National Geographic Traveler magazine recently asked me to name my favorite Golden Gate Park destination. I chose the playground at Koret Children’s Quarter. Pick up the December issue of National Geographic Traveler to see what other Bay Area folks have to say about the park: San Francisco Symphony Orchestra Conductor Michael Tilson Thomas, artist Maya Lin, floral artist Stanlee Gatti, California Academy of Sciences Senior Curator of Botany Frank Almeda, local yoga celeb Janet Stone, and Sierra Club Executive Director Carl Pope. Or visit the interactive Insiders Map on the magazine’s website.

As my husband and I contemplate moving to the sunny burbs, I know that one of the things I’ll miss the most if we move is the park. My kid loves the slide and the carousel, so the Koret playground has become one of our more frequent haunts. Mommification aside, my own favorite spots in the park are Stowe Lake, Spreckels Lake, the less trodden trails near the horse paddocks behind the big soccer field, and, of course, the North Windmill in Queen Wilhelmina’s Tulip Garden, across the street from the Park Chalet. (The cap of the South Windmill, which has spent the last several years being restored in the Netherlands, appears to be set to make a grand return very soon.)