Golden Gate Park on Day 5 (part 2) - 2/7/2011

Windmill

The first thing Tricia wanted to see was the historic Dutch windmill. It reminded her of Spain and Don Quixote. Then we stopped at the Bison pasture to marvel at the magnificent animals for a bit. However, the pictures from across the street of our lovely car came out much better. Next we stopped by the flower conservatory, but like many things we try to see, it was closed on Mondays. So, we headed off to the botanical gardens. It was about 4 at this point, but the gardens are open until 5, so we figured we were fine. Turns out the outer gate closes an hour before the garden itself closes, so right after we entered a woman locked the gate behind us. This also happened to be the woman who collects the $7 fee, so we got in once again for free. One minute later and we would have been locked out; one minute earlier and we would have had to pay. J

Kat and flowers

In February not much was blooming, but we walked around the windy trails and saw many trees and plants. We found a redwood grove and learned the difference between coastal and giant redwoods (coastal redwoods need the California fog to get water in the summer). We also found a couple of “cloud gardens”, although we never figured out what those were. Soon we were turned around, so we decided to just keep climbing hills, believing that we would eventually be high enough to see the front gate. This philosophy paid off, and once we had ascended to the very top of the park we could see where we needed to go. We descended to the gate and drove off in search of food. We stopped at a greek restaurant and had a delicious swordfish wrap and to-die-for hummus. On the way home we took a million pictures of the ocean and realized we should save some photos for the 12 hour drive down the pacific coast highway. We don’t want to bore you guys!!

P.S.

Day 4 bed

As we were blogging and watching old World War II movies with my grandpa, which were surprisingly good, says Tricia, the power went out in San Bruno. The tv went out with a bang that made us all jump, and we were plunged into darkness. I used my computer screen to light the way for my grandfather and we got flashlights, but then the power came back on. Yay California rolling blackouts!! And then to bed at 9:30. Which was pretty awesome too.