GOLDEN GATE PARK

©2002 RJ Best

Where can you see buffalo grazing, ride a vintage carousel, or visit a "touching tide pool"? Golden Gate Park, of course! With an area larger than New York's Central Park, Golden Gate Park offers tranquility, excitement, activities, and education that draw both locals and visitors year-round.

The park houses several museums and gardens: California Academy of Science complex which contains the Steinhart Aquarium, Natural History Museum and Morrison Planetarium (temporarily closed - new facility under construction, reopens in 2008).

©2002 RJ Best

Conservatory of Flowers

Garden of Shakespeare's Flowers

Japanese Tea Garden

M.H. de Young Museum

Strybing Arboretum

Rent a pedal boat at Stow Lake or watch the radio-controlled boats on Spreckels Lake. There's even a Polo Field, Golf Course, and a great Children's Playground.

At the children's playground on the Lincoln Avenue side of the park, the popular slide is sure to be a hit with the kids. The park also boasts a 1912 carousel with 62 different menagerie animals.

The park is open every day, but Sundays are especially attractive because cars are prohibited on John F. Kennedy Drive, the park's main thoroughfare.

©2002 RJ Best

To enter the park, the easiest route is off 19th Avenue. Parking can be difficult, so if you can take a bus, you save yourself some frustration. (An estimated 75,000 people visit the park every weekend!)

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