Filoli Center

I've lived here in the bay area for over 37 years, Lou for over 32 years. We've seen a lot of the area but there are many things we haven't yet seen. One of those destinations was the Filoli Center. It's a former rich folk estate on par with the Vanderbilt Mansion in Asheville. The people that built it originally were owners of a gold mine near Auburn, California. about 1935, the owner of the Matson shipping company moved in. The mansion opened to the public in 1975. The gardens are very nice. I found both the house and the gardens to be grand but very livable, unlike other mansions I've visited like the Vanderbilt Mansion and Hearst Castle. We enjoyed a bite at the cafe and then took another walk around the garden.


It was rather odd but we have many more critters in our back yard than we saw in their garden. We did get to see a huge gopher snake there though.

The Filoli Center is off Highway 280 West of Redwood City.


We stopped by Redwood Supply (a camping store) in Redwood City on the way home. I needed some nylon rope to restring our tree bench swing in the backyard. When I had a seat on it Friday, I ended up on the ground due to rotten pope. The rope was half as much as at the hardware stores. It took a couple of hours to restring the bench and replace the ropes from the limbs but it seems to work now.

Lou and Dawn had to stop at their thrift sores on our route home. We stopped for dinner at Chevy's Mexican Restaurant. I had a coupon for a reduced cost second dinner. We ordered a couple of Super Chevy's combinations which fed the three of use and left some leftovers as well. Chevy's is normally reasonable priced and has great fresh Mex food but with the second dinner for $4, wow!