab and define what Authority (e.g. Los Angeles Metro) and the stop number (if you're not using the location from your phone) or route (if you already know what bus number you want to take). Tell it which direction you're going and it will tell you the length of time until your next bus arrives.
Then if you click on a little folding-map icon with a location droplet on it, it shows you exactly where all the buses on that route are currently located. So cool! The last feature is most useful if you're walking to the stop but aren't there yet or you're in a meeting but haven't left yet and want to define which route you'll be taking to get home even if that route doesn't have a stop that is the closest to your current location. With a smart phone in hand, you can actually free yourself from having to drive your car.
Research has shown that apps like NextBus can reduce uncertainty in wait times, which makes taking transit more competitive with driving your car. For your next visit to Downtown LA, consider taking a bus!
The weekend of October 14-16th was a big experiment for me. I used bike, bus, car and train to get around LA County. I have been wanting to write about the experience and compare each way of getting to and from downtown Los Angeles for a resident of Glendale.
Friday, October 14th, after work I left California State University, Northridge around 2pm. I rode along the Orange Line Busway Bike Path. I rarely ride at this time, but there were lots of school-age teenagers walking on the sidewalks of Reseda and Van Nuys. I got a little bored in NoHo, but that's normal. It's not that fun riding in the bike lane along Chandler Blvd, especially when there aren't any other cyclists out there to chase. After cutting down Keystone, I took an unplanned left turn on Alameda, which had a pretty nice bike lane (that I'm not seeing on Google Maps). The video below shows it at 53 seconds in.
I went down Victory Blvd to a little side street called Ruberta, which used to have a cool "Halloween House" but now it doesn't. I refilled my water bottles in the drinking fountain at the Glendale Narrows, then rode/pushed/carried my bike across the Bette Davis Picnic Area (Cyclocross training) and up to Riverside Dr to gawk at the closure of the Los Angeles River Path.
The Army Corps of Engineers will be hosting a public meeting on Monday, November 7th, from 6:30 p.m. – 8:30 p.m. at the Friendship Auditorium by Griffith Park (3201 Riverside Drive) and LACBC encourages all to attend and speak up.
All that being said, I took the detour through Griffith Park and entered the bike path by the dog park. I exited the path at Fletcher and took the route through Silver Lake and along Sunset Blvd to reach Spring St. I don't know why other people don't like going that way. It was also the first time I really didn't need a route sheet. That's what I love about CicLAvia, it makes me understand how to reach downtown LA without a car.
Raw crunchy four kale mix, shredded cabbage, apples, shredded
carrots and avocado, grape tomato, tossed w/ maple orange dressing,
topped w/ currants, hemp seeds & creamy hummus dressing drizzle
After reaching LACBC headquarters, I had dinner at the LA Cafe. I don't know if it was the 2 hours and 40 minutes I'd just spent winding my way gradually from The Valley to Downtown LA, or if the salad was REALLY GREAT but I haven't had a better meal in years. There were picnic tables in a parklet, a couple of nice bike racks to lock up. It was the ideal way to wind down from my ride and take in a street view of the city.
Now I'm off to make the City of Glendale more walkable. I'll have to finish this post in a multi-part series.
I had the best time on my birthday, on foot, taking public transportation. I took the Glendale Beeline bus to Glendale Community College and walked up Sunshine Drive. It was a steep hill. I walked through winding neighborhoods, eating Animal Crackers. I ran downhill to just miss the NoHo to Pasadena express bus, which was okay because I got a sandwich and ate it while waiting for the next bus.
I boarded the bus at its Glendale stop and got off at Memorial Park in Pasadena just 6 minutes later. I walked down the staircase to catch the Gold Line and had a nice chat with a friend who also happened to be waiting for the train. It was only 2 stops to Allen station. I got off the light rail and walked down to Pasadena City College campus. I was out all day, and I got a headache from either stress relief or dehydration, but in the end I was glad that I gave myself the time and invitation to slow down and enjoy life for the day.
Last Friday, I took the Metrolink to California State University Northridge. I rode with a guy who was taking Metrolink for the first time in his life. He had a career as a limo driver and knew the freeway system better than most people. In his opinion, the current freeway system cannot accommodate the population of Southern California. The best we can do is exercise imminent domain, paying market value for people's houses and businesses, to add one or two more lanes to the existing freeway systems. This will, in his experience, never be able to address our growing population. The answer, as he sees it, is to get more people taking buses, light rail, and trains. He also had his bicycle on the train and was planning to get off at Van Nuys and ride about 5 miles to Sherman Oaks.
It was so refreshing to see another person taking transit that seems to "get" the situation like I see it. I didn't tell him anything about myself, he just let loose with his life experiences. It was refreshing and part of the reason we think it's so important that cyclists have a dedicated bicycle car on every train. Those recent transit adventures reminded me of Kelly Kearns, who gave up her car for a full 60 days. There's nothing like it to help you appreciate mobility, two legs, two arms, two ears, two eyes, two lungs, and one heart all working together to get you around town.
I've been reeling over a set of maps published in The Washington Post showing our world's natural resources and the effects of climate change. Los Angeles is part of the SF-LA megacity that drives the gross domestic product (GDP) of the entire United States. We absolutely need to continue investing in the transit infrastructure to prevent our city from pollution, gridlock, and health issues. I was meditating this weekend and the only concept that helped me reach a calm, peaceful state of mind was the color green.
Fostering more gardens and less concrete, biking more and driving less, recycling and conservation; these are all ideas that can help us live more sustainably on this planet. I'm not saying we can reverse the damage we've already done, but I think that there are things we can all do to enjoy what we have now. We watched the movie Valley Uprising this weekend, about rock climbing in Yosemite National Park. We also watched some Huell Howser on Starr Ranch in Orange County. It's difficult to imagine a changing climate that would drive out the plants and animals living in California. Prolonged drought and increased development will lead to such a future where the state I love is no longer habitable.
I hope we can plan an escape for Bike to your National Park day, September 24th. If you're planning something, let us know where you're going. Try to completely eliminate the need for a car if you can. Challenge yourself! Take it slow, enjoy the journey.
