Adventures of a Midwestern Girl (and Her Hillbilly Hermit Tennessean) in Sunny, Sunny California

After many weeks of rain, Saturday turned out to be a beautiful day. We even saw blue skies. Taking a chance early in the day that we could avoid the rain, Steve and I decided to head into the city and go to the Conservatory of Flowers in Golden Gate Park.

We seldom make it into the City, so this was a fairly significant decision on our part. But Steve had been talking about going for a while, and this seemed like a great opportunity to try out his brand new camera. He has a fancy film Nikon from many years ago that is just not all that convenient in this digital era. We also have a pretty good digital brownie camera. But, while great for shots at the karaoke bar, it can be frustrating to try and take animal pictures or more artsy fartsy shots. We have many pictures of empty pet carriers vacated by a recently released WildCare patient. Steve's been lusting after a fancy digital Nikon for a while now and he finally decided to go for it, following the appropriate money rules and using his personal account. As usual, I didn't really think we needed it, but now think it's the greatest thing. It even has that satisfying real camera chunk sound when it snaps a photo. And he can use his old lenses and attachments on it.

But I digress. The Conservatory of Flowers is a really cool place. It has several sections devoted to different types of tropical plants. It's hard to tell the size of this hibiscus flower; we were so engrossed in the macro mode (I mean come on! The macro mode symbol is a freaking flower!) that we didn't really get anything else in the picture to show the scale, but it was a good 8 inches across.

Bri and Mer take note: Currently their special exhibit is the Butterfly Zone. There weren't as many butterflies as we saw last year when we visited my grandfather and went to the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History, but there was a very cool case full of butterfly chrysalis out of which butterflies were emerging. They looked like jewelry. Who'da thunk?

Above all, the Conservatory is a great place to go on a cold day. Which this wasn't particularly. Every room we went into was warmer than the last. Remember this place holds tropical plants. By the time we got to the aquatic plants, we were starting to feel a little light-headed. The best advice for this excursion is to dress in layers so you can start stripping down as you work your way through.

It's not someplace you could spend the whole day; I think Steve and I made our way through it in about an hour to an hour and a half. But it's very reasonable price-wise (only $5 for adults) and it's in Golden Gate Park, so there are lots of other things you can do. I think it will be a great place to take my parents the next time they visit in cold weather, assuming they'll let us entertain them.