nature

Cool, wet and fog wrapped, the cloud forest on Mt. Sutro (Mt.Parnassus to natives) above the old UCSF Medical Center, is a walk into a reverie. Only 80 acres [here’s the map] it is a dense forest of mostly eucalyptus with the verdant, ethereal theatricality of the Olympic Peninsula. Go west on Parnussus and park […]

Young grandchildren have no interest in wine tasting but there are still ways to entertain them in the Napa Valley. The Old Faithful Geyser is not exactly Yellowstone but it reliably blows its 60 foot column of steaming spray every 30 minutes. Between these scalding spectaculars, the kids can enjoy the llamas and fainting goats […]

Nature at its most beautiful and its weirdest is free on the 1st Tuesday of every month at this massive and glorious glass Victorian greenhouse. Built in 1878, it’s open from 9 to 5 and is a damper and more humid rainforest than the one in the new Academy of Sciences. Among the hundreds of […]