Alta Plaza Park, San Francisco

Today we headed into the city for the annual Fillmore Jazz Festival.

We enjoyed listening to some great live music, ate greasy festival food and walked up and down Fillmore Street taking in the sights and sounds (and walking off that greasy food!).

After a few hours of music, food and crowds the girls were ready to move onto something else. I'd spotted a hilly park down one of the side streets so we thought we'd go check it out. This turned out to be one of the best calls I've ever made while exploring the city and we ended up in a fantastic playground with amazing views over the city.

Playground with a view

The park we found ourselves in was Alta Plaza Park. Perched high up on a lush green hill in Pacific Heights, Alta Plaza Park boasts one of the best playgrounds in the city and views to match.

Look at that view over the bay - and that super steep street heading down to it!

Views from the playground

Views from the playground

Views from the playground

While the views may be a delight for the parents, the playground at Alta Plaza Park is a wonderland for the kids with all sorts of fun play equipment for all age groups.

There are things to spin on...

Spin, spin...

Ava's solo spin

Spinning together

This ones a little more "Lola friendly"

There are things to bounce on...

Always a favourite

Bouncing together

Come join us Mum!

See saw bounce

Stepping stones to bounce across

Action shot

There are things to climb on...

Hmm... climb across the top or swing underneath?

Plenty of stairs to climb

Best rope climbing structure ever

Just hanging around

Climbing down

Ready to drop down

Every playground needs a hammock!

There are things to zip across...

Ava swings across the flying fox

Zipping back across

There are things to swing on...

Lola likes swinging with her eyes closed

Swinging together

Lola can almost touch the ground

There are things to slide down...

Ava's turn

Lola's turn

Little slide

There is sand to dig in...

Lola plays with the sand table

Hard at work digging

Digging in the dirt

Lola enjoyed burying her feet - and to think that just a few months ago she had a major sand phobia!

There's a train to drive...

Choo choo

Just steering with my feet

Hmm... interesting graffiti

 There are beautiful mosaics to look at...

Lola balances on the mosaic covered bench

Such a pretty thing to balance on

I love the mosaics throughout the playground

Pretty

And of course there are hills to roll down, green grass to play in and plenty of stairs to climb up and down - or jump off!

Heading back down the stairs on our way home

Jumping down the stairs

What a landing!

I love it when we stumble across great places like this.

Such a fun (and unexpected) afternoon!