Yesterday D. and I started out the day at the Noe Valley Farmer's Market in San Francisco. Noe Valley is one of the City's cool little neighborhoods, and it also has the closest farmer's market to where I live.
After lunch we investigated Battery East, a part of the Presidio and close to the southern anchorage of the Golden Gate Bridge. There were cool brick-lined Civil War-era tunnels throughout the battery. Had the immediate area not been overrun at the time with scores upon scores of Girl Scouts having their own kind of meet-up, I would have thought the bunkers full of ghosts. But there's something about a hundred shrieking young girls swarming around, futilely herded by adults endlessly admonishing them to "Stay to one side!", "Let others through!" and "Give other people a chance to see!" that would put even the most baleful spirit right off for the day. We found a nice picnic spot in a grove of cypress trees with spectaular views of the Bridge. We're looking forward to sharing them with those who can make the meet-up this summer.
Our next area to investigate was the Wave Organ. It's part sculpture, part science project and a completely unique San Francisco experience. We enjoyed several peaceful moments sitting on a bench near some pipes and listening to the music of the waves and tides resonating in the chambers, as a colorful fleet of sailboats skimmed along on the bay behind us.
We then checked out the spectacular view from Twin Peaks, San Francisco's second-highest hills. The hillsides are being restored with native plants because they are one of the last three habitats on Earth for the endangered Mission Blue butterfly. The butterfly depends on a limited number of species of lupine to reproduce, and introduced foreign plants are more aggressive and crowd out the native ones. I hope the Mission Blue can survive and establish a thriving population on Twin Peaks.
Although sunny, the wind was as sharp as knives on the hilltop, and as lovely as the views were, it was a relief to get back in the vehicle and head home to make dinner, with fresh veggies from the farmer's market that morning. Dessert included fresh organic strawberries and wheat-free vegan brownies. Yum!
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