hold up

"you have to eat here."

"you gotta check out this park."

i got a lot of trip advice and helpful suggestions before we headed out west.

then i got there and realized everyone left out something critically important.

behold:

why didn't anyone tell me about all the succulents?

i mean, what is going on here?

who just has beautiful bounties of succulents ON THEIR SIDEWALKS?

whaaaaaa?

maybe they haven't always been there, but as we walked down the street the very first morning we were in town, i stopped dead in my tracks when i came across the first plot (?) of succulents.

we walked more.

another.

and another...

i saw so many stunning succulents, i just lost count. 

me: "oh! that one's my fave! no, wait! look at this one! 

[and probably gave myself a thumb strain from trying to instagram the shit out of every last one.]

turns out, a lot of the ones i saw are courtesy of friends of the urban forest.

ok but who are they?

i'll let them explain in their own words from their site:

"friends of the urban forest's mission is to promote a larger, healthier urban forest as part of san francisco's infrastructure through community planting, tree planting, education and advocacy."

i just find this to be incredible. and it makes such a big difference that passersby can't help but notice.

  

we walked a lot while we were in town, and even though the hills were a bit more insane than i thought they'd be (feel the burn!), it was awesome to be surrounded by such lush green city streets.

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of course, there were other pretty nature things 

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but i'd go back just for the sweet succulent show.