Day 109: Golden Gate Park

It was family day today, and we started to cross off some of our Bay Area bucket list. 

No, we aren't moving. Yet. But the Bay Area has so much to offer it's going to take all of our remaining three years(+) here to get through the list. And even then.

But before we get started on family day, we had football practice. And I seriously can't get over Cam in his little mouthguard and flags. Especially now that he has the mohawk to boot. 

Anyways. 

I've heard a lot about Golden Gate Park. I thought it was the park/beach next to the Golden Gate Bridge. Because you know, the name. So I popped the name in my phone and said "Google take the wheel!", assuming at the very least it would take me somewhere in San Francisco. 

Golden Gate Park is not the park next to the Golden Gate Bridge. In fact, it's nowhere near the bridge. So why name it?? It's right in the heart of the city, much like Central Park of NYC. Except it's bigger. And other than the occasional peek-a-boo of a street of Victorian row houses peaking through the trees, you wouldn't even remember that you were in the city. 

a picture of Golden Gate Park I took while skydiving. Not. Thanks Google. The park is that gigantic rectangle. Note the city skyscrapers above it and the Golden Gate bridge to the left. 

We didn't have a game plan other than the Family Day Survival Pack I had made that morning (PB&Js, a football, snacks, sweatshirts), so this was very much a wing it kind of day. We found a spot to park (+1 to Golden Gate Park for freeeeeee parking!) and inso doing found a small lake which sufficed nicely for a picnic lunch. Camden got to pursue his dream of being a Professional Bird Chaser, which is like his favorite thing in the entire world. 

And wouldn't you know it but we stumbled upon a model boat race on the lake, of all damn things. There were little speed boats and a lot of larger model sailboats. And next door to the lake was the....be ready for it....San Francisco Model Yacht Club. So we wandered in and looked at dozens of immaculate not-so-little model yachts. Later, we saw them do a "race" (though they were going so slow I called it a "demonstration" instead). Not a bad way to spend an accidental hour at the lake. 

There's a lot of walking trails so we picked one to see where it would take us. Our next attraction was an American Bison paddock: a huge fenced in meadow with a barn and 4 or 5 Bison inside. We also came across a couple more small lakes/ponds, a police horse stable, and an old polo grounds which has been converted to a bicycle/skating track. 

All this and we hadn't even covered a third of Golden Gate Park. 

The kids were whooped by then and my phone congratulated me on surpassing 10k steps for the day, so we called it. The good news is we can have several more trips to this interesting place and see new things each time. 

Rolling down the hill at the old polo grounds

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