Plan...what plan?

So, we began yesterday with a plan to visit Golden Gate park with the intention of seeing the Japanese Tea Garden and the Shakespeare Garden (Yes, I am writing this a day late, again. I will try to get my act together tonight.).  We rode the Metro (subway) to the park.  After we stepped through several groups of homeless people blatantly smoking pot in the park entrance and walked a few minutes, we discovered the Children's Playground...and FUN blew the plan to pieces.  It was the most incredible playground I have seen in the US.  It was a kids' version of the American Ninja Warriors Obstacle Course, which is Jack's favorite TV show.  While Jack and Hadley pretended to be ninja warriors, Sidney and Lyndon slid down this very steep concrete slide. Luckily, other people brought cardboard to share as a buffer for sliding.  

Then, the kids tackled the rope Eiffel Tower (as I like to call it).  They have something similar to this on their school playground, but this one was on steroids.  I am posting several pictures -- one to give you perspective of the height, several of Sid and Lyn on top (they conquered their fears after several attempts and reached the summit) and one of all 4 kids monkeying around.  

After over an hour of playground time, we decided that the kids wouldn't enjoy the extra 20 minute hike (each way) to the Tea Garden, so we will save that for another day.  We made our way out of the park and into the Haight Ashbury district.  The kids asked numerous times what the funny smell in the air was, so we explained marijuana to them.  Ah, life lessons...We took the kids into Amoeba Records, an honest-to-goodness record store (that also happens to adjoin a Medical Marijuana Clinic), so they could see real albums and we could prove to ourselves that we are really old.  

After lunch on Haight Street, we took the kids to the corner of Haight and Ashbury.  Dan explained the Summer of Love and the Be-Ins to them.  Here is a picture of our little hippies.

The next stop was the Grateful Dead house, a house in which the band actually lived on Ashbury Street.  It is a private residence, so we told the kids over and over "don't touch the gate!"  The kids listen to the Grateful Dead with us occasionally, so they understood the significance of the house.  

This was the part of the day when the plan really fell apart.  I wanted us to visit Mission Delores, which is the oldest building in SF.  It is the oldest established mission in the area.  I thought it would be a good history lesson about missions for the kids. Well, according to the map, you could walk about ten blocks to get there. It looked like you could walk through Buena Vista park and it would be a few blocks on the other side.  Did I mention that SF is hilly?  Extremely hilly?  Also, maps don't show hills.  We started up the steep hills to get to the park, which crests the top of a very steep hill.  Let's just say that I wasn't very popular at the moment.  As we reached the top (after 20 minutes of climbing), the view was spectacular.  I also discovered that Mission Delores would be closed by the time we made it down the hill.  We made the most of the hike and explored the residential areas.  There was a view of the Golden Gate bridge on one side, but my pictures didn't capture the detail.  Regardless, the views were incredible.  

We hiked down and caught the Metro back to the hotel.  The kids swam in the pool, which was their constant request all day.  You would not know that we go to the pool every day at home.  I know there is something extremely cool about an indoor hotel pool to kids, though.  I have a tentative plan for today, but I am not holding my breath...