Wednesday, October 28, 2009

Weekday Escape


As I mentioned earlier, Chris & I have taken a few excursions with the advent of Autumn, arguably the best season weather-wise in our part of the country. A couple weeks back, he had Friday as one of his days off, so I took a personal holiday so we could visit a new/old attraction in San Francisco.


The California Academy of Science, along with the De Young Museum, have been the center pieces of Golden Gate Park for a number of decades, hosting scores of exhibits & innumerable schoolchildren on fieldtrips~ Chris & I both have memories of visits throughout grade school. Both building were severely damaged by the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake & limped along with patched up repairs for years, until it was determined that they needed to be rebuilt from scratch. In all honesty, I really dislike the design of the new De Young (which reopened in 2005 after 5 years); but the new C.A.S. is a wonder & we’ve been itching to see it since it reopened last year.



The most noticeable feature has to be the Living Roof~ 2 ½ acres of native plants growing over the undulating surface of the roof;



it was rather warm the day we were there & the wild flowers were past their prime, but the gentle breeze from the bay & the buzzing of insects made for a hypnotic visit.



We started in the Rainforest exhibit~ we walked up through four stories of plants, birds, & butterflies;



 



 



looking down into the water of the pond, you could see strange animals sitting on the bottom.



An elevator ride took us down to the new Steinhart Aquarium;



 



Chris & Ranger Ruth had some close encounters with really big fish!



Back on the main level, we entered the African Hall, which housed the classic dioramas from our childhood



 



& then on to the Morrison Planetarium~ where we both managed to doze off during the “Fragile Planet” presentation.



 



After lunch in the Atrium (yummy Spring Rolls & killer cheesecake) & a visit to the gift shop, we took the long way back to the car, hiking through a stand of coastal redwoods that reside in the park



 “It’s this direction~ I’m certain!”



The Park is one of my favorite places in California~ I’m drawn back again & again, finding both new & old sites in this wonderful urban escape; too bad it’s such a pain to drive in the City, otherwise I’d might make the trip more often.


8 comments:

BEK said...

What an awesome day! Love the photos!

Junie Moon said...

What a great outing and I love seeing Ranger Ruth's exploits. Your photos and story are a lot of fun.

Rhondi said...

Hi Meg
What an amazing place! The photos you took are great. Thanks for leaving a comment today. I have been very lax commenting :(
Hugs, Rhondi

Debbie said...

I would love to go there! What great photos.

Becca said...

What beautiful photographs! Love seeing where you travel!

Hey I was wondering if you wanted to participate in the Christmas Swap? Stop by my blog for more information.

Hugs!

Greenhouses said...

This is the good blog with good images and good details. Please keep on posting the more stuff. I will like to hear more from you.

Anonymous said...

It is very interesting for me to read this post. Thanx for it. I like such themes and everything that is connected to this matter. I definitely want to read a bit more on that blog soon.

Anonymous said...

Hi,
I really liked your review. And although I really wanted to see it, then was talked out of it, I'm going to see it this weekend and am madly excited.
Home,Garden
Regards.