Catch Up: Giving Thanks Part 2

The main reason we went to San Francisco for a day trip was because I wanted to go to the California Academy of Sciences. We had a-buy-one-get-one-adult-ticket-for-free coupon. Woot! (Thanks AAA.) I was so impressed with it. It's been hard to top the Natural History Museum or the Met. I thought I was permanently jaded. When you first walk into the Academy, they encourage you to go reserve your planetarium tickets. Right next to the planetarium is an amazing tropical tank. As my hubster noted, it's so open that you could spit in it. You can feel the warmth from the tropical water.

The Evolution exhibit was very informative. We learned about lizards that swim under water to catch their food. They're able to slow their heartbeat and breath to conserve energy. I also learned why some birds lose the ability to fly. The birds on exhibit evolved to be flightless because they had no predators and they had a plentiful food source near the beaches. Basically, they got lazy!

My hubster loved the rain forest dome and the aquarium. The rain forest dome was a bit uncomfortable to roam around in since we were dressed for winter in the bay--boots, jackets, and all. The top level was Costa Rica. Yay! You have to make sure you don't have any butterflies stuck on you as you leave the dome. In the aquarium, we saw huge fish. My favorite included the red tailed Thai catfish. I also learned about the pig nosed turtle. When we made our way to the swamp exhibit, my hubster thought the albino alligator was fake. We stared at it until it blinked. Not so fake--just not so entertaining.

Lastly, the other two main attractions are the natural history museum and the living roof. The living roof was looking a little sparse, but that's probably due to the wintry weather. In the natural history portion of the Academy, they have live pingüinos. 


As you can tell by this lengthy post, I loved the Academy. I highly recommend it. Get there early because it does get crowded. We didn't have to wait to get into the rain forest dome. As we were leaving, there was a HUGE line just to get in. As for parking, we parked on the street to avoid paying for parking. On busy days, there's a surcharge for extended hours attached to the regular fee. It was so much fun! My hubster even liked it better than the Monterey Bay Aquarium. We're looking forward to toting the soybeanitos there.