Today I played hooky from work. Since Justin's been working on the weekends I figured I'd take an extra day and we would spend it together.
We'd been talking about going to the
California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco, so we figured it would be a perfect day! We slept in until 8:00 (yes! 8:00!!!) and took our time getting ready. We left around 9:45 and missed all the traffic. We got there around 11:00 and to my surprise there were no lines. We walked right up and bought our tickets.
We were stopped just before we went in and asked if we wanted our picture taken. We obliged and said we'd check it out before we left just to see what it looked like. So we proceeded in and the first thing you see is a huge domed rainforest. It was amazing.
There were birds and butterflies just flying around everywhere! There were all kinds of reptiles and amphibians in enclosed display cases and even a huge water element with just as huge fish. I swear they were the biggest fish I've ever seen! One was about 7 feet long.
No exaggeration!Once in the rainforest exhibit you walk up a round walkway all the way to the top of the dome and then take an elevator down... all the way down below the water element. You could look directly up into the water and see all the fish and turtles. It was amazing. They had individual looking holes into different areas of the water where there were different types of sealife. W
e saw anacondas from the amazon and even an octopus, although he was hiding and a bit hard to find. A little further into the aquarium there was even an area where you could pet star fish. They really felt just like a rock.
Next we passed by the planetarium and got our passes for the 12:30 showing of "Journey to the Stars". We had about 30 minutes to kill until we needed to get in line, so we went to the African Room. That is where we found my favorite part: the penguins! They are so funny and interesting. There was this little girl who couldn't have been more than 4 and all she kept say was, "so silly!" It's true. They are just silly animals.
When it was time we got in line for the showing in the planetarium and before we knew it we were already in our seats. It was
amazing. The seats are slightly tilted back so you don't have to strain to see what's being shown on the ceiling (which is also tilted). It was definitely interesting learning about the formation and life of stars and how they affect us in our every day life.
Once the showing was over we went to the museum cafe and had lunch. It was surprisingly better than I remember it being when I was in school.
On our way out we checked out the picture we had taken hours earlier and ended up buying it even though it was a ridiculous $19.95!
There were birds and butterflies just flying around everywhere! There were all kinds of reptiles and amphibians in enclosed display cases and even a huge water element with just as huge fish. I swear they were the biggest fish I've ever seen! One was about 7 feet long. No exaggeration!
e saw anacondas from the amazon and even an octopus, although he was hiding and a bit hard to find. A little further into the aquarium there was even an area where you could pet star fish. They really felt just like a rock.
When it was time we got in line for the showing in the planetarium and before we knew it we were already in our seats. It was amazing. The seats are slightly tilted back so you don't have to strain to see what's being shown on the ceiling (which is also tilted). It was definitely interesting learning about the formation and life of stars and how they affect us in our every day life.
On our way out we checked out the picture we had taken hours earlier and ended up buying it even though it was a ridiculous $19.95!
