Last weekend our family visited this great new museum in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park (near the De Young Museum) and had a blast. We went with the family of one of our daughter’s friends; the visit was to help celebrate the birthday of the other family’s child. She really enjoyed it too I think.

After the museum visit, we enjoyed a nice lunch at the Park Chalet and then the girls ran around playing flower fairies in the flower garden by the old windmill in the west end of the park. They would yell “Turn off all of your electronic devices, sit down, the show is about to start!” It was very cute…back to our museum topic.

The museum is very popular (good, it will be around. bad – too many people!) The new California Academy of Sciences hosts the Steinhart Aquarium, the Morrison Planetarium, the Kimball Natural History Museum, a 4 story tall rain forest, a naturalist center, two cafes, a 3D theatre, and much, much more all in a single living building. The roof itself is two acres of native flora.

If you’re in San Francisco, visit. It’s worth it. Also, get there early because it is crowded!

Here are some photos to give you a taste of the experience:

View of the structure from above, notice the two roof humps



View of the De Young Museum from the structure’s roof



Close up of a roof hump (the rain forest is below this one, the planetarium is below the other)



90 foot planetarium dome – see the 30 minute show, it’s very good – sit near the center if you can



My daughter was scared of this full-sized T-Rex



Notice the sharp teeth (that’s what she said – and why she was scared)



Here’s an Albino Alligator – first I’ve seen one of these – find his well hidden friend if you can



Philippine coral reef display, very impressive



A very shy fish