Spring Break, chapter 4

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 This was really our last day in our Oakland house, and we had to be out by 10, which we managed with three minutes to spare, leaving everything nice behind us.  There were several things I wanted to do right in the area, and first we headed to the African-American History Museum and Library, which is a branch of the Oakland Public Library housed in a lovely old building.  Everybody looked at historical photos and such.  They've got a seed library too, so my mom was happy to get some seeds.

Then it was off to Alameda, which was really just a few blocks away; you take a tunnel under the water.  Alameda was not originally an island, but the mud flats surrounding it were not very useful, so they dredged a channel and built the island out with landfill, which rendered the whole area perfect for shipping and naval-base building.  The base closed in 1997, so I remember when it was open and active.  Anyway, there's a specialty needlework shop in Alameda and I considered a visit there to be my just reward for driving everybody around.  I had a lovely time!  The kids were very patient, but happy when I finally emerged.

Next stop was the Bookmark, which is the used bookshop run by the Friends of the Oakland Public Library.  Long ago, around 1996-97, I used to volunteer there once a week.  I haven't been back since, but I looked it up when we were planning the trip, and the store turned out to still be open (!) and be just a few blocks from our rental (!!).  Since I took BART there, I had no real memory of where the store was at all.  So we drove over there but parking was very limited and had to be paid for with pocket change.  The kids decided to wait for us in the car, and Mom and I had fun in the bookstore.  My mom helps out a lot with our Friends, while I help out once a week, and we could really use a bookstore of our own.  Right now, we lug a few hundred boxes of books out every Friday and put them back on Saturday afternoon; it's kind of ridiculous.  So Mom talked with the manager about running a bookstore, and I gathered a few books.

 
Pretty much just how I remember it!

After that we headed for Livermore, stopping to pick up lunch at a convenient Trader Joe's.  The kids went out thrifting with the Livermore kids, I took a nap, and we took off for home a good deal later than we'd planned, but boy I needed that nap.  We stopped at an In-n-Out for the benefit of my Wisconsin niece, and finally got home well after dark.




 

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