Lake Merritt

Chapman Gang (Me, Andrew, Nathan, Ryan And Rachel) @ Lake Merritt

Getting ready for adventures @ the lake.

Who knew there was a huge lake in the heart of downtown Oakland? Not I. Jono and I drove around Lake Merritt one night and it looked really cool-so I decided it would be the perfect place to take my college friends who were visiting for the weekend. So first a little history: Lake Merritt is technically an estuary that was formed by creeks and rivers that flowed into the San Francisco bay. In 1870, it became the United States first wildlife preserve and is still home to dozens of different species of birds. It there is a 3.1 mile walking path that borders the lake which covers over one hundred and fifty-five acres of land in east Oakland.

Ryan trying to feed the birds Nathan's Frisbee.

There were quite a few people out enjoying the lake on Saturday walking their dogs and chilling on the grassy areas around the lake. During our jaunt around the lake we discover "the birds of Lake Merritt", which is a large section of the lake where most of the birds hang out. It was like a little zoo for bird-except that they were all wild. There were many different types of birds including the Canadian Goose, the American Coot, Mallard Ducks, Pelican and, of course, Pigeons. If you like birds then you should defiantly bring some old bread to the lake to fee the birds, I didn't know there would be so many birds so we were breadless. :( We tried to get the birds attention by pretending that we had food for them, they did not appreciate that very much.

Ryan, Me, Andrew and Nathan exploring the Bird Habitat

Rachel, Nathan and Ryan getting ready for the kayak adventure.

Taking a break from rowing to enjoy the view.

We could walk around Lake Merritt any day, but it was such a nice day in Oakland that we decided to explore by sea...or by lake? Whatever-we rented some Kayaks for $10 and paddled our way around the lake. We paddled around the lake for about an hour listening to Pandora on the droid and trying to push the other boats into the fountains. And ended our time on the lake with an epic race to the buoy-Andrew and I dominated! I'm definatly going to spend a lot more time in the Lake Merritt area. I still have to walk around the other half of the lake, maybe do a pinqic or thing. There's also a really cool Farmers Market next to an old movie theater and some good restaurants I want to check out.

The Buoy Race Champion!