Golden Gate Park, Ocean Beach, and the Cliff House

I'm falling into a pattern here in the bay area! Saturday I sleep in till 8am, get up and eat pancakes, then head into the city! Usually with Lisa the traveling OT who's glad to beat the city sidewalks with me. Sunday is for cleaning house, doing laundry, going to church and finding food.

Yesterday we disembarked at Powell street BART station and caught the #5 bus down to Golden Gate park. I'll have to do another complete day at the park- I just walked through a bit of it this time. It's bigger than Central Park in NYC (according to an article found by Lisa).

For $5 we meandered around the winding paths of the Japanese Tea Garden, and for $3.95 we shared a pot of tea and a bowl of crackers, fortune cookies and rice puff. It was money well spent for a moment of zen. The garden was large enough to get a little lost in, but small enough to find your way out. The tea and cookies were a great snack.



We caught the #5 again and rode it all the way down to Ocean beach which was larger than I thought it would be. It's a good sized slice of sand. No swimming due to dangerous currents, but it's a great walking beach and you can do after dusk fires in their fire pits. The rocks are Seal Rock-- turned white from bird poo and former residence of the Pier 39 sea lions.



We walked up the hill to the Cliff House which has an interesting history and two separate restaurants within its walls. We ate in the more casual upstairs dining area and requested a seat by the window so we could watch the waves and the beginning of the sunset over the water. I ate the Frutti de Mare and it was fabulous. Lots of seafood!



Then the sun began to set. We walked the path down to the Sutro bath ruins and watched the coolest sunset I have ever seen in my life. It was my second sunset over the Pacific ocean, and the first that was unfettered by fog. I smiled the entire time and even did little happy skips as I bounced down the path. God is great. Sunsets over the ocean are proof.



And, just to add to the incredible experience, up on the cliff wall above us stood three musicians. They played drums and pipe until the last edge of the sun had slipped below the horizon. Then they quietly packed up and walked away. I applauded at the end of the sunset. *Sigh* it was cool. If you look in the right hand corner of the picture- you'll see the musicians.