A Weekend in San Francisco

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     Please allow me to once more be your annoying jetsetter friend with my story of how I spent the weekend in San Francisco the other day. Well, not so much a story but a collection of loosely collected images with very little information attached. Just like my real memories!

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    This is Hazel and our cat Markl standing in Hazel’s kitchen. Did I mention she’s from San Francisco and that’s why I’m even here in the first place? Right now I have so that’s out of the way.

     This is the Conservatory of Flowers, it was built in the early 19th century inspired by the Palm house of the Royal Botanical Gardens in London. It has its own wikipedia page, if you wanted to know more. It was divided into different sections inside based off themes determined by air pressure and temperature, such as ‘Aquatic Plants’ and ‘Highland Tropics’. I had planned to divide the photographs from each section with the header-signs of each section’s respective door, but frankly that was just too much work as all these plants look similar to my untrained eye and the header cards are mixed up in the shuffle. I was especially interested here in the interplay between the plants and the people, because it was produced with the intention of giving this very ‘jungle’ feeling but everything is watered and couldn’t exist and wouldn’t be here without people. Also notable are the many interesting evolutionary adaptations these plants have, some of which {having been taken the furthest out of context} seem ridiculous. Like the broadleaf that has a pattern of smaller, lighter leaves, or the moss ball, which is moss rolled up on itself with no caramel stone centre.

     Let’s see, this next one is the Academy of Sciences. Not a school but one of the largest natural history museums in the world. It has a huge aquarium, a real rainforest inside of a spaceship, and all other kinds of stuff like a glass case of skulls from around the world and throughout human evolution, which like an idiot I stared at for like ten minutes but didn’t photograph even though that is THE COOLEST BIZ. Also its roof is a garden? I don’t even know man. Really weird place, worth the 30/head they charge.

     I’m going to interject here just to say: These are glass frogs. They have green insides and translucent skin. Look ‘em up.

    This fish was literally as big as my girlfriend. That’s why it’s here.  I know it’s a cr*ppy photo.

    Some kids were around this frog saying in their annoying nasally know-it-all children voices that it ‘looked fake’ which was sort of true. It secretes a waxy substance from its skin which keeps it cool in a water-free way but has the side effect of looking kind of like a model of a frog.

    A Velella. I saw these little guys last time I was here but they’re still interesting. A jellyfish with a sail. Sort of an anti–climactic ending there. Anyway have a sunless–sunset. It wasn’t quite late enough for a better one.

Edit: “Fransisco.” Sigh. C’mon, me. Fixed now.