The Golden Gate and Other San Francisco Landmarks

The famous Golden Gate Bridge. Aviva took this shot from the car as we drove to Mendocino in our rental car, a little red Mitsubishi Galant.


A good portion of the drive followed the twisty, slow-going, but beautiful Route One, which takes you through a small redwood forest. Eventually, you exit the woods and find yourself staring at the most amazing ocean views. Both perspectives are enough to knock one's proverbial socks off!


We stopped at the Japanese Tea Garden to drink a spot of tea and eat some rice crackers. The flowers were all in bloom and the colours were truly incredible. It seems as though the colour of choice for spring flowers is pink, which probably explains the plethora of pink to be found in clothing stores at this time of year. I have rediscovered the beauty of pink, a colour I used to respond to with scorn as a teenager and with screams and violent protestations as a child. When I went to visit my mother last summmer she was amazed to see me come off the plane wearing a bright pink t-shirt and carrying an equally bright pink purse. So, she decided to celebrate my change of heart by sending me the shirt I'm wearing in this photo as a birthday present. Who says tough chicks can't wear pink?


Some weird but beautiful flowers in the Botanical Gardens. I hae no idea what these flowers are called as I wasn't smart enough to write down their names. So, just enjoy their nameless beauty.


Same goes for these rather alien-inspired flowers. They look very trumpet-ish so I'm going to christen them flaming trumpet blossoms.


Here is Aviva posing in the Botanical Gardens. Notice how her hair blends in with the trees? Actually, the way she is posing in this shot reminds me of the photos that grace the pages of the New York Times Sunday wedding section. She just needs a handsome medical student standing next to her to complete the image along with a few lines about how they both graduated suma cum laude from Harvard and Yale, met while volunteering with doctors without borders in the Sudan, and have parents who own their own law firms and/or work in private practice in L.A. and New York. Wait a minute. Scratch that. Can I stand next to her insead?