We didn't set of out till late morning today so it was going to be a rush if we wanted to go to the science museum but we ended up changing our plans for the day as Jane forgot to bring the credit card with her so we went to plan B, we got the N Judah tram down to the museum but as we didn't go in there was still plenty to see so we walked up to Stow Lake in Golden Gate Park and had a stroll around there. The park is over three miles (4.8 km) long east to west, and about half a mile (0.8 km) north to south. With 13 million visitors annually, Golden Gate is the fifth most-visited city park in the United States after Central Park in New York City, Lincoln Park in Chicago, and Balboa Park and Mission Bay Park in San Diego. The main attractions in the park are the Music Concourse Area, De Young Museum, Academy of Sciences, Japanese Tea Garden, Conservatory of Flowers, San Francisco Botanical Garden at Strybing Arboretum, National AIDS Memorial Grove, Stow Lake / Strawberry Hill, Spreckels Lake / Model Boat Facility, Chain of Lakes, Kezar Stadium, Polo Fields, Windmills, Bison paddock and Beach Chalet Bar and Grill.
There was nowhere near enough time to get around even a few of these places and by now it was around 1:30 pm so thought sod it, we will go and get some lunch in the sunset district, I'd found a place while I was planning this holiday that I just had to try called jenny's burgers, not disappointed. This place is not part of a chain of burger joints like Macdonald's and they cook your burger how you want it. Really good prices here as well, I must say this is the best burger I've had ever, there are only about 6 seats inside but there was only one other person in there so it's not a problem. I can't remember how much it cost now for two
meals but they were less than $15 for to two I think. With that done and no particular plan for the rest of the day, we hopped back on the N tram for a 15-minute ride down to Ocean Beach. The trams here are a bit strange when getting on and off in some places as they don't have any platforms, you just get off in the middle of the road so it's a good idea to check first that nothing is passing it or you could get flattened by a passing car or truck. The other thing is, as we got on in an underground part there is a level platform whereas when it goes out onto the streets the steps go down and they are fairly steep to get off.
At Ocean Beach it didn't look like there was much there but once you had crossed the road and walked up a bit, gone over some sand dunes you were on the most spectacular beach, Jane couldn't get on to it because her sticks would sink into the sand but it was still worth it just to see a beach this big with hardly anybody on it. Best of all there was no wind now and not a cloud in the sky, the sun was out and nearly sunset, such a peaceful place to be so we sat down there for a while, with that it was time to walk back to the tram stop to head back but at least when Jane got on there is a raised platform where they turn around then it moves up a bit and picks anyone else up from the normal stop. The strange thing is it seemed to get back a lot quicker than when we came, perhaps that's just me though.
So it was back to the hotel for a bit of rest before we went out for something to eat later on in Lori's Diner. I really liked this place as it's the all American retro dining experience, 50's style. They even have a car inside the restaurant and the waitresses are dressed in 50's style with the beehive hair do's. We both had the chicken and chips that came with the biggest tub of coleslaw I'd seen outside of a supermarket. I got a bottle of beer to wash it done with but they don't give you a glass, you just drink out of the bottle in there, just my sort of thing. It was good value as well at around $30 including tax and a tip. With us now fed and watered we had a walk back through Union Square then Jane went back to the hotel but I needed to go and get some beer and have a look in the Westfield shopping center. This is another odd place to go, it's big but not wide or long but it has about seven or eight floors to it so it's sort of a vertical shopping experience but you do get a good view when you look down through the central part all the way to the bottom which is about 150 foot below. With that done it was time to grab some tins of beer and head back to recharge my old bones for tomorrow.
