Chinatown (and a few randoms)

Be not afraid of growing slowly, be afraid only of standing still. - Chinese Proverb

My friend lives within walking distance of San Francisco's Chinatown - so we went down there to explore one day.  Wow.  I must say, I have been few places more foreign to me than the Chinese dried fish market.  We tried to embrace it, I promise.  In the end though, it was disgusting!  It smelled like rotting seafood and the things they sell in there are crazy!  Hey though, at least we attempted to bridge a cultural gap.

This was pretty cool.  More than one building down there had giant artwork on the side of it - it was nice.

Fresh food market = good.

Dried seafood market = scary!

Cuttlefish anyone?

On the left: petrified and coated deer tail or something
On the right: deer antlers. They are only $88/piece - get yourself some!

Hardened cow vagina?  No really...we have no idea what this is.

So in the spirit of embracing the culture, we bought some dried fruit at the dry market.  I think we bought a prune, lemon, kumquat and ginger.  All of it tasted like ass.  When I went to taste one that he had already tried, he smacked it out of my hand to save me!  We thought the pigeon would like it - but even he left it alone.

I took this later (at least an hour later) when we passed by it again.  Completely untouched by even the birds.  That's a pretty sure sign it was completely gross.

So the next few pictures are not really from Chinatown...but they are just randoms from the city and I don't feel like making an entire blog post for just a couple of random pictures.

This is Lombard Street...which is the most crooked street in the world.  I got to drive down it!

The prize for most demented shop window goes to...this store.  I took five pictures of the window - that's how weird it was.

The prize for best street sign alliteration...right here!

This was just plain funny.  I do love copious amounts of garlic!

Tailgating at the Stanford homecoming game!  Very good fun! (Don't worry, I wore Black and Gold [though we lost that day]!)

So my friend was working on a new artwork in the Haight area of SF while I was in town.  He finished it the day before I left town - so on my way out (at 6am) I drove by and snapped some pictures.  This is not his piece, but is on the wall next to it.  Very lovely.

Here is his piece.  I think he told me it measures about 9'x9'.  Helping to beautify inner city walls...one piece of art at a time.

Officially the end of the San Francisco blog series.  I really enjoyed my time in this city.  It has definitely been a highlight of the trip.  I had some amazing food, hung out with amazing people, saw some very impressive art and got to cheer on the Giants in their NLCS games.  All in all, I could not have asked for a better SF experience.  Thanks for everything San Francisco!

It's Not Always Sunny in California

"Forget not that the earth delights to feel your bare feet and the winds long to play with your hair."  - Kahlil Gibran   

(wow - I really love that quote!)

After we finished up at the park we went to beach because I had not been to the San Francisco beach yet and it is quite different than the beach in say...La Jolla.  Here are the snaps I took (yeah, that's just some hip Aussie vernacular I am throwing in there)!

Kelp!

This dog was so flippin' cute!  He loved chasing that ball into the waves!

So does this look like anything to you?  At first glance from afar I was unsure what this was...upon a closer look...

Lots of tiny crab bodies!

Some views from on the beach...

This is a windmill that is infamous as a meeting spot for getting "tossed off" as the Brits would say.  If you are unsure what that means...go look it up.  This is a PG13 blog.

 I miss and love you little buddy!  Tell your mom to let you call me soon!

The tide comes in...

...the tide goes out.

Having your toes in the sand is such a great feeling.  Ahhh...

This was the same day we went to the park.  It was such a simple day and has been one of my favorites on this road trip so far.  I saw so many fantastic things - not to mention that I spent the day in fantastic company.  Thanks friend!

Golden Gate Park

"I believe that there is a subtle magnetism in Nature, which, if we unconsciously yield to it, will direct us aright."  - Henry David Thoreau

As mentioned in the previous post - my friend and I spent an afternoon walking around Golden Gate Park.  Here are some random things from the day...

According to my friend the Botanical Garden is not worth the entrance fee...don't worry, I took some pictures of flowers while walking around.

I loved this baby vines - they are so tiny and cute!

I saw these and said, "I want one of those in my hair."  My friend found one on the ground and picked it up for me. =)

Special thanks to the man stretching in the middle of the photo...

Performance stage in the center of the park.

We had a nice chat with the ducks...

...and the squirrels.  Even though this particular little dude tried to eat us.  Good thing I protected us both - my friend was shaking with fear.

A random pond in the middle of the park with a nice walking path around it.

So there is a bison enclosure in the park which I found rather odd...read below to find out why it is there!

I know this is dirty - but I had to share.  Look at the length of that tongue!

So that's that for the Golden Gate Park...a sprawling inner city park with tons to offer.  There are lots of things I didn't do for monetary reasons.  The Academy of Sciences and deYoung Museum were the two things I was most bummed to miss out on.  For a full list of the park's attractions, check out their website!

Japanese Tea Garden

"Man's heart away from nature becomes hard."  - Standing Bear

One of the days that I stayed in the city with my friend, he took me to Golden Gate Park for the afternoon.  One of the attractions in the park (there are several) is the Japanese Tea Garden.  I was not sure exactly what to expect - but it was beautiful.  I am very glad I got to experience it.  It was incredibly peaceful and reminded me how amazing nature truly is.  I loved just walking around quietly taking in the scenery...when we were through at the garden I felt very peaceful.  Thanks to my friend for making sure I saw this treasure.

Everything was just so green there - so beautiful.

Loved the branches of this crazy tree!

So the pictures don't really do this justice - but there are a series of bushes that wind around an area of the garden and then when you arrive at the final one in the front...

There is this rock which si sort of shaped like a dragon head.  I know, you cannot really tell from this - but I assure you it is cute. =)

My friend and I had a good laugh over this deer.  I mean, WTF?  It does not exactly seem to go here.

Massive bonsai tree

The Zen Garden (explanation above)

Little mushroom growing in the park. 

The Peace Lantern (explanation above)

The ceiling of one of the buildings.

Fish!

So unless you are Jenna you probably cannot read this - but it is talking about the crazy bridge you see in the pictures below.

It is certainly weird climbing up and down that thing...but I did it!

I took way more pictures than I realized.  So many beautiful plants and so much green!  If you are ever in San Francisco - check out the Tea Garden.  I thoroughly enjoyed it!