On our first full day in California, we met up with Teddy’s uncle and Grammy (i.e. Mr. Chuckles’ brother and mom) for a day trip south of San Francisco.
We spent the morning on a visit to Filoli Historic House & Garden in the town of Woodside, California. Also known as the Bourn-Roth Estate, Filoli is a country estate set within over 650 acres of land and 16 acres of formal gardens.
The home was built in 1915 for William Bowers Bourn II, owner of one of California’s richest gold mines and president of Spring Valley Water Company, which supplied San Francisco’s water. Following the death of William and his wife, Agnes, the estate was sold to William P. Roth and Lurline Matson Roth, heiress to the Matson Navigation Company. The Roth family built Filoli’s botanic collections including the notable Woodland Garden.
In 1975, the Roths donated the estate to the National Trust for Historic Preservation and it is now open to the public as one of the finest remaining country estates of the 20th century. We were able to explore the 54,000 square foot Georgian revival-style mansion.
The highlight, however, was the expansive garden.
After a quick snack at the cafe, we went onward to Santa Cruz. Just a couple hours drive from San Francisco, Santa Cruz is a popular option for a day trip and we actually debated staying here for a couple nights versus in Monterey, later on during our trip. However, after spending an afternoon I’m glad we opted for Monterey.
The Santa Cruz wharf was a nice enough walk and the boardwalk is probably fun for a short while, but we found the city to have a bit of a seedy feel and didn’t appear all that appealing to me. Perhaps the overcast weather affected the vibe. We ended up just having a late lunch/early dinner at Hula’s Island Grill and then returning to San Francisco.
We hit terrible traffic heading north and didn’t get back to San Francisco until late evening, so we relaxed in our hotel room for the night in preparation for our following day in the city.
