Academy of Sciences

The members-only line. At like 8:30am!

The regular ppl line, literally about 30 minute after we got there. We were 10th in line? Being early 30 min saves you over an hour later!

When you walk in. I love the natural light!

We had a game plan (based on reading dozens of reviews on yelp)

A bit overexposed. Oh well. Brings out the bright colors more!

I really like this picture.

The line for the rainforest. We were not 10th in line anymore.

I just like this picture for no reason.

Rainforest roof

I used the 17-55 on this but could have totally used the 180mm. We left it in the car, boo!

I have a thing for butterflies.

The planetarium. This looks like an opening credit scene for a Gene Roddenberry show.

The line at 2pm! (We went back to get our lens)

Which I used to take pics in the aquarium b/c we were sitting so far back.

Fun job?

I had to wait forever for ppl to stop walking by so this pic would turn out clean.

Colorful! I should have cropped the top. Oh well.

I used the 180 for this too. Caught the penguin surprising the other penguin with a kiss! (hence the blurriness)

I like this perspective. Must take more pics from above!

Academy of Sciences
San Francisco
December 2008

Way back in Dec, we decided to visit the Academy of Sciences. Bad idea, it was so packed! Duh, the kids were on winter break. We also inadvertently had chosen a day that members got to go in an hour early. But with helpful advice from yelp and friends, we had a game plan: 1. arrive at least an hour before opening, 2. run upstairs and get passes to the planetarium immediately, 3. then run somewhere else to get the bug show passes immediately, 4. stand in line for the rainforest, 5. go see everything else in btwn the assigned times on the planetarium/bug show passes. We had heard that planetarium passes sell out for the day by 10am, so as soon as we got in that door at 9:30, we made a beeline for them. I don't think we're going back to this museum for a really, really, really long time. So it's a good thing we saw almost everything in the whole place!

It was a really fun day, we got to take some interesting pictures, and I learned a thing or thing about the environment that I already didn't know from Al Gore. However, we also both got sick the next day. Germy kids + hands-on exhibits + standing shoulder-to-stroller-to-shoulder + alternating btwn being cold (standing in line) and hot (exploring the rainforest) = the nastiest flus/colds ever. But don't let that stop you from visiting someday. :) Btw, they should ban strollers from all museums (including the LB Aquarium)! Who's with me on this??