Mostly Pictures

On our way back from Sonoma we stopped by the newly redone Academy of Sciences. Our car navigator, programmed 2 years ago, directed us to the now obsolete temporary location in the center of San Francisco so, since we had to redirect it to Golden Gate Park, we managed an unintended tour of the city.

Once in line, a friendly fellow waitee offered to take our picture. We haven't had such a good family portrait taken in years.

While approaching the Academy doesn't look especially innovative.

We had read about long lines so we came on Christmas Eve figuring people would have other things to do, but we still waited nearly 20 minutes. The drizzle probably kept people from coming, so it could have been worse.

Initial impressions aside, the interior is stunning.

The old exhibits have been redone so we visited favorites, including those on island life and evolution, the pendulum demonstrating the earth's rotation, big bugs (cockroaches), and the room on Africa.

And of course we had to gawk at the Tyrannosaurus replica. This time we traded picture taking with another family. (If you are wondering, the white skeleton in the upper left is from a blue whale.)

When we first visited the Academy G was 2. The T-rex skeleton used to have its own room and, going in, 2 year old G was as excited as I've ever seen.

View from the 3rd floor.

The center of the Academy houses a 4 story rain forest exhibit, but we didn't visit. The wait to enter was at least as long as the one to get into the building.

Instead we went out onto the roof which is covered with plants and sky lights.

The building was designed to be as self-heating, self-lighting, and energy-efficient as possible.