Saturday, July 23, 2011

Caves, Tots n' Yuppie Hot Dogs

We interrupt our regularly scheduled programming (Maui posting) to give you a peek at today's adventures, in our neck of the woods.

Today it was just Finn and me, as Jeremy had journeyed down south to help his mom move. Finn has been under the weather and is super needy/whiney at home, but he does quite well out and about, with distractions from his discomfort. Jeremy had the car so we needed to stay within biking distance. Often we use the bike to get around anyway--I find it to be easier and often quicker than the car. Plopping Finn in his seat on the back of my bike is hassle free, and he loves it. We are conscious to take the safest routes, often through the park and/or wherever there is a bike lane.

Anyhow...back to our day. We rode a few blocks through our neighborhood to the Sutro Bath ruins and the Land's End Trail. Sutro Baths were the raddest public recreational swimming establishment ever, opened in 1896, and burned down in 1966. They are located down the cliffs, between the Land's End trail parking lot and the Cliff House restaurant, accessible by stairs. There were 7 swimming pools, ranging from unheated ocean water to 80 degree heated and there were all sorts of ways one could toss themselves into the water-- toboggan sledding, rings, swings, trampolines, diving boards etc. Sounds like a blast. Finn and I went and explored the ruins, including a cave/ tunnel down there. Not quite as cool as the aforementioned pools, but it is still a beautiful spot. There are still pools of water/ ocean everywhere so one has to be really careful with taking small children.


This is the view at the end of the tunnel:

We spotted a big hawk and then watched it take off in flight. Finn said, "Wh-ho-ho-hoa!"


Finn enjoyed grabbing rocks to throw into the various pools. I enjoyed sitting next to him, watching his glee and enjoying the view.


Note the little heart shape in the rock

There are some ruins you can climb inside, which Finn thought was way cool. I'm omitting the picture of him gleefully climbing inside because of the giant booger that was sliding out of his nose at that very moment.


After climbing back up we went a little ways on the Land's End trail and before you know it, Finn was asking for snacks. Which I didn't have.


Being dinner time I decided we should hit up Underdog. We got there by riding down the Cabrillo bike lane, entering the park at 30th Ave and then cutting over at Crossover drive, just below the busy Park Presidio/19th Ave. We exited at the little entrance at 20th Ave and made our way to Judah and 17th. It was great to be enjoying tots and wieners in our old hood, just like the good ole days, but this time with Finn. He especially loved the Potater-tots. Being fancy SF yuppie hot dogs (grass-fed, organic, non GMO, free range, cage free, etc, etc), the casing was a little hard for Finn to bite through, which meant breaking it into pieces. This was no Oscar Meyer, my friends. Finn got the regular Underdog and I got the Hot Link. Both delish. The buns! Oh the buns! Perfection. Plus this place has yummy home made saurkraut and relish. Underdog has a big selection of vegan/vegetarian choices, which I hear are really quite good.


Only snag was that Finn poured water all over himself (I didn't have the sippy) which meant he would be freezing riding home on the bike. This is SF summer, people! I took off my button-up long sleeve layer and put it on him. He looked like he was wearing a baggy dress of this style, but at least he was warm(er). We didn't seem to get any funny looks at the grocery store on the way back (again, SF, people) but my arms were icicles when we got home. Finn was also enjoying warming his cold little hands up my shirt and (to my horror) down the back of my pants as we rode. Kids...

No comments:

Post a Comment