Aquariums and Flamingos

Lest you think that I only travel to San Francisco, here are some pictures from member's night yesterday at the Monterey Bay Aquarium.

It was a very formal occasion. These guys were so curious about us!

The reason we went was to get a preview of the new flamingo exhibit.

These guys were the stars of the evening:











But the real theme of the exhibit was environmental activism.
There were stations all around where you could send messages to your representatives and share your ideas with others. Rosie rules!








Of course we also saw the permanent exhibits.

My favorite exhibit is the Giant Octopus but they didn't feel like posing for the camera. So this is a shot I took of the octopus video.



Of course, before we left I had to buy a souvenir: Clearly I have a background in modeling.

The Presidio

The Presidio is one of those places that I've heard about but never managed to see for myself. I thought it was just a small area with some former army barracks. Wrong! First of all, it's huge. Like, really really huge. The place has parks galore and tons of buildings and residences. For this trip we were celebrating my mom's birthday by going to the Walt Disney Museum. It was a gorgeous day.


My husband Jeff and I got there early. We were planning on doing some stairway walks but didn't quite have enough time for that. We did manage to find the Yoda Fountain outside the Letterman Digital Arts Center though. Next to the master I am.

The museum has a store that can match any shop at Disneyland. I wanted to buy so many things there that I ended up not getting anything. However, several of you will be getting birthday presents from there.

Out in the lobby they had Disney's Academy Awards on display. The one with seven tiny Oscars after it was for Snow White and the Seven Dwarves (Dwarfs?).

No pictures were allowed to be taken inside the museum but I found some illicit pictures online.

After the museum we went for a walk along Crissy Field where we took in the sights and watched families crabbing along the pier. Gorgeous!

We ended up at Fort Point. Holy Cow! I had seen it from a distance before but never realized what it was. I always thought it was some sort of maintenance building for the Golden Gate Bridge. Um, no... it turns out it's a fortress from the Civil War era. The only one of its kind west of the Missippi.


You can climb up to the top and look out at the ocean or get a spectacular view of the city. Here is the birthday girl herself.

Here's some more shots of the Fort.

Outside, we found this sign. I'm not sure what it means but runner's would jog up to it and touch their hands to it and then turn around and go back.
Just beneath it, somebody placed this sign. Could this be the work of mischievous brethren?

Land's End and Beyond

On my next journey to San Francisco my sister Stacy and I went to Land's End. What a beautiful place! There were windmills, ruins, trees, beaches, bridges, staircases, more trees and we happened on this little art museum.
Our first stop was at Golden Gate Park where we saw the Dutch Windmill. I can't believe I never knew this was here!

These are the Sutro Baths located near the Cliff House restaurant. Quite the swanky place in its day. Of course, it's gone downhill in the last 100 years.

Here's me in front of what my sister referred to as "some sort of bridge." That books looks familiar as well...

This staircase is one of the many gems in the area.

I tried to solve the maze here (there's that darn bridge again).

We noticed that we were not the only mischief makers on the trail.
Uh, that's not my kind of mischief.

This is more my cup of tea.

We got a little lost even though we were following directions from the book. Then we stumbled onto the Palace of the Legion of Honor. I had heard of it before but never knew what it was. Turns out its a major museum with works from insanely famous artists.
Here is something from a little artist known as Monet.

We ate lunch in the museum cafe. I had a little something called "Pepe le Pew" which was basically a chicken sandwich with tons of onions. Yummy!

Mischief accomplished!

San Francisco Staircases

I love New Year's resolutions. The idea of starting over or facing a new challenge is very appealing to me. I try to pick achievable goals. This year I resolved to visit San Francisco more often. I've lived only an hour away for most of my life yet the city is still a stranger to me. Knowing that San Francisco houses some of the best museums, restaurants and other activities in the world I started taking monthly trips in January. I bought a book called "Stairway Walks in San Francisco" and have found it a useful guide to the city.Through this book I have made some wonderful discoveries.

This is the mosaic staircase at Golden Gate Heights. It is a new staircase, built in 2005 as a collaboration between artists and the community.

It's rich in detail as you can see:

The top of Golden Gate Heights offers a great view of the city:

My husband and I walked to Golden Gate Park afterwards and visited the Conservatory of Flowers. I'd been to conservatories before but this blew them all away. It was small but packed with tropical plants and orchids.

In one of the rooms was a miniature version of San Francisco made out of refuse with model trains running through it.
I was just flabbergasted.
And on the way back to the car we spotted this little gem:
I love this city!