066- Finding Spring

One of the goals of this vacation was to find spring! Although I've never specifically made a trip to CA in the late winter with this purpose in mind I find that, without exception, I have made just such a trip each year since moving here. Somehow it just makes surviving 6-8 more weeks of cold, mountain winter weather bearable.

At Golden Gate park we found this group of men playing Reggae music; being *Little Joanie* I had to get up-close-and-personal! While the others hung back I went up and thanked them for their happy sound!



I was very impressed with the acrobat/gymnast fellow. He sent through his routine with nary a bobble. I can only imagine the strength he must have. Impressive!

On to the Botanical Gardens... spring, lovely spring! A perfect day in San Francisco... sunny, warm (high 50's) and no wind! What a delight!

We'd only been in the gardens a few minutes when Cindy, my little bee chah-mah (actually a squir-rell chah-mah), made friends with the funny little squirrels (But, daddy, I WANT a squir-rell!) We noticed that some of them followed us around like a little bunch of dogs... do you suppose it was the smell of the tortilla chips!



Right off we were greeted with beautiful magnolia trees.



And just down the path... tulip trees. I found, upon further investigation today, that magnolia and tulip trees are from the same genus.



Cindy spotted this plum tree in bloom. I would have mistaken it for an apple tree... shows how much I know!



My very botanical name for this tree is a Muppet Pine! I truly don't know what variety of pine tree this is, but it looked like it belonged with all the Muppet characters. The needles were 10-12 inches long and hung down like Animal's hair! It swished in the light breezes.



I just love trees... isn't this a perfect specimen of what a tree should look like? It is some sort of Japanese tree, but that is all I remember. How can a naked tree be so beautiful? I can only imagine how it will look in full bloom or leaf!



I saw these beautiful lavender-colored berries on a tree, but I don't know what they are either.



After trekking around for a couple of hours we headed back to the entrance only to find that it had been closed and locked! Dun-dun-dun... We were directed by a vague sign to the *after-hours* exit. (What, do you suppose, would have been wrong with placing the after-hours exit by the entrance? Hmm, I'll have to think on this one!)

So we bravely toiled onward...



The good news is that if we hadn't made this detour I would have missed this magnificent Monterrey Cypress. Compare its size to the tiny humans in the lower right of the photo!



And these ginormous hens and chicks must be on steroids. They were the size of dinner plates!



We finally reached Miss Sarah's car tired, slightly foot sore, but very pleased with our outing!