Tier Point Run to San Jose in Nov 2023: Day 5 – San Jose – Afternoon

My afternoon in San Jose actually started late morning, as a result of my jet lag offsetting my sleep times! I needed some exercise, so I decided to look up Guadalupe River Park & Gardens!

This started off with a tactical visit to the Rotary PlayGarden, on the basis that it would offer me free parking and easy access to the River Park.

The PlayGarden looks like it’s a great place for families to take their kids to burn off some energy!

The River Park

The vision was great: in a dense urban environment like San Jose Downtown, provide the public with access to trails, parks and plazas to preserve the natural ecology and offer residents and visitors a way to relax, discover and enjoy the area.

Sadly, the reality is that the River Park has not been maintained and is no longer a place to relax.

Remember I highlighted how I had not come across any homeless people in San Jose Downtown?

That’s because they have all moved into tents on the side of the River Walk!

That doesn’t make it a relaxing place to be. That’s a shame.

This place has so much potential!

But what can you do with so many homeless people that need somewhere to live?

I won’t pretend I know the answer, but it has to be worth cities like San Jose investing in the required resources to get these people into safer accomodation and allowing spaces like these to flourish.

Safe to say, I didn’t want to spend very much time in the Guadalupe River Park & Gardens. To be fair it was starting to get hot anyway, so I headed on to my next hotel in the city.

I checked back into the Hampton Inn & Suites, San Jose Airport – I had booked the same room as I had the other day, but since I arrived at around midday, I knew there was a good chance that the room would not be ready.

The Front Desk managed to find the same room on the second floor was available, so I was happy to take that.

After catching up with the Vickster and enjoying a bit of a snooze, I drove out to the second Cheesecake Factory, which was about 10 miles away from the hotel.

It was another Westfield shopping mall and it was a bit of a struggle to find a parking space.

I got a boothe immediately at TCF and I ordered a lunchtime Sante Fe salad. I thought it was time to get some veggies inside me.

I also enjoyed a nice non-alcoholic drink. It was called something like a pineapple cherry limeade – gorgeous.

I ordered a lemon raspberry cheesecake to go and I was out within 45 mins or so.

Back to the hotel and I found SVU on USA. That would do me until it was time to turn the light off.

Follow the whole story here: Tier Point Run to San Jose in Nov 2023