This entry was posted on Monday, October 13th, 2008 at 7:02 pm and is filed under Bay Area Backroads, Out and About, Pictures. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
When people talk about why they love living in California, it’s weekends like this that they’re talking about. The weather was gorgeous, the air was clear, and there was so much going on it was hard to avoid it so that we could simply spend a weekend with our children. This past Saturday we took in a fair share of the Bay Area from San Jose, to Mountain View, to San Francisco and we even spent some time on the beach.
The original plan was to take grab a pumpkin from Half Moon Bay, but after going to breakfast in Mountain View, plus a visit to Wal-Mart and Carter’s for another look at the pants that they’re selling, we headed towards Highway 92 only to find traffic backed all the way up onto 280, so we decided to head into the city. Once there we avoided the crowds from Fleet Week, and since the weather was so beautiful we dropped onto the beach where the girls enjoyed making sand-angels before a nice walk down the beach. Mama and I enjoyed the weather, the girls and being out in the sun. Sofi and Natalie enjoyed the sand, the water, and the jellyfish that have recently started washing on shore.
After the beach we drove up to the main part of the city trying to avoid the wharf before deciding to explore Golden Gate Park. Honestly, in all the time that I’ve been here, I don’t think that I’ve ever really explored the park. I’ve driven through once and went to a party that was on the outskirts, but I think that was about it, so it really was an experience for all of us.
One of the coolest parts of the park, which I didn’t know about until this weekend, is the kids end of things. They have a huge park, a merry-go-round, and tons of grassy areas to explore. One of the main attractions is a 50+ foot cement slide that both of the girls seemed to enjoy immensely. Check out the gallery for more photos of this really cool slide.
On the other side of the kids area were a series of fossil art climbing pieces that were actually quite fun for both girls. They climbed around - poked their head into any place they could - and had a wonderful laugh. It wasn’t terribly long-lived, though, because there really were a lot of people there. Almost overwhelming at times with the kids and the adults crowding in every possible area. We then went over to check out the new California Academy of Sciences (packed) before driving down to see the bison! (Way cool!)
On the way “out” of the city we stopped at Fort Funston (a lot of fun!) which is both a really nice view-spot as well as a beach access/glider port. The girls had a wonderful time playing on the old bunkers and we got the opportunity to enjoy the beautiful ocean view as well as a single glider sailing in the late afternoon sun. A great ending for a great day.
Papa
