Just for Abi...

We found a few friends on our walks, a seagull....

... koi at the Japanese Tea Garden...

... a duck begging for food at the Japanese Teahouse... Abi, what does the duck say?....

... and turtles in Golden Gate Park. Do you see turtles at your park?

San Francsco Ramblings

Highlights of our ramblings included riding the San Francisco trolley and visiting Coit tower on Telegraph Hill. If you squint, you can see the tower in the background. Coit Tower is worth a visit for its spectacular views of both the city, Golden Gate Bridge and all of the Bay area, and its depression-era public art works murals painted in 1934 in the Diego Rivera social style.




Couldn't miss a walk down Lombard street.... or...

dinner at Fishermen's Warf.

We finished our visit with the Castro and Mission districts. The Castro district is the center of the gay community with a memorial to Harvey Milk, the first openly gay city supervisor who was shot in 1978. The old hispanic Mission district is known for its many colorful murals. Note Golden Gate Bridge in the background.

Japanese Tea Garden, Golden Gate Park, San Francisco, CA

As part of our visit to San Francisco, we strolled amids the cherry trees, flowering azaleas, oriental magnolias, Japanese maples, dwarf pines, cedars and cypresses in the Japanese Tea Garden in the middle of Golden Gate Park. The garden is an oasis of calm and quiet that provides respite from the bustling city. Definitely one of the highlights of our visit.

Japanese black pine, the oldest plant in the garden, brought over from Japan as a potted plant over in the early 1900's.

Cranes and stone pagoda.

Garden of the Gods, Colorado Springs, Colorado

This national landmark is situated in the City of Colorado Springs. It is a vast park of towering red rock sand stone formations, surrounded by pinyon and juniper schrubs and ponderoso pines. Here is how the park got its name: "It was August of 1859 when two surveyors started out from Denver City to begin a townsite, soon to be called Colorado City. While exploring nearby locations, they came upon a beautiful area of sandstone formations. M. S. Beach, who related this incident, suggested that it would be a "capital place for a beer garden" when the country grew up. His companion, Rufus Cable, a "young and poetic man", exclaimed, "Beer Garden! Why it is a fit place for the Gods to assemble. We will call it the Garden of the Gods." It has been so called ever since."

Balancing rock!

Kissing Camels.

Mueller State Park, Divide, Colorad0

Mueller State Park is located near the town of Divide, east of Colorado Springs in the Southern Rockies. It is an ideal location for cross country skying and snowshowing. We set out for a day of snowshoeing but mother mature decide otherwise. The weather, as we know, is unpredictable in the mountains. We arrived to find a full parking lot and great blue skies. Within 1 1/2 hours we were surrounded by heavy grey clouds, and it had started snow. We ate a quick lunch, shrivering in the dropping temperatures, and headed back to the car. When we reached the parking lot, we found it empty. Obvously, others had gotten the message that it was time to move on. So we headed for the Garden of the Gods for the remainder of the afternoon.