This morning the sun was shining again. I think we picked the perfect week for our adventure. After a Denny's breakfast right at the hotel, we were Lyfting (like Uber) our way to Baker Beach to look for the illusive sea glass. What a beautiful morning for a walk on the beach and a great first view of the Golden Gate Bridge. Pam was lucky to find some pretty rocks for her collection, but I came up empty. My dreams were dashed again. The beaches down here all seem to have a clothing optional area - not marked but you can easily see. 🙈 We walked straight on by to the end of the beach and then walked all the way back - but not many stones and no sea glass. Did see a couple of condom wrappers, a jelly fish, some ladybugs and lots of sand crabs.
Coming back to the parking lot area, we ran into a couple of dog walkers and their charges for the day. They had at least 8 dogs who were having so much fun cavorting on the beach. They were running and jumping into the waves, fetching sticks and balls and just chasing each other around. It was such fun to see. When it was time for them to go, the handlers had all of them leashed up but one silly girl who just kept running back into the water and staying just out of reach. It probably took them about 15 minutes to finally get her leashed up and back to the vehicle. They sure had a great time.
Once we finished enjoying the beach - it was time to order another Lyft ride to take us to Golden Gate Park and the Japanese Tea Garden. For an unknown reason, I couldn't get into the lift site to order a ride. I approached a girl who I figured was local as she was letting her dog run at the beach too and asked if she could please help me order a ride from my phone. She looked at the phone and couldn't figure it either, but offered to give us a ride to Golden Gate Park. How kind of Lindsay and her dog Teddie. (Turned out I had a setting wrong...) We had a lovely walk in and around the gardens near the Conservatory of Flowers in the park and then to the Japanese Tea Garden.
Before we entered, we had a hot dog lunch from a food truck nearby. It tasted so good - sometimes plain is the best. The Japanese garden was quite busy today. Even though this isn't the busiest of times for tourists, it seems there are lots around the town and everyone is enjoying taking advantage of the lovely spring weather.
The Garden was lovely albeit a bit too busy to be completely serene, it was nice walking around and taking in the lovely plantings and water features. Pam was brave enough to clime this bridge that looked a bit like a water wheel...and I was happy to take her picture doing it. I was not up for the challenge of climbing up and then trying to get back down. Soon it was time to get back to the hotel to get ready to go to Kathryn and Rob's to get acquainted with their place so we can move there tomorrow to look after their cats while they are in Hawaii - and the bonus is...we have 6 nights of free accommodation! What a treat.
For dinner we went to a small French Bistro called chez Maman and had the best dinner. We shared beef tartare and toast points, mushroom crepe, salad of arugula, warm herbed goat cheese and cipollini onion, parmesan cheese fries with dip, and delicious mussels. I had a great glass of sangria and OMG - we wo enjoyed this spectacular feast. We met people outside waiting for a table who were pouring and enjoying bottles of wine. It is not uncommon to see people standing outside of a restaurant enjoying wine or beer while waiting for their table to be ready. I took one last picture on top of this hill looking down on the city at night, said our goodbyes to Rob and Kathryn and then we were on our way back to the hotel for our last night down in the heart of the pier area. Tomorrow we are starting our two day hop on hop off bus ride to see some of the areas that are best seen this way. A little sampling of areas that we only need to see for a few minutes here and there. So I better sign off for now and get ready for another fantastic adventure tomorrow.
1 comment:
Regarding your dinner spot - I have seen the same sort of thing in East Vancouver where 'diners' sit around the base of buildings and drink wine and beer while waiting for their table or even just dark.
Whatever, that bridge looked cool and i would have enjoyed exploring it as well. Seems a little impractical but obviously works.
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