A Stinkin' Day Off

On Tuesday, me and KB took the day off from work and decided to go to the Conservatory of Flowers in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park. It's housed in a beautiful glass building atop a little hill. A few years ago, the building had been shut down because of extensive damage to the windows. I assumed it was earthquake damage, but surprisingly, it was caused by storms. Today the building is as spectacular as ever:


So what was all the stink about, you might ask? (Hee hee hee. Just had to throw that in there.) The reason why we went was to see "Ted," a.k.a. Amorphophallus titanum, a.k.a. Titan Arum, a.k.a. Corpse Flower. Ted is a gigantic, stinky flower that only blooms every few years, but when it does, everyone makes a big stink about it. (oh come on, I'm funny!) Actually, when it blooms, it emits a horrible smell like a rotting corpse that attracts flies, beetles and other insects that are into that kind of thing. And it's gigantic--did I mention that already? You could lose small pets or babies in that thing.

We arrived the morning after it was at its worst stinkiness. They put him in his own gazeebo inside a very hot and humid section of the conservatory. Not only was it muggy and damp, but it stank too! But actually the smell wasn't as bad as I thought it would be--but still. Ted was a little shy at first:


But when you get a little closer, you can't help but be impressed:


It kind of reminds me of that thing from The Little Shop of Horrors. I think Ted is beautiful in his own stinky way, but I don't think I'm going to try growing that thing in my house.

The Conservatory is just one attraction in Golden Gate Park. We drove around a bit until we found Stow Lake. We had a nice little lunch of hot dogs and Icee's, and I insisted on renting a paddle boat:


Are they called "paddle" boats or "pedal" boats? KB insists they're pedal boats--which makes sense because you have to pedal the boats to paddle them along.

A perfect day!