Steven and I had arrived in San Francisco the afternoon before to meet our first grandchild, the beautiful Max who was almost a month old, but I know we weren't biased one iota! We were staying in Oyster Point, about a 20-minute drive away, and had made plans to see Max and her parents, Alexander and Cory, each afternoon for a few hours so as not to overwhelm them. Our hotel literally backed right up to a fabulous walking path on Oyster Point so it was a great way to get some exercise each morning before lots of cuddle time with Max.
We walked as far as Brisbane Marina where there were 580 slips for boats and a 280-foot-long guest dock.
If you've been to the City by the Bay, you know that San Francisco is a city of many hills!
After spending a delightful afternoon with Max AND shooing her parents out the door for a well-deserved break from parenthood for some alone time, Steven and I drove to our daughter and son-in-law's apartment near Golden Gate Park. We were so lucky two of our four children were in SF!
Luckily, Nina, our eldest, was able to leave work a little earlier than usual and suggested a walk to Golden Gate Park, one of the city's treasures made possible by John McLaren, a Scottish landscape gardener who was the park's superintendent for an astonishing 60 years! We can credit McLaren for transforming the former windswept site that had consisted of sand dunes and scrub oak trees into an oasis of trees and plants dotted with man-made lakes. Though the park was once beyond the city's western outskirts, it has since become a serene haven in the middle of the city, full of world-class museums and numerous sports facilities.
The National AIDS Memorial Grove was a living tribute to all people whose lives had been touched by the terrible disease.
The de Young Museum was created when the Egyptian Revival Fine Arts building of the 1894 Mid Winter Exposition was given to the Parks Commission. The museum began when de Young, the founder and publisher of the San Francisco Chronicle organized the 6,000 objects left over from the exposition, and added items from his own collection as well as thousands of items donated by San Francisco families.
The California Academy of Sciences has led the way in sustainable architecture concepts with recycled blue jeans used for wall insulation and a 'living roof,' a 2.5 acre carpet of native plants! On a future visit to San Fran, I am sure Steven and I will make time to visit both the de Young and Academy of Sciences in between seeing Max grow up.
I was charmed by the individually painted benches near the park that were part of the Public Bench Project as we'd never seen anything like that in any other city! Wouldn't it be great to see other cities adopt such a program!
This was the most impressive collection of hens and chicks I could remember seeing.
Next post: A walk around more of San Francisco's Oyster Point and Mission District.
Posted on August 30th, 2020, from Grayton Beach State Park on Florida's Panhandle. Steven and I hope you stay safe, strong and connected during these continued troubling times.
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