 |
Golden Gate Park |
| Our large and beloved urban oasis |
Picture credit: Steve Lai
A section of Golden Gate Park
Taken from atop Moraga Park
(Looking North)
Naturally, Golden Gate Park is the wide swath in the center of the image. This picture is really useful because it gives you a lay of the land. Let's start from way in the background. Those faraway mountains are part of the Golden Gate National Recreational Area (GGNRA), a federally-protected national park. If you measure very carefully, you will see there is one paramount peak. That entire mountain where the peak rests is called Mount Tamalpais, aka Mount Tam. It seems far away, but is actually only a bit over an hour from the city and an entire world away. I highly, highly recommend a leisurely day trip there where you must while away the day and enjoy the sunset. OK, so I love Mount Tam. :) The body of water is the great Pacific Ocean, finally coming in after thousands of miles of open ocean, and flowing under the Golden Gate Bridge which is just off camera to the right. Next, on the San Francisco side, at the left edge you see a wooded mound, that is the Presidio and the large beige buildings next to it comprise George Washington High School, where I went! After Washington HIgh, you see a section of the Richmond district, still on the far side of Golden Gate Park. Then the wide swath of Golden Gate Park and finally, in the foreground, you see the Northern edge of the Sunset district. As you can see, Golden Gate park rises towards the right edge of the picture, which is exactly where it attains its highest elevation, at Strawberry Hill, the hilly island surrounded by Stow Lake.
McLaren Lodge
Inside the park, but near Stanyan and Fell streets
(Looking NorthEast)
This is the visitor center for Golden Gate Park. Behind it, outside the park, you can see the white building which is St. Mary's hospital. Across the street from the lodge is the North-of-the-Panhandle area I discuss in the Neighborhoods page.
Picture credit: Steve Lai
(Looking South)
Devoted to model enthusiasts, you are likely to see many remote-controlled miniature boats, launches, and (once in my life) I even saw a large-is model helicopter. The lake is named after John D Spreckles the Hawaii sugar baron who made San Francisco his home until the 1906 earthquake and fire persuaded him it might be healthier elsewhere. It was nice of him to leave his lake, though. :)
Conservatory of Flowers
This picture is really more about the surrounding gardens.
Conservatory of Flowers - Panorama
Patterned after Kew gardens in the UK.
The bandshell area between the Asian Art Museum and the Academy of
Sciences
The way it used to look before a hideous, ugly, evil plan to build an underground parking lot beneath all those trees was implemented. The area is under construction right now so I don't know what it will look like when it's done.
