Sunday, April 27, 2014

A Very Berkeley Field Trip

On March 21, I had the kindergarten adventure of my life. It was billed as a "Transportation and Land Forms" Field Trip, in which all three Rosa Parks kindergarten classes participated. That means there were eighty children going together as a group on this field trip. There was an adult chaperone for every 2-3 children, so all together we had eighty kindergarteners, ages five and six, and about thirty adults moving around the Bay Area as a group. AND WE SURVIVED!

Here was the itinerary and a few pictures:

9:00-9:10am
     Arrive at Rosa Parks. Collect all student breakfasts and lunches in chaperone bags. Review groups and guidelines
9:10-9:30am
     Walk from Rosa Parks to Berkeley Amtrak Station (0.5 miles)
9:30-9:50am Eat breakfast outside on benches and take group photos at Berkeley Amtrak Station
Looking fresh and clean and ready for adventure!




9:52-10:18am
     Ride Amtrak #531 Berkeley to Oakland Jack London Square. All aboard!

A station name to warm the hearts of literary-inclined travelers everywhere!  Even eighty of them. Even if they're too young to have heard of Jack London.


A bronze of White Fang, a suitable stallion for daring young adventurers


Down by the Bay
11-11:30am
     Ride Blue & Gold Ferry from Oakland to SF Ferry Building
11:30-12:30
     Eat lunch and play at park across from Ferry Building. **This was our final destination before heading back to school**...
The Park ~ Here we are at last!
12:30-1pm
     Walk from park to Embarcadero BART (0.25 mi)
1-1:25pm
     Ride BART from SF Embarcadero to North Berkeley BART (while waiting for the train, we were treated to some cool jazz by a street musician and to a spontaneous street dance show inside the BART station by some double jointed contortionists.
1:40-2:00pm
     School buses were awaiting our arrival at the North Berkeley BART station to take us back to Rosa Parks. Never a more welcome sight!

When I described the day's journeys to Suresh later that night, he said, "So, you mean you did all that and rode all those trains and buses and ferries in order to play at the park for fifteen minutes?"

"Yep," I said from the couch where I had collapsed, eyes closed, arm slung over my face.

"That is such a Berkeley field trip!" he said, laughing.  "It's the journey that matters, not the destination!"

The journey, indeed.



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