Nature our way: Golden Gate Park and a Windy Road

On our way across San Francisco I saw this cartoonish looking winding road. I asked Leanne, “What is that?”. She replied “Oh, that’s the curviest road in the world”… With an introduction like that we had to check it out.

Us driving down the curvy road.

Unfortunately, I was on the phone with my brother getting directions to our next location. I commited the cardinal sin. I was on the phone while seeing a sight for the first time. The thing is that my brother is a human GPS system for San Francisco. He had to get to class so if I didn’t get the directions at that exact time then I’d have been “F’ed”. When I say a human GPS I kid you not. He literally was able to pinpoint our exact point based on the street corners. He then proceeded to identify the upcoming streets by name. It was super duper awesome! I actually would have to say his incredible GPS-esque super human map skill was more impressive than the curvy road. 

Golden Gate Park was the opposite. I was able to give my full attention to it. The nature was a really nice break from the city. There also was a really cool white tower in the midst of the park.

A crazy looking tree in Golden Gate Park

Park’s in cities crack me up. Civillization has spent thousands of years to get out of nature. Now that we have accomplished leaving nature we now have developed nature with certain ramifications. Nature can be peaceful and relaxing. These are qualities we have decided to keep in our gated nature communities (also known as parks). But then Nature also has wild animals that can “F” your day up. This has conveniently been removed. Nature doesn’t have bathrooms or water fountains. We have decided to add these to our nature experiences. As humans we have managed to create a man made nature that incorporates all the good of nature, added in some good from society and then removed the bad of nature... This equals up to total awesomeness.

Leanne laughing about something funny

Coit Tower

Today I went to Coit Tower with my friend Leanne. I headed out via BART and got off at Embarcadero Station. From there Leanne picked me up and after a series of turns and the unavoidable dance with death that all drivers in san Francisco face, we made it to Coit Tower.

This is some of the art on the walls in Coit Tower.

On the outside it was really relaxing and nice. Since it was on the middle of a Friday there weren’t too many people there. Eventually we went inside. There was amazing art all over the walls inside on the bottom floor of the tower. The art portrayed life during this time frame (1933-1934). It was interesting to look at the details of some of the pictures and realize I have no idea what some of the major industries were during that time (even after seeing the art).

The Tower itself was finished around 1933. But some of the art was apparently controversial. Some believed that some of the art pieces inside conveyed communist support. Once these pieces were removed the Coit Tower was open to the public in 1934. 

California Academy of Science at Golden Gate Park

Today Zach and I went to the California Academy of Science in Golden Gate Park. There were a variety of exhibits. There was a scientist created Garden at the top of the Academy. The garden was inspired by a draft design that had the Academy being developed underneath the hillside.

Inside the Academy are numerous exhibits. They have a rainforest biome, an Aquarium, a planetarium, an extreme mammal exhibit (no pictures allowed), an African animals exhibit, and many other smaller exhibits.

It is not very large but they manage to fit in a world of information within the Academy. There are also enough exhibits that I stayed entertained the entire day. We got there at about 11 am and left at about 430 pm.

There is such a mass of information at a place like this that it can be visited many times.

Fisherman's Wharf

Today I woke up around 1030 am. Both Zach and I were slow to get up. We left the house around 12 pm. We headed to Fisherman's wharf and walked around for a while. Fisherman's wharf is really cool because there are tons of little shops. But by far the coolest part of Fisherman's wharf are the people putting on entertainment shows on the side of the street. There are people developing art, people break dancing, people putting on talent shows, there are people pretending to be frozen. There was even a homeless guy that has a bunch of bushes that he holds with his hands to hide his face. When people pass by him he pushes the branches to the side and tries to scare him. It is hilarious.

 

One of the other really cool things about fisherman's wharf is that from the pier you can see Alcatraz and Golden Gate Bridge. San Francisco is a city with so many amazing views.

After this we walked through the financial district on our way to Nike town. It was interesting to experience the financial district though there really is no reason for me to go back there.

A Walk to the Golden Gate Bridge

I am currently staying in the Marina area with my friend Zach. I have known Zach since we were very small children (before preschool age).

Today we woke up around 930. We made a breakfast. We had scrambled eggs, sausages, baked potatoes seasoned with minced onions, garlic powder, olive oil, salt and pepper. We then decided to head out to the Golden Gate Bridge.

We walked all around the marina area near the ocean. It was windy but since Zach and I had awesome Northshore jackets we were not effected by the cold. As we walked through the Marina area we crossed through a park, walked right on the coast, up a hilly green region, and then across the bridge.

 

Walking across Golden Gate Bridge always has its moments when fear strikes. When I sit and look over the edge of the Golden Gate Bridge and look into the water I always get a slight tingle up my body. It is very powerful to be standing so high above such a powerful image. It is quite a postcard to look across the bridge to see San Francisco. It is quite shocking how much depth of the city can be seeing from the bridge.

On our way back to Zach's place we saw a small festival for children. Zach noticed from afar that there was a band playing. As we looked closer we realized they were a rock band of kids that could not have been older than 11. It was hilarious seeing some 11 year olds rock out to hardcore music. I had no idea what they were saying.

Zach and I then returned back to Zach's place in the Marina. We then created sandwiches . I had an oven roasted turkey sandwich with spicy mustard, spinach and tomato on sourdough bread.