Yerba Buena Gardens

I wanted to take the kids to San Francisco for some fun and adventuring.  I really needed to find a place that would entertain them long enough to make the drive worthwhile, and something that could be done with one adult, preferably in one place.  I think I struck gold at Yerba Buena Gardens.  Here was a museum, a playground, a carousel, and other things (ice-skating rink and bowling alley) that we didn’t even have time to explore.

First we stopped in at the Zeum. This is a three-story museum with lots of exhibits dedicated to technology and cameras, as in motion picture cameras. You can make videos, claymation films or karaoke videos.  As a museum I think it is terrific for older kids. Now, my guys are only 4 and 2 so we did end up passing quickly through most of the exhibits. But, there is a lego wall you can build on, and a few other fun things they can do.

We quickly headed over to the playground. The prevalent thing you notice there are these two rocket looking slides. QUITE steep. I took my little one down the smaller of the two, and really it is not as bad as it looks. Luckily my oldest wasn’t all that interested in the tallest one. I’m sure it would also have been fine for his age, but it definitely looks like a thrill ride. There was plenty of  space to run around, including water and sand areas. At one point a park guy came along to start his worm feeding duty and encouraged my son-of-many-questions to help him shred the lettuce. Then when it was time to feed the worms, this guy told all the kids to gather round if they want, and everyone got to watch and ask questions. Also, at some point some large bouncy balls and hoola hoops appeared. So I guess city employees open up the closets when they are around and let the kids play with whatever is pulled out. I’ve never seen any other city do that, pretty cool.

The Yerba Buena cafe was closed when my kids were about tired out, so we went across the street to the Metreon (shopping mall) to find a bite to eat. Many of the restaurants there looked too nice for my rambunctious boys now on their second wind, but a small Mexican Grill proved to be an excellent place. The portions are plentiful, so with the kids splitting a plate of quesadillas, eating out didn’t end up costing a whole lot. Another idea is to cross 3rd street to find Max’s Diner.

I used the parking garage at Fourth and Mission which was only about two blocks from Yerba Buena Gardens.  From there you can easily find the YBG  thanks to the huge carousel on the corner. The BART Montgomery station is also northwest a few blocks.