Bay Area Love

I grew up in San Francisco. I remember “Eddie the policeman” and his horse Chief. Back then, kids could explore Golden Gate Park without tripping over a homeless encampment, or meander through any of the museums and Japanese Tea Gardens, FREE. Did you know that Golden Gate Park is bigger than New York’s Central Park? Yup, we got one up on the Big Apple.

Some of us remember when Playland still existed and Laughing Sal made you almost wet your pants in hysteria. Geary Street was clean. Things change. Then again, some things do not.

One super fun thing to do in San Francisco is to rent a paddle boat at the Stow Lake Boathouse in Golden Gate Park, and get some exercise circling around Strawberry Island (on top of which is a great view of the City), taking in the turtles basking on logs, the idyllic Chinese Pavilion, or the faux waterfall. It’s also a place where birders can have a field day discovering the many fantastic birds that make the lake and surrounding trees their urban home or resting place. I’ve been lucky and have not been pooped on by a seagull or pigeon yet, but I hear it does happen.

If you’re not in shape, the first ten minutes of paddling will give your legs a good burn. After that, it’s all downhill (so to speak). The lake itself and the surrounding scenery is a real time warp: other than the Chinese Pavilion, which was a gift to the City from Taipei in 1981, the scenery is exactly as I remember it as a kid. The Pavilion is so serene that as you come around the curve and see it, you want to stop paddling and drift, imagining that you’re actually in China during some ancient dynasty. This is where you should get off of your boat, and take a look at the exquisite hand-painted ceiling in the Pavilion, rich with Chinese symbols of good luck and blessings.

It’s hard to think that you’re even in a city as you circumnavigate Stow Lake. This really is the BEST city in the world.