I work in Oakland and love spending my lunch hour exploring. I typically start my walk on Craig Street and Forbes Avenue, right by the Carnegie Museum of Art, and walk towards the Cathedral of Learning.

I love seeing Dippy, the huge sculpture of a Diplodocus dinosaur outside the museum, where I turn left and go past the Carnegie Library. I turn left again to cross the bridge and walk to Flagstaff Hill on Carnegie Mellon University’s campus, where people are usually playing frisbee or reading.

At the end of Flagstaff Hill is the entrance to Schenley Park. On a hot June day like today, it feels great to walk on the shady trails… and I saw a turtle sunning itself in Panther Hollow Lake! I love being able to escape into the woods in the middle of the city.

After the park, I walk past Phipps Conservatory. Their pretty outdoor garden is free to walk through, and I often eat my lunch on the benches underneath the shady trees.

Back across the bridge, I get to Schenley Plaza, which offers live music every day, kiosks offering breakfast, lunch, and dinner, a shaded canopy with plenty of tables, gardens, and the big draw: a carousel. The seahorse is my favorite carousel animal, but I think I’m too big to ride

The hour’s nearly up by this point, but it would be easy to spend much more time exploring all the great places I walked past. There’s always tomorrow!