We were up and out by about nine thirty this morning as we had a full day planned for us by starting almost were we left off in Golden Gate Park a few days prior to this so it was back on the 5L bus towards Ocean Beach and got off just after the Japanese Tea Garden this time and back into the park to have a look at the herd bison that live in there.
They were a bit far away but still managed to get some half decent pictures of them. The bison (also incorrectly called buffalo sometimes) have lived in the park since 1892 along with elk, bears and an assortment of other animals until the zoo opened in 1930, now only the bison remain, they are owned by the city and cared for with the help of San Francisco Zoo. The babies are normally moved to other areas in the USA to stop inbreeding and new animals are often bought by people then donated to the herd when required so there is very little cost to the city. We should have headed back onto the main road the and walked down towards the beach but we stayed in the park instead, that was a mistake as most of the pavements were really uneven with tree roots coming through so Jane had to walk most of it as it was too rough her wheels, it was a nice time for it though.
After around forty minutes or so we came out at the Dutch windmills on the Pacific coast at Ocean Beach, but now we were hungry so it was time to head on over to a small parade of shops near there to see what was on offer apart from the large Safeway superstore. We definitely got lucky here by finding a burger shop that wasn't part of a chain called TJ Burgers, it was even recommended by somebody who was walking past at time and seen us looking at the menu. Time to dive inside for burger, large fries and large coffee all for about twelve dollars. That was certainly one of the best feeds we had.
From there it was short walk around the corner to catch the number 18 bus up to the Legion of Honor which is a fine arts museum although that's not our sort of thing you do get some fantastic views over the city from the car park not to mention the fountain that they have in the car park that has the clearest water I've ever seen and it didn't have any litter dumped in like you see in most places. After taking some more photographs round there we headed off for a walk around the side of the museum, walking some footpaths through the woods (we later found out there are quite a few rattlesnakes living in these woods and even though it was winter it was very warm so they were still roaming about in there) and back out onto roads at outer Richmond district where there some very nice houses with cacti going in the garden.
From there it was only a short walk to a place called Lands’ End which is on a cliff overlooking the ruins of Sutro Baths. This really is a spectacular view over the Pacific Ocean from here so the only thing to do was grab a coffee from the shop, sit on the wall and soak up the view on gloriously sunny afternoon then it was time to go in the national park gift shop and buy some souvenirs to take back, I must say I do like buying key rings and things like that. From there we walked down past the old Cliff house pumping station that was used when Sutro Baths was in used around nineteen hundred but it's now a very expensive restaurant, there's another gift shop that is next to the restaurant, this place belongs to the same company I think so everything was incredibly expensive as well although we did get to see the biggest T-shirts I've ever seen, they were massive. From there we headed down the road that brings you from the cliff to beach level, by now it was almost sunset now so we sat there and watched the sun go down for a while. Even though we have been here before it’s one you always want to come back to again and again.
It was time to move on now as it was almost dark but there was a still load of people on the beach as it was a warm evening, we headed along the seafront until we got back to the small parade of shops that we passed earlier and went into the Safeway superstore. We both like shopping in these places, it's the best supermarket around I think but there aren't many in the city so when you get a chance you go in we do. Everything is piled high and half the price of Walgreen’s so we stocked up on beer, biscuits, crisps and anything else we could think of. Turns out it was really heavy to carry but the bus stop is only just across the road, we grabbed some of the reusable bags that they sell as well to bring home with us because they are better quality and no one else is going to have one around here. We didn't have to wait too long for a bus plus they have a real-time system up in the bus shelter so you know how long is going to be and it’s always good to see them lined up across the road from where we were waiting so at least you know one will turn up eventually.
By now it was completely dark but there were still a lot of people about as it was only around six thirty, by the time we had been on the bus about fifteen minutes it was packed but only took about thirty-five minutes to get back to the corner of 5th and Market where the hotel is then it's just a couple of minutes’ walk to the door. By now it was about seven thirty and we were both a knackered but today has been a really good day. With that, it was time to switch on the TV for a couple of hours and eat some sandwiches and biscuits we had got from Safeway’s before we crashed out for the rest of the evening.
