October 1, 2024 - San Francisco

 

Title: October 1, 2024 - San Francisco
Hike Info : Description : Background :  Flowers and Plants

Hike Info:

Type: Hiking :  Car 

Trail head:  Nancy Pelosi Drive

Trail: Wander

Distance:  2.14  miles 1

Elevation Rise: 293'

Descent: 291‘

Maximum Elevation: 290'

GPS Tracks

 ¹Distance, elevation and route are from a track manually laid down on Google Earth

Car Mileage:  67 miles
Drive Time:  2 hours'ish

Conservancy of Flowers

Description:

I slept well. The bed was comfortable. I woke up around 6:40, but stayed in bed until 7:30. But that was about all the restfulness I will be getting. First, I read where Visa would like to have more info about a couple VRBO charges I am disputing. Then last night I paid for a couple of 1 day muni passes which would be available on my Clipper card in a day or two. An email said five days. I spent 30 minutes on hold until my earpiece gave out. Then my CGM stopped-this was expected. But my new one would not start. It finally did register at 9:15pm.

 

Sherri and an orhid

Still I am out having a good time with Sherri. After eating breakfast, we left the Holiday Inn about 10:00. I am a bit frustrated as when I left I missed the turn off for I-80, but that was a good thing as Sherri realized the outlet store for her clothing would open in a few minutes. So off we go to the outlet. Evidently the store is going under and has been taken over by new management. It probably will not be around much longer.

We take a little less than two hours to drive into San Francisco and onward to Golden Gate Park, near the California Academy of Science. We are not sure how the bridge tolls work, but we think we will be invoiced for it-this got sorted out about two weeks later with us getting a FasTrack account. On the good side, we were able to find a parking space close to the Academy, arriving around noon.

We are not hungry yet, so we went for a walk. The first thing we notice is that it is very warm for San Francisco. We find out it is above 90-who ever heard of that in the City in October? The HIV Memorial Grove is right across the street, so we walk through it, emerging on the east side of it. Why you might ask? It does have shade. There is some interesting landscaping with the cobblestones forming a creek bed. Wondering how we could use that?

This takes us over to the Conservancy of Flowers. Turns out that the first Tuesday of the month is free. That's today! Inside the Conservancy, add humidity to the heat. Still there are dozens of interesting and lovely flowers. We wander through it for about 45 minutes. Some if it is just hot and humid. Other parts simulate a high mountain rain cloud forest. We stayed in that room for a while.

But a little after 1, we leave, hunting for a place in the shade to have lunch. This would be the typical peanut butter and Nutella sandwiches. After devouring mine, I lay down on the grass. Sherri occupies herself by inviting people to share the bench with her. Also she is interested in the Dahlia garden in the middle of a circle in front of us. After about 40 minutes, we took off.

Rather than go straight to the Academy, we take a rather looping way over, walking behind the tennis courts, over to an art studio (Sharon’s), by the carousel ride, finally coming out on Martin Luther King Jr Drive. Much of the previous walk was shaded, but the walk along MLK Drive is exposed and I can feel the sun on me. But not as bad as if we were in Fresno.

One of the things I noted along the way was many statues to somebody who at one time was famous. I was reminded of General Patton’s words that all glory is fleeting. My version was that these memorials are futile. They are placed there to glorify somebody, or maybe themselves, but after 10, 20 or 30 years, who remembers the person, let alone what they did? Which gets me to thinking how long will someone remember me after I am gone? My children, yes. But who else? If retirement is any indication, I would say there is a shelf life of memory by those who you are around is about five years.

We eventually got to the California Academy of Science. Last December, we bought a senior membership. That is one of the reasons why we came to San Francisco was to use it. The Academy wants you to store the membership in your digital wallet. I do not use a wallet like that, so the only thing I have in it is this membership. I am relieved to find out that it actually works.

Sherri inside holdings room

Our first order of business is to find a place to sit. We watch a video about how the Academy is working to protect areas around California and working with tribal people to make this happen. We must have been enthralled with the presentation since we sat through it twice, or maybe we, or at least I, was just that tired.

Then there was a presentation on how Native-American methods of doing what was prescribed burns, at least the objectives were closely aligned. Interesting stuff, particularly since Sherri and I spend time in a fire lookout and see the effects of the accumulation of debris when it is burned during a wildfire.

Fern Fossils

We wander around a bit and get to experience the effects of a simulated earthquake. It is what I expected and not. The expected part was after living through several quakes and being a native Californian, I know what a quake felt like. But the simulated quakes were of the 1989 Loma Prieta quake and the 1906 San Francisco quake. Much more violent than what I have felt. I wonder what I would have done during those quakes. At least on the simulated quake I was expecting it.

Then it is on to the collections exhibit. This is a darkened area which shows a sampling of the collections which are not displayed. The Academy has millions of items in their collections and what we see is just a small part of their stuff.

About 4:00, we decided to go to our hotel, Cow Hollow Inn, a place which we have been several times and generally enjoyed. Except that if you get something on the street, it can be noisy. But this time they give us room 315 which faces the back. Very quiet and very comfortable.

We rest up for a while and then decide where to eat. Neither one of us are into making a decision, so we go to the old standby-Amici’s. This is right across the street from us. Convenient without a lot of walking. I get a Philly Pizza which Sherri shares a piece or two, but she has her plate full with a Full Spinach Salad. She also indulges herself with an Anterra Pinot Grigio.

Then it is back to our room and just relax before going to bed. I think yesterday’s drive took a lot out of us.

Background
One of our quests when we go to San Francisco is to find stairways and walk them. There was two this day, both by the Conservancy of Flowers. One leads directly into the Conservancy. The other takes off to the east, down to a Dahlia Garden.

 
Flowers and Plants