In Golden Gate Park, San Francisco there is a beautiful, perfectly manicured garden that looks like a full-grown version of some emperor’s bonsai collection.

This gorgeous garden, known as The Japanese Tea Garden, was created in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park as a remembrance of the thousands of Californians forced into Japanese internment camps during WWII.

You won’t find trees like this in NYC, those are California redwoods, baby.

I visited this garden many times as a little girl. This bridge was always a little scary. The first time I climbed it- maybe at age four?- I felt like I conquered a dragon.

It’s still a beast to climb, the stairs are near perpendicular!

Of course there’s a tea house in the Japanese Tea Garden.

I admired the view, sipping jasmine green tea that seemed reasonably authentic and ate some kind of tea cake that’s likely completely Americanized – but still tasty!

This pond, home to many Koi fish (you can see the orange back of one in the above photo!), goes through out much of the garden. If you’re a kid who grew up in San Francisco, you definitely know some one who fell in this pond.

I’m proud to say I’ve never fallen in. Look at these stepping stones over the water and you’ll see that’s not a small accomplishment!

Until a certain age, hand-holding is essential to remaining dry in this garden.

Cherry blossoms start to emerge in January in this garden. It’s really not fair.

Buddha statue and bamboo, if you leave a penny at his feet, it’s supposed to bring good luck!

Hope everyone had a great weekend. If you want more sunshine, check out-

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