Happy fathers day

Jr. and the little one told me that their gift to me on daddy's day will be "great posing".

Both of them tried to pose for me at Twin Peaks in San Francisco and again at the Coyote Point Park and Museum. The Twin Peaks view point was amazing. Fantastic 360 degree view of San Francisco!

The Coyote Point Museum and Center for Environmental education was really good for kids. They made education entertaining. They taught kids all about Reptiles by bringing out some real reptiles like bearded dragons, tortoise, California King snake and a Boa constrictor! Jr. was thoroughly entertained and touched a snake for the first time. Apparently being a brave girl was another father's day gift..

We had a ton of fun at both places and are back home to get some rest before the week starts again tomorrow!

To all the dads out there... have a great father's day.

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Conservatory of Flowers - Photoblog

The pictures say it all, the carefully designed park with its nice ponds, rock settings, people, dogs, the conservatory with its amazing displays, the amazing exotic flowers which are being saved from extinction, not to mention Jr.'s new fashion statement of wearing sleeveless Salwar tops with black pants..

A day well spent. Strongly recommended for a half day or full day trip with kids.

Note:

1. Botanical gardens is free. The conservatory of flowers is 7$ for adults, 2$ for kids 5 to 11. Good news is they accept cards. It is totally worth it. Please note, it is like a sauna in there with a water mist automatically coming in every 3-4 minutes from the roof. Keep your lenses covered. Don't wear jackets inside.

2. Parking is very hard to find. For around 10$ you can park in the underground parking below the California Academy of Sciences and walk 10-15 minutes to the Conservatory.

3. There are three restrooms which are free. One next to the conservatory, one behind the amphitheater structure (between the Academy of sciences and the botanical gardens) and one near the entrance to the Botanical Gardens.

Note to self : Next trip..take a frisbee and show the kids how to play frisbee. The breeze was just right for frisbee throwing... well, next time!

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California Academy of Sciences - a day trip

This post was done in a rush. Now that it is friday night and it is just me and the laptop and a movie choice gone bad, there is scope to describe this day trip in pictures!

First, a view of the "Rainforest dome" from the outside. You walk on a ramp around the dome (inside the dome) and you have display cases with flora/fauna that is seen around certain heights within the forest, starting with creatures like ants, toads, etc. that are at ground level, then you go up a little further and see tree frogs and snakes, birds and lizards, go futher up and see butterfliers. It is just plain amazing, the way they set up this dome.

The pitcher plant, which eats insects! Reminded me of 8th grade biology class where we heard about this the first time...

30 feet up?

Blue and red tree frogs, the size of quarters!

Fruits that were new..

Aquariums around the bend (which did not fit the altitude logic) but were nicely displayed. They had flora and fauna from Costa Rica and Madagascar.

This snake was creepy. It's head looked like a leaf. The camouflage was amazing.

There were colorful tropical birds living in the trees inside the dome! The only irritating thing was the change you go through. Outside the CAS, San Francisco temperatures were in the low 50's. Inside this dome, it was at least in the mid 80's. The end result, you get to carry the camera and three or four fluffy jackets as you make your way through the dome. They should have a coat rack just outside the dome!

Some of the lizards and geckos we saw were really amazing. Have never seen these in your typical zoo's!

More butterflies, big ones!

Yes, you do see human heads below the water and that is a big fish!

You get out of the rainforest through the bottom, where there is a giant tank of water above your head with 6 foot fish swimming over head. Then you get a taste of aquatic life, not as impressive as the Monterey bay aquarium, but a very diverse selection.

The piranah move fast, what can I say!

This display was really eye catching! They made little waves inside the display.

There are two other impressive sections of the CAS. One is the displays as you enter the place which is a museum with a focus on stuffed animals, birds, eco friendliness, recycling etc. This part is like a mini Smithsonian!

Yeah.. it is pretty lame taking pictures of stuffed birds through glass cages.. maybe someday after retirement, there will be a chance to take pictures of these in the wild?!

You come out of this section and go to the last part (which we saw.. there is also a Planetarium in this place which was filled up, and we missed that!) Out of Africa!

The idea was to take a picture with my head using the skulls on the wall as reference. We did not expect Homowildus Sapiens aka the Little One to crash the photo op. She almost ripped the board out and tried to push me out. Must have been due to the presence of all the other wild creatures around her!

The way they did the displays was amazing. The plants were real. The environs to keep these weird and rare plants live were real! Hats off to these folk for coming up with such displays!

More stuffed animals, birds (once again resembles the Smithsonian) with the exception of a live Penguin exhibit and they fed the penguins to show everyone how wildlife conservation works. It was also a nice sales pitch for the CAS.

You take a little bit of the Smithsonian, the Monterey Bay Aquarium, the Reptile House at the Philadelphia Zoo, pieces of the San Diego zoo and what you have is the CAS.

The kids loved it but more than that, if you want to spend a day indoors, learn new things, and be entertained, this is a perfect place.

ps. Yes, we know there is Flickr, etc. for posting 30 pictures. The kids love to read travelogs of their day trips during dinner time. We show the kids to the penguins during feeding time in the CAS and the penguins to the kids during feeding time at home. It all works out!

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Wrapping up another special weekend

Have done the local tourguide service for visting friends and relatives so many times!

Seeing the place yet another time is not special. The comments from the friends and relatives who are seeing this for the first time are what make the trip worth it!

A golden moment, pun intended, when by brother just said that it was not worth taking pictures when one just has to absorb the experience!

So we all just strolled around the vista point and stopped taking pictures.

It was one perfect day!

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Trolley rides and more

I have been in the San Francisco bay area for 9 years and I have not taken the trolley ride! Blasphemy cried the wife, who has recently taken some kind of resolution on correcting my past misteps!

So off we went on a family outing (with the cousin family) to SFO this morning, and took the trolley ride from Fisherman's Wharf to Union Square and back.

The entire day was spent in Union square, watching artwork on display, watching passers by, having the occasional shiver, buying contrabrand Compact Flash cards for throwaway prices, chasing kids through crowds and waiting in one loooooooong line to get back in that trolley! "Thank god for cars. No wonder we never do this!" was the unanimous verdict of the adults in the group. The kids as usual, disagreed.

Here is the trip in pictures !

This picture was taken while we waited in the fog for the trolley ride to begin.

When the trolley starts from Beach street, it almost feels like a roller coaster ride with Alcatraz zooming away from you!

No wonder, the kids loved the ride and thought this could be a routine form of transportation.

There was a woman following our trolley in her car! I cannot imagine driving on these steep roads, that too with a cell phone in one hand. High time the city of San Francisco put a notice as you enter which says "Do not try driving like this at home. All drivers are professions in a closed course" or something to that effect!

The art work on display.

Here is the chasing kids part! Of course you get to see only one kid out of four. I am sure Balaji will post photos of his two.

Now why do you see only baby's photos recently ? Well, Jr. is a big girl now and she went in to the cosmetic stores to check out stuff. I can only take pictures of the kid that hangs out with me. No, I take that back. I do not take pictures of the little one because she is stuck with me. She is a delight and challenge to photograph! Always on the move and always testing the camera's ability to adjust focus in the last nanosecond...

Did I mention the long wait for the return trolley ? Well, here is the line (circle describes it better) around the terminal. Have you seen a railway track that ends like this? This is the first time I saw this system. The little trolley comes and stands at the end, the dudes pull a lever and the tram rotates 180 degrees! It is then pushed back to the return line. The way they had engineered this was very very interesting.

Not to waste time while waiting, I captured a few shots of the tall buildings on either side.

The gray facades were a little on the gloomy side, but the sharp lines were eye catching.

The rows of balconys and..

the rows of fire escapes reminded me of Philadelphia. I used to live in a building with fire escape ladders, a long time ago...

Finally after many a photograph, we got into our return trolley..

The street pigeons were violent! Started wondering if this had anything to do with the local environment at Union Square.

One interesting and irritating item on the tour was this "join Jesus or burn in Hell" slogan shouting guy at Union square. He somehow managed to get a real loud speaker and was screaming about the "born again Christian" movement and went on and on about burning in hell, gays, lesbians, morality, etc. etc. to the point that he was downright offensive. I know we have freedom of speech but we have the right to denounce other religions, sexual preference with a loud speaker in a public place? Now that was a surprise!

A bunch of gay and lesbian folk (who are not that hard to find in SFO) gave him the finger, went up close and video taped him. A lesbian couple even kissed below his make shift podium (overturned bucket) and took pictures. Pretty soon the Jesus dude's supporters who were holding other "born again" placards came and stood near him and the onlookers (aka innocent bystanders) started worrying that it might evolve into a brawl. The heat was still on as we departed Union Square! We could have had lunch at the "Gaylord" restaurant in Ghirardeli square to exaggerate the irony, but decided that ice cream and hot chocolate was enough before driving back home!

Do not know what other places I have failed to visit over the years. I am sure I will find out soon, and so will you!

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