photo journey 1

Yesterday I took a long walk, from Montclair to Kaiser (for some additional x-rays and to get some exercise) and back again. I made a point of walking on various urban paths, especially ones I hadn't been on before.

photo journey 1

food: Champa Garden

Champa Garden

Sunday we decided to skip church and go to the Oakland Museum, starting with a lunch stop some where. Looking at what was near or on the way to the OMCA, I remembered hearing good things about Champa Garden. I'd driven past it often enough (a friend lives a few blocks away), but I'd never tried it. K was excited because we don't eat out that often, and we eat Thai food even less frequently.

Champa Garden is in a nondescript building in a residential neighborhood east of Lake Merritt, at 8th Ave. and 21st St. I probably never would have tried it, but I heard good things about it from friends here in Montclair, and the Yelp reviews and on SF Gate were very favorable.

The food was very good. We started with the fried spring rolls (a number of reviews mentioned those; they were great), and we had a couple of different lunch specials. The one negative a few reviews mentioned was the service, but it was good when we were there. It wasn't as busy as it can be for dinner, but there was a steady stream of people coming and going, including a few getting takeout. We'd definitely go there again.

fall color, Oakland-style II

fall color

Some more fall color, with an unusual view of Lake Merritt and the Kaiser Convention Center -- from our carport. This obviously was taken a few days ago, before this series of storms moved in to the Bay Area.

fall color, Oakland-style

fall color

Ispotted this bit of fall color as I was leaving the Habitat for Humanity site in the Woodland neighborhood, near Tassafaronga Rec Center.