Now to the recent past
The California Academy of Sciences!
So cool!
The Most Significant of Others and I played hooky yesterday along with a work friend whose wife dismisses such interests as "Bo-RING!" Poor guy. But she's in Germany for training, so there.
It was a good thing Tho came along, because TMSoO does not have much patience where scarce parking and long lines are concerned. But with a genuinely excited, easy-going person along (a genuinely excited, easy-going person besides me, that is), TMSoO stuck it out for the parking hunt and the hour+ in line. Didn't hurt that we're smack dab in the middle of those gorgeous weeks in fall that provide SF's surrogate summer.
The building is amazing, though we never made it up to the living roof. The Focault's Pendulum is still outside the planetarium, though all the planetarium shows were sold out by the time we got inside. The aquarium is just as gorgeous as ever. We spent most of our time there--so long we didn't even hit the penguin colony until the very end, when we were getting kicked out. I love standing in front of a big tank and watching the fish swim around. Not only are they beautiful, they're so alien I can watch them and not have to *know*. Imagining is good enough.
The rainforest exhibit was a little disappointing. It wasn't hot enough or muggy enough or muddy enough or dirty enough, and the butterflies were charming but ended up coming across as rather bland, when you know what else should be there. The fish in the "flooded forest floor" were cool--they had a paiche of a respectable size--but the water was too clear. Rainforest Lite. Now I want to go back.
All in all, a very nice day, though. And I never once got frustrated at all the people. I was just so glad they were there. Take that, Creationist Museum!
So cool!
The Most Significant of Others and I played hooky yesterday along with a work friend whose wife dismisses such interests as "Bo-RING!" Poor guy. But she's in Germany for training, so there.
It was a good thing Tho came along, because TMSoO does not have much patience where scarce parking and long lines are concerned. But with a genuinely excited, easy-going person along (a genuinely excited, easy-going person besides me, that is), TMSoO stuck it out for the parking hunt and the hour+ in line. Didn't hurt that we're smack dab in the middle of those gorgeous weeks in fall that provide SF's surrogate summer.
The building is amazing, though we never made it up to the living roof. The Focault's Pendulum is still outside the planetarium, though all the planetarium shows were sold out by the time we got inside. The aquarium is just as gorgeous as ever. We spent most of our time there--so long we didn't even hit the penguin colony until the very end, when we were getting kicked out. I love standing in front of a big tank and watching the fish swim around. Not only are they beautiful, they're so alien I can watch them and not have to *know*. Imagining is good enough.
The rainforest exhibit was a little disappointing. It wasn't hot enough or muggy enough or muddy enough or dirty enough, and the butterflies were charming but ended up coming across as rather bland, when you know what else should be there. The fish in the "flooded forest floor" were cool--they had a paiche of a respectable size--but the water was too clear. Rainforest Lite. Now I want to go back.
All in all, a very nice day, though. And I never once got frustrated at all the people. I was just so glad they were there. Take that, Creationist Museum!