Corona Heights Park & the Randall Museum, Castro

Unbeknownst to us - every Tuesday at noon, 65 air raid-style sirens around San Francisco sound off for 15 seconds, as a test for an emergency warning system. This began in 2005 after a refurb of their WWII system, following the 2004 Tsunami.

I was happily enjoying an idyllic picnic with the girls atop of Corona Heights and assumed the worst - we decamped at speed down rocks and screed, noting a dog walker exodus below. We were heading for the wooden steps, pondering how to position ourselves if this was an earthquake warning, when thankfully a local man halted and calmed us down. Midday must be shift-change in the pooch park too.

Down below in the Randall Museum were lego sets on shaker pads, so you could test your structures strength in the face of these routine tremors.

Seward Street Slides, Castro

Built as a protest to prevent development of the site, these forty year old concrete slides are hidden above a blossom-filled residential street, well off the beaten tourist track.

The Exploratorium's experiments in friction meant we knew chicken suits would give us the fastest run. We only had cardboard and that was speedy enough!

See us slide!

Cool buildings, San Francisco

We spied Daniel Liebskind just near the conference venue, with his Contemporary Jewish Museum building and then out in Golden Gate park is the starkly challenging and fabulous  de Young Museum by Herzog and de Meuron. Not pictured is the curving delights of Frank Lloyd Wright Xanadu Gallery and it's unbelievably friendly staff.

Trompe L'oeil, Holiday Inn Civic Centre

Do we need to say that this is not a brick wall?

We braved the chill breeze to take a daily wallow in the heated water, with J on the sun loungers, offering her own perspective on all things.

Bay Area Discovery Museum, Sausalito

We whizzed down to the fab Bay Area Discovery Museum, with pirate ships and buried treasure and wave machines and a living, breathing Patrick Dougherty willow sculpture.

Down on the construction yard J was hard at work, while indoors M made a green-screen underwater movie, before hitting the art studio for  just sheer arty loveliness.

Golden Gate Bridge, San Francisco

... on a bike or two. Doughnuts first though and Dynamo win a major prize!

The hills with a dead-weight toddler on the back got me foot-stompingly mad but a lesson in gear technology, about 35 years too late, rendered me more able to climb every mountian and find the necessary bliss to savor the downhill into Sausalito - the verdant, Italianate resort for those well above our tax bracket.

Then the greatest gift of all - an iced beer on deck, as we ferried past Alcatraz in the evening sun.

Fort Mason, San Francisco

The San Francisco adventure began in a 1940s army hospital after an exhausting midnight packing session, dawn rising, interminably long cross-continent flight and then a mammoth public transport trek across SF with a car-seat, pram, large bags, computers and two small children.

First a stroll in the evening sun, palm trees, lush lawns, sebaceous shrubbery and a pooch park from heaven. Lots of fluff balls and their owners savoring the last rays and a fabulous view of the Golden Gate Bridge and more critically Safeways - the source of our evening substance, cooked in the hostel's giant kitchen. Suddenly too tired for any joy we ate and fell into our single beds and pondered the pitch darkness with a sense of trepidation.

A communal breakfast overlooking Alcatraz with bagels, orange juice and waffles was enough to right our weary souls... so we decided to walk.

For M the greatest Crystal Fair ever was the perfect start - Mexican agate and calcite and South African tiger's eye for J. Then on to the wave organ right out at the end of the marina arm. Burping octopus sounds emanating from deep tubes, as the waves rolled in and we sunned ourselves on reclaimed gravestones and eyed the fabulous yachts. Then on to Chrissy Fields beach for more dog antics and waves.

Ended with Quorn (!) and red wine in the hostel kitchen and some contentment, though no showers braved yet! Then out one last time for the loud mayhem of the Chinese New Year parade - the Year of the Water Snake.