CA Academy of Sciences

Last week Kelsey and I spent the day at the California Academy of Sciences Museum located at Golden Gate Park.  It reopened a couple years ago and I went with my brother and his kids.  We went a week after it had opened so needless to say it was PACKED.  It was hard to see anything and we ended up getting in and out as soon as possible.

This time Kelsey and I didn't want to fight the crowds so we went in the middle of a school day.  It was perfect.  We were able to see everything and spend as much time as we wanted at each exhibit.

If you haven't gotten a chance to go explore, you need to.  It has the deepest coral reef exhibit in the world, a 4-story tropical rainforest, a towering T-Rex skeleton, a colony of African penguins, an albino crocodile, a literal living roof including sunlights, and a fully-immersive digital screen Planetarium dome.  Basically it's incredible!

There is an amazing coral reef and ray exhibit that surrounds the outside of the Planetarium dome.  The colors were incredible and I am so in love with my camera.

Kelsey thought that I was totally crazy, but I think the lunch area is absolutely gorgeous.  I think I have a thing for linear designs with a splash of color.

My favorite exhibit had to be the 4-story rainforest.  It was amazing.  You walk in through a set of double doors into a humid butterfly infested wonderland.  Each level was based on a different country; i.e. Costa Rica, Madagascar, etc.

(By the way, if you click on the images they can be enlarged.)

Here are some of my favorite shots from the inside of the rainforest.

Butterflies were flying everywhere.  It was so much fun to watch for all the different colors.

 After exploring the rainforest we went to the full size aquarium on the lower level.  It had a overhead tunnel, feeding tanks, and a great combination of fresh and salt water animals.  There was even a pig-nosed turtle!

After we had viewed all of the exhibits we made our way to the living roof.  The wind had picked up so it was a bit chilly, but it was so beautiful.  They've done an amazing job at creating the museum to be as "green" as possible with sun paneling.  It was pretty amazing to think that we were on top of the museum and yet in the middle of a field at the same time.

We had such a fun time and I ended up getting a membership, so if anyone wants to come with me one of these days just let me know, I can get you in free!