The day after ‘A’s birthday, we extended the festivities by meeting up with Paul and Shannon in San Francisco.
This is the lovely view from our backyard early morning…
We spent the day at the California Academy of Sciences. They let everyone in for free on this day! So glad we got there early; it was too crowded from 1pm on. We were able to, (I think), see everything but the rainforest.
Daddy and ‘R’…
Uncle Pau and ‘A’…
I love how this turned out. It’s the overhead view of a tropical aquarium. Looks like a painting to me…
While waiting to get into the planetarium, we were standing by a shallow exhibit with small sharks, manta rays, and skates. All of a sudden, the rays started circling quickly and methodically. They were excited and amped up about something. I caught video of it, but it is too big to upload here. We noticed someone preparing to feed them. So, either the rays recognized her by sight or could smell the clams out of the water. Either way, it was pretty impressive.
The exhibit shows different human skulls. We all cracked up when ‘R’ asked to have his picture taken. We turned around and this is what we saw…
‘A’s turn…
Reindeer…
Big tortoise eating a yummy salad…
This is Claude, the albino alligator. He was rescued and placed here for safekeeping. They tried to give him a lady friend, but she bullied him mercilessly, and he lost a bunch of weight from stress, and a finger/claw as a result of one of her attacks. His eyesight is poor, and he can’t defend himself as well nor can he camouflage. So, he lives with some tortoise and fish in the museum…
This is a display of the 7 birds from the 12 Days of Christmas. We learned that the first seven days actuall represent birds:
7 swans a swimming
6 geese a laying
5 golden rings (the rings on the neck of pheasants
4 calling birds (are actually ‘colly birds’. Colly was an English word for black, like coal. So, colly birds were blackbirds…)
3 french hens
2 turtle doves
..and a partridge in a pear tree….
This is a picture of Shannon, Paul, and the boys, up on the living roof…
The aquarium part…jellies…
Isn’t he adorable?
This was a magnificent sight. A giant bass. I felt the tank was too small for this guy. Pictures just don’t do it justice.
The is an underwater tunnel through the rainforest swamp…this is when things got a bit too crowded for my comfort.
We got tickets for the Planetarium. It was also free, but you had to reserve a time. It was the highlight for ‘A’. they did not allow photos. I would not have been able to capture its entirety anyway.
Right next to the museum is ‘Shakespeare’s Garden’. It’s just a sweet, little garden that I’m sure is magnificent in the summer…
Paul and Shannon 🙂
After the museum, we drove to Ocean Beach for some sand time…
Final stop: Dinner at Jang Soo, a Korean BBQ restaurant. It is a third generation family restaurant, and the pride in this heritage was evident. One of the daughter/owners served us and was incredibly hospitable and willing to share their history and educate us on the menu. I had never been to a Korean BBQ. WOW! YUM!!
There is a little grill embedded in the table. A variety of side dishes are provided before the main course. We has prawns, diver scallops, pork, and short ribs. The scallops were my favorite…
Rice cakes…
Here’s a little tip: if the flame starts to get too high, lay a lettuce leaf over it….