finding our zen

the next morning after we dropped off the bean at camp, the old lady and i decided to check out the starbucks located inside the presidio.  it was just down the street from the walt disney museum, in the digital arts building that i later found out does work for lucasfilm and other lucas subsidiaries.

the "father of cinema."  i think i read somewhere that he was a professional photographer and was one of the first dudes who created motion pictures.

with coffee in hand, we headed off to golden gate park so that we could take advantage of a free admission day at the japanese tea garden.  i'd found a website with a bunch of "insider tips" for exploring san francisco, and this was on the list of things to do.

there were lots of other folks there doing the same thing including a ton of asian tourists, locals out for a stroll, and a group of kids about the bean's age toting sketch pads and pencils.  it was a very pretty park to walk through.

we took a peek at the menu for the tea house, but weren't too impressed and moved on.  not to mention that there were a ton of people crowded in there and we didn't want to have to fight for a spot to sit.

there was a small gift shop too, with all sorts of fun things to look at and a whole rack of japanese snacks.

we wandered through the whole park, which didn't actually take very long.

these guys were hard at work maintaining the grounds.

i think our favorite part was the zen garden:

and i liked reading all of the plaques that explained what things were.

the next thing on our list was to check out twin peaks, two hills right in the center of san francisco about 925 feet up.  i wanted to check out the view, and it wasn't very far away nor was it difficult to get to.

we parked the car, crossed the street and then climbed up these rather rickety-looking stairs to get to the top.

i wanted to head over and climb the other hill, but the old lady wasn't having it.  oh, well.

and then as we made our way back into the city, i spied something fun in the rearview mirror.

i really love doing all the touristy things.  so much fun!