Children's Bay Discovery Museum

This was a great spot with indoor and outdoor activities. The Museum sits on land owned by the Golden Gate National Park (or recreation area?) right below the Golden Gate Bridge. The buildings were once part of Fort Baker. We arrived at 9:30 am and left around 12:45.

Yuck!!

Saturday I had a toothache that morphed into a miserable pain in my mouth. Saturday and Sunday I took tylenol every 5 hours. Unfortunatly the pain escalated. This morning at 10 am I saw a nearby dentist who referred me to an endodontist. The pain was so intense I would have consented to anything. By 1:00 pm my root canal was over after an hour and a half in the chair. The tooth had curved roots.. thus it took longer. By 4 pm the novacain had worn off and I was miserable again. I applied ice packs and tried the pain med he prescribed... but by 8 pm Ted was driving to CVS to pick up something a little stronger. Now the pain is better. Not the way I wanted to spend a day... but that pain was unbearable... I'm on the mend!!

The real surprise was...

On our way into Montalvo we drove through a residential section of newer fancy houses. Suddenly on our right was the name of a street I recognized ... Audrey Smith Drive. I knewI was somewhere near to a very special place... my Great Aunt Audrey's house. As a ten year old I went there once for a very memorable family reunion. It seemed like there were 20-30 people there, many who I did not know at the time. I do remember what a great time we had swimming in the pool and eating watermelon. As the decades (yes, decades!) passed I came to know my mother's first cousins. I knew that one of them, Peggy, now lived in Audrey's house and hoped I could find it but it had been 52 years since I'd been there. Ted and I drove up and down Montalvo Drive looking for something familiar. I figured it had to be near Audrey Smith Dr and it was probably off of Montalvo. Up and down we drove. I called Jane in Sunnyvale, asking for the name of Audrey's street. She couldn't remember. I thought the name "Hill Drive" rang a bell so we turned on it and found nothing but newer houses, surrounded by grape vines, neatly trimmed and waiting for spring. Finally I called my mother who was vacationing in Hawaii. "Yes," she said, "Hill Drive is correct." She gave me the address just as I spotted a familiar driveway. She also gave me Peggy's phone number. Luckily she and her husband and her grandaughter were there. We had a nice visit and I loved seeing the spot where we had had such a happy time. It looked exactly the same... and in a world of nothing but change... that constancy was a relief. Hope you enjoy a peek at this happy spot.

More by Ted

Ted's Montalvo Pics

This was a beautiful spot so close to all the congestion that I hate!!

Montalvo Statuary

Montalvo is an art center in Saratoga, CA. (only 2 miles from Hanoke Gardens)

Ted's Tree Shots

More Hakone Garden shots

Yes, I am fascinated with the gnarly trees!! P.S. Hakone Garden is the oldest Japanese Garden in the Western Hemisphere... and only 35 minutes from Palo Alto. I wish we could visit again when everything is in bloom.