Monday, we checked out of the hotel I'd been living in for the last 8 months and departed San Jose, heading southwest to Big Bend Redwood State Park. I've posted previously about my first visit to the big trees; this time, I took Becky & Steve to see them.

( They were muchly impressed )

Japanese Tea Garden, part 1 - Entrance photos from back in late December 2007.
Japanese Tea Garden, part 2

Continuing my photogenic visit to the Japanese Garden in Golden Gate Park, San Francisco. (Which actually isn't very close to the Golden Gate Bridge; Presidio Park is actually at the foot of the bridge).

( Along the backside of the garden )

As mentioned recently, I finally thought to bring cash for the admission fee and was able to see the Japanese Tea Garden in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park. Here starts a jillion pictures or so. You'll see a lot of people in the background of these pictures; this Japanese garden is a very popular place.

Japanese Tea Garden, part 1 - Entrance photos from back in late December 2007.

( Japanese Tea Garden: Entrance and beyond )

While I was visiting the Japanese Tea Garden at San Francisco's Golden Gate Park, (for which I brought the admission fee, this time), I took close-ups of some of the early spring flowers.

( Flowers )

This is the last batch of pictures from the San Francisco Botanical Gardens. Remember that duckpond I mentioned?
( Birdsies )

After taking far too many pictures of tree ferns, I hurried on to the California section; it was getting later in the afternoon and I was very hungry, so I was going to wind up the visit after that. On the way there, I came around the other side of the duckpond and took lots of pictures of overly tame waterfowl, which I'll cover in my next post.
( Trees of California )

The San Francisco Botanical Gardens are quite large; I was only able to see part of them, as it was well on in the afternoon when I started. I entered via the "Friend Gate", across the road from the Japanese Tea Garden that I couldn't enter. The entrance area is Australian flora; there's a nice map near the gate showing the layout of the gardens.
( Pictures and a map or two )

One of the things I did the weekend before Christmas was travel up to San Francisco and check out some of the gardens in Golden Gate Park. I also hit Chinatown for a bit of shopping and dinner afterwards, but didn't get any pictures of that. Perhaps next time.
One of the things I wanted to see was the Japanese garden there, but, alas, it charged cash-only admission, and I had neglected to bring enough cash, assuming credit cards would be good for everything. (Hey, you can pay parking garage fees with them out here!) Whoops, won't make that mistake again when playing tourist.

( I took a few pictures of the entrance, though... )

I spent some time trying to identify the shorebirds in the pictures I took last weekend, and I was more-or-less successful.
( Pictures of the birds I saw at Half Moon Bay )

Sunday, August 5, I drove out to the beach. That's actually a bit more adventurous than it sounds; from San Jose, the shortest road to, say, Half Moon Bay, is one of those winding mountain roads. Fortunately 92 is a bit wider and shorter than 9 was.
( Birds, flowers and sand )

Last weekend, July 21, I drove over the mountains to Big Basin State Park. The main road there is this narrow, winding, two-lane road through the mountains--and Saturday is apparently the day every cross-country biker in California decides to take his bicycle through the mountains. There were swarms of bicyclists pedaling up the mountain road, adding to the 'interesting' level of the drive. Not only did I have to pay close attention to the curves and oncoming traffic, I had to avoid running over bicyclists who were around just about every corner. It was definitely not a drive for zoning out and listening to music.

These mountains, the coastal mountains, are not the dry, sere brown hills of the eastern, inland mountains. They're like the Appalachians - covered with tall conifers and quite green. Just how tall those trees are, I was soon to find out.

On the way up the mountains, there's quite a bit of vineyard country--you pass roads leading to quite a few California wineries. There's also several towns that don't look like they've changed much in a hundred years, or have been restored to their historic look.
( Then we get to the park... )