One of my favorite places for "walkies" is in the cemetery. Normally that would be weird, but if you are at Oakland’s Mountain View Cemetery, it’s ultra-cool. After all, everybody knows history has geek chic and what a better place to contemplate the past than a graveyard?
If you are in the area, stop by the Crockers, who founded Wells Fargo Bank. They are buried there, along with the Bechtels, Stanyans, Powells, and Kaisers. Check out the cannons of the artillery unit that fought together in the Civil War. See the pyramids. Visit the sphinxes. You get extra credit if you find any scarab beetles. For the authentic graveyard experience, visit the un-endowed areas. Every time you see the grave of a 2-month old child that died in the 1800’s, I promise it will make you appreciate the wonders of Science, and what its done to lengthen our time on this wacky little island in space.
Don’t forget to stroll over to the Three Pools. On a warm spring day, wild Canadian geese might fly overhead, calling out their age-old cadence. Keep an eye out for rare, soft shell turtles or that infamous invasive species, red-eared sliders. You'll probably see a heron hunting and egrets mingling with ducks, in pastoral serenity.
If you have time, go to the top of the hill and have a picnic with that gourmet lunch you remembered to pick up on Piedmont Ave. The view is marvelous. It’s also a perfect place for contemplating the hustle and bustle of a self-important, monkey civilization that is forgetting its past, even as it rushes forward into the most uncertain future it has ever faced. Will it survive the “War on Terror”, global warming, and processed cheese? There are so many questions of great importance to contemplate in solitude, or with friends.
What I’ve told you doesn’t even scratch the surface of the depth of the glory of the Mountain View Cemetery. Wait till you see the library of the dead in the Columbarium... Or live Jazz at the Chapel of the Chimes... or... there’s so much more.