Thursday's Child: California Academy of Sciences

Thursday, October 3, 2013


One of the things I love to do when I travel is give other family members a chance to help me plan our trips.  When we visited San Francisco in March, I asked my youngest daughter for ideas, and her priority was visiting The Japanese Tea Garden and The California Academy of Sciences in Golden Gate Park.  Together, they were a true highlight of our trip.  I’ve written about the Japanese Tea Garden earlier. Today I’ll keep the words to a minimum, as I let our photos from the Academy of Sciences speak for themselves.




One of our favourite displays at the Academy was the four-story rainforest. This self-contained exhibit was held within a ninety-foot diameter dome with a spiral walkway leading from floor to floor. While it was all impressive, the butterflies were especially breathtaking.  Hundreds of them flew freely throughout the exhibit, one even landing on my mom's sweater.  


Butterflies weren't the only animal in the rainforest display.  Parrots also flew through the air, and there were collections of reptiles and insects. (One of us found rainforest spiders to be particularly menacing.)  Forests from three different continents were represented, including Costa Rica, Madagascar and the Amazon.






With a collection of nearly 40,000 animals, the Steinhart Aquarium was dazzling.  The standout exhibit was the Philippine coral reef habitat, based on one of the most diverse coral reefs in the world.  Full of colour and beauty, there were over 4,000 animals in that display alone. The Northern Californian exhibit may have been less exotic, but it boasted a sanctuary with floor-to-ceiling display cases, and separate exhibits depicting tide pools, estuaries and rocky reefs.




14 comments:

Valerie Gamine said...

I Love science museums - maybe even more than art, sometimes. Stunning photos! The green lizard (or gecko?) is gorgeous...thank you for sparing us a picture of the menacing spider! O_o

Natalie Aguirre said...

Awesome pictures. My daughter's into science and I'd love to take her there.

Barbara said...

Great photos from the Academy, Beth. I've never been there..would love to visit.

Denise Browning said...

What gorgeous pictures, Beth! I am so happy that Amazon forest elements were displayed there. I particularly like the parakeets!

vanillasugarblog said...

I LOVE these kinds of field trips!
I must take one soon!

CQUEK said...

yes can i love to learn about science museums, i can't find one in my country

Jess said...

Wow, this looks incredible! I'll have to put it on my list if I ever get out to California!

Jemi Fraser said...

Beautiful pics!!! What a great experience to see all those plants and animals! :)

Monet said...

Science museums have long been favorites of mine. We were lucky enough to visit this very one when we went to California. Thank you for sharing Beth!

Daniela Grimburg said...

It's such fun to plan things to visit according to each family members interests
when you travel.
There are so many things you get to know, you probably wouldn't have done without the inspiration of another person and especially children are always surprising us with their ideas.
Looks like you had a marvelous and interesting trip, Beth!
Love the pictures, such gorgeous colors.

Choc Chip Uru @ Go Bake Yourself said...

What a lovely Academy, I simply adore science museums, even if it isn't my fave school subject :P

Cheers
CCU

Rachel said...

This looks amazing. I need to stop by the next time I'm on the West Coast!

Pamela @ Brooklyn Farm Girl said...

What great pictures and fantastic places for anyone to visit!

Anonymous said...

I love that you include others in your trip planning. I bet that makes everyone a "happy camper!"

The photos are simply stunning.

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