San Francisco, Part Three: Flowers, Ocean, Very Good Food

San Francisco Saturday time!

Again, CR joined us for breakfast and day planning at the guest house. Our first stop, at my request, was to buy another memory card for my camera, since I had neglected to pack another, apparently forgetting How I Am On Vacation, and the camera filled up the night before. So off we went to Walgreen's, seeing the usual cute SF sights on the way. For instance, a lot of garages have no-parking signs on them in the city, but this one wanted to be sure you knew what they meant by "driveway" and just where the lines are drawn:

Yarn bombing! Crochet, by the look of it.

And more color, next to the school, there.

Flower, foreshadowing our destination.

The usual cute house tucked away.

Do you suppose they lean out their windows to chat, or borrow a cup of sugar? Probably not, but I like to imagine.

One (rare) unphotographed experience happened in Walgreen's; we were at the counter when a man walked quickly out of the store, speaking loudly enough that even the clerks looked over, and incoherently enough that we all looked at each other and shrugged after he was gone. I chose a memory card, and as we were being rung up for it (and the ibuprofen for my achy legs, since I already knew I hadn't brought enough, ahem), the man came back in, saying something about how he was bringing it back, man, put down a couple of large bottles of fancy body lotion (it appeared), and left again. Interesting, if-that's-the-word.

Anyway, here is where we were headed after that:

Golden Gate Park! Conservatory of Flowers! I try to get to a greenhouse every winter, and I have to say that I appreciate it more in that weather than in what we had, which as you can see is sunny and lovely and was pretty warm, too. But the flowers were still fabulous.

On the way there, we saw this: the San Francisco Mime Troupe, setting up.

Which, as CR told us, does not do mime. At least not the way you think of it (or I think of it).

But back to the flowers. Although the building is quite tall, the plants are using the space they have.

Flowers, flowers, flowers. Just a few of the many many pictures I took.

This one's for you (you know who you are):

At first, I thought the pond had bronze turtles in it. Then one moved.

Outside again, a very SF bus went by.

We sat on a bench for a bit, enjoying the sunshine (and the breeze, to be honest; it was warm inside). Just lovely.

We walked out a different way, and found a dahlia garden. So many lovelies!

I think I will save the dahlia photos for some grey day when I want to spread some color. Just have to show you this one now: All buttoned up.

Do lampposts usually gather moss? Does that indicate north?

It was at this point that my mother, unfortunately, twisted her ankle, in the most "mom" way possible: she was looking at a man walking toward us with no shirt on, worrying that he had to be cold, and didn't notice that the edge of the path dropped off in that spot. Ow! Poor mama. It didn't stop her, but nothing stops her. It slowed her down a bit (to my pace, basically). We all wish it hadn't happened, but it could have been much worse, so there's that. No ER visits this trip!

Our next destination was the water, aka that little thing called the Pacific Ocean. We bused out to the edge, seeing this on the way.

Then we got all the way out, and sat looking at the beauty for a while. I mean, beauty.

There's also a windmill. I don't remember why. That's the kind of tourist I am.

Our next move was lunch-ward, and because I am a good person, I will share this secret tidbit with you: You must eat here. Must!

Since the restaurant overlooks that view, they could easily get away with serving perfectly ordinary food, but they do not. This was the best meal we ate on the trip. They brew their own beer:

Which of course get nowhere with me (CR said the Dark Side was quite good), until I saw this while we waited at the bar for a table to be ready.

They brew their own root beer! It was delicious.

The menu had both breakfast and lunch items, and I went with the in-between choice of steak and eggs. The eggs were, well, fine, the steak was delicious, and the potatoes had been roasted (I think) with garlic and were fantastic.

Then there was dessert, and though I did mock the typo on the menu:

Choclate? Really? In that setting, with the cloth tablecloths and the excellent service, you make a mistake that spell-check would catch?

However. The creme brulee was perfect. It was simply, exactly, just what creme brulee should be, and trust me, as someone who loves it, I've had it a lot, and never better. Honestly. Mmm.

So there was that typo, and the table of "young people" next to us who talked, among other things, about the time one of them climbed the Bay Bridge, and who called to the waiter at one point, "Excuse me, dude?" in all seriousness, well, aside from those things, it was perfect. You can't ask for more.

Outside, we waited for the bus, enjoying the view. Container ships and flying kites!

Flowers growing in the sand.

Birds on light poles.

Really, kites.

Really, container ships!

Flowers, in sand!

Once we were on the bus, we saw this man was bringing quite a large flowering plant home with him.

Look at the size of that trumpet! Later in the trip, we saw its big brother, hanging over a fence.

Also seen on the bus: driver personalization:

And other sights along the way (this is when we went to Atelier Yarns, and then back to ImagiKnit so I could take pictures inside).

Probably not only in SF, but, you know, I don't see a lot of drag queens where I hang out.

My loss, of course.

We went back to the guest house and sat in the garden, with drinks, and gave CR his birthday gifts. See what I made him? A knit skull!

And a couple of little bottles of booze in skull-shaped bottles. Because he's older, and I will never let him forget it.  :)

Mum decided to rest her foot, and sent us out to get dinner. We had Chinese, and brought her back some egg rolls. And on the way home, I took this crappy-lighting photo of what I swear looks like a handmade door decoration.

Not a shade exactly, but so pretty and unusual.

And all that was just Saturday. Whew. No wonder my legs were tired. Next up: Sunday, Oakland!


If you missed an installment:
San Francisco, Part Two: Alcatraz
Let's Get To It: San Francisco, Part One 
My Yarn Tour of the Bay Area