Ocean Beach and Presidio Park

So far a lot of people really seem to like the idea of this blog. A couple people even said they were inspired to pick up trash in their areas. Your encouragement inspires me to keep going. If any of you have stories about your own experiences, please leave a comment.




In the last few days I haven't picked up trash much around here, but I did at Presidio Park. Last weekend my husband David and I decided to do something fun, since circumstances at work made it unclear whether he might have to work seven days in a row. Thankfully that didn't happen.



Saturday we went to Ocean Beach even though it was raining. There were a surprising amount of people there despite the bad weather. It didn't even occur to me to bring a plastic bag or anything to pick up trash. I'm still debating how often I want to try to clean up places that we go to for fun. It makes it hard to appreciate the beauty when you're scanning the area looking for trash. I'm glad I didn't go there with that intent because I was able to enjoy watching the dogs and their humans run around the beach.

Doggies fighting over seaweed.

Migratory bird sanctuary near freeway bridge.

I didn't pick up more than a couple plastic bags that day. I didn't even notice any trash until David saw a woman picking some up along the inlet to the San Diego river. I thought about talking to her and telling her “good job”, but only managed a friendly “hi” because I was feeling too shy. She looked like she might have been homeless, so I don't know if she was doing it to be nice or was just collecting stuff to turn in for money.


On Sunday David and I went to Presidio Park. This time I remembered a plastic bag to collect trash. We parked by the museum and walked around, enjoying the view from the hillside.

We hiked around on the trails. I didn't see much trash at first except for a few cans and a “snowy-egret” (That phrase comes from a time when my mom mistook a plastic bag in a field for a bird. She's gonna love me for mentioning that.) There was a dry creek-bed David and I had explored once which was sure to be filled with trash, but we weren't willing to explore it again. Last time we were there we discovered lots of... I won't say specifically, but let's just say there were a lot of discarded implements people would use if they didn't want to create more people.



In the parking lot the ground was littered with cigarettes. It felt like I spent more time bending over to pick them up than walking. I wish I had brought my reacher-grabber.

Where I found the most trash was of course where it was the most difficult or dangerous to pick it up. On the edge of a cliff overlooking the freeway, I used my ninja-skills to sweep a couple pieces towards me with my leg under the fence-beam. On another corner of the fence the ground was less steep, so I climbed under it. I got on my knees and reached under a bush with two-inch thorns to grab a beer can. Another can was buried so deep in the thorny branches that I decided to ignore it. David joked, “I thought you were dedicated.”



Towards the end of our hike I noticed a Skittles wrapper on the side of a hill slippery with pine-needles. I asked David to take a picture of me retrieving it because if you're gonna fall down a hill, you might as well get some funny pictures.

Taste the rainbow- don't trash the rainbow!... That's cheesy, forget I said it.

I escaped without incident and threw away the trash I'd collected. Only three things I saved for recycling.

I went to the bathroom to wash my hands and noticed trash in the sink. The bathrooms at the park are disgusting. When I was a kid, the stalls hadn't even reached door-having technology. Were they afraid of people stealing them or what?



I knew the nice thing to do would be to clean up the wad of grossness in the sink. I tried to talk myself out of it but I would've felt guilty if I had left it. I scooped it up and sprinted across the lawn to the nearest trashcan. Then I ran back to the bathroom and washed my hands. It felt like that scene in Peewee's Big Adventure when he's rescuing the animals from the burning pet-shop and keeps skipping the snakes. Finally there's nothing else left, so he scoops them up and runs outside to faint on the sidewalk.

Anyway... That's it. Don't forget to "follow" the blog if you want to read more Pee-wee references and trash-talk. Or talk about trash. (Pee-wee references not guaranteed).