California Academy of Sciences, San Francisco

Jellyfish

Where can you see live sharks, colorful coral reefs, an albino alligator, a tropical rainforest, and a penguin colony all under one roof?  At the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco.  AND, there is much more. The CAS, newly remodeled, is definitely not “off the beaten track” but is a major tourist destination in San Francisco that attracts thousands of visitors every day.  It is a world-class natural history museum, planetarium, and aquarium, all rolled into one.  We went there with our grandchildren last December.  It was the perfect family outing, with something for everyone.

Inside the Planetarium before the show

After entering the museum and getting our tickets for a plantetarium show later in the day, we headed for the rainforest.  This four-story exhibit houses birds, butterflies, lizards, bats, fish, and lush rainforest plants from all over the world in a giant glass dome.  Following the circular ramp we climbed from the forest floor to the canopy at the top, stopping as butterflies flitted around our heads.  Exiting on the top floor, we made a quick trip up to the living roof of the museum, a vast undulating garden of native plants that keeps the building cool and sends oxygen back into the air.  I’m sure it is a great place to relax during warmer weather, but on the day we visited the wind and chilly air made us scurry back inside where we took the elevator down to the ground floor of the museum to see the fish.

Corals

One of the main attractions of the museum is the Steinhart Aquarium with its many tanks of fish, corals, jellyfish, and other sea life.  I sat on a ledge at the edge of one huge tank with my granddaughter, who watched with wonder as fish swam by on the other side of the glass just inches away from her face. As you walk through a "tunnel" in the tank fish swim over your head and you feel as if you are really under the sea.  There were also hands-on exhibits where the kids could touch sea urchins and other tidepool creatures and talk with museum staff.

Live penguins in the Africa Hall

The museum is a mix of the old and the new.  I remember my first visit to the old building more than forty years ago, with its taxidermy dioramas and other traditional museum exhibits.  Many of those exhibits (like the Foucault Pendulum which knocks down pegs in a pit as the Earth turns) are still there, but spruced up.  One of our favorites is the African Hall, with its stuffed animal dioramas, always impressive and realistic in their posed arrangements.  But at the end of the room, one is taken by surprise because the animals in the exhibit move!  A live penguin exhibit occupies the end of the room, where African jackass penguins (they sound like donkeys when they call) make their home among giant rocks designed to look like their natural home along the South African coast.

We ran out of energy before we had explored every corner of the museum.  But that is okay.  It gives us a reason to go back another day.

Travel Tip:  After being closed for several years for remodeling, the CAS reopened in 2008 and is immensely popular, which means it can get extremely crowded on weekends and during holiday periods.  Here’s my advice for maximizing the enjoyment of your visit.  1. Buy your tickets online.  That way you avoid having to stand in line for tickets outside when you arrive.  Better yet, go with a friend who is a member. (Every third Wednesday of the month, admission is free.) 2.  Go early.  Lines for everything get longer as the day goes by.  3.  If you want to see a planetarium show, get your tickets as soon as you go into the museum.  They are free, but you have to stand in line and the tickets go fast. 4.  Plan your day.  There is lots to see!
Lunch: The cafeteria in the museum has a good variety of international and healthy food.  The tables inside were crowded, so we ate outside under a heat lamp.  The fresh air was nice, but it was a good thing we had kept our jackets with us.