California Academy of Science
The last time I was at the California Academy of Science Museum in Golden Gate Park, we all had to hold hands while the teacher led us through the halls of this great museum. Yes there was that huge, (scary), dinosaur skeleton in the lobby, there were hundreds of different fish I had never seen in my local pet store, and the diorama's in the African Hall were so realistic we thought for sure the Zebras had moved! The little girls screamed as I shouted "THERE!" and pointed at one of the Zebras. For the small child it was a building full of mysteries and wonders.
Flash forward almost a half century later, the little boy is now in his fifties, and has never been back to the museum. Unfortunately, the BIG earthquake we had in the '90s condemned the museum I had walked through when I was a child. The new museum, (being built in the same location), was getting a lot of "hype". It's "Living Roof" and break through, hi-tech, architecture was so advanced that Discovery Channel did a story on it's construction about half way through it's completion. I was a little up-set that I didn't get to see the completed building in the TV show. But it was enough to get my curiosity up. I was hooked. As opening day came closer and closer there were more and more special programs on TV, the local news did live reports from there, I scanned the website,(http://www.calacademy.org/), anxious for any new photos! I figured that opening day would be way too crowded, so my wife and I waited. The stories of long lines and no parking reassured us that we did the right thing by waiting until things calmed down. One Tuesday I got up, called in sick to work, grabbed the wife and headed for Golden Gate Park! The museum parking lot was full, we had to park several blocks away, but the lines at the museum were short enough. So did it live up to all the "Hype" we had been hearing?
After walking into the main hall your a little loss as to which way to go. There's this huge glass-box-of-a-room in
Flash forward almost a half century later, the little boy is now in his fifties, and has never been back to the museum. Unfortunately, the BIG earthquake we had in the '90s condemned the museum I had walked through when I was a child. The new museum, (being built in the same location), was getting a lot of "hype". It's "Living Roof" and break through, hi-tech, architecture was so advanced that Discovery Channel did a story on it's construction about half way through it's completion. I was a little up-set that I didn't get to see the completed building in the TV show. But it was enough to get my curiosity up. I was hooked. As opening day came closer and closer there were more and more special programs on TV, the local news did live reports from there, I scanned the website,(http://www.calacademy.org/), anxious for any new photos! I figured that opening day would be way too crowded, so my wife and I waited. The stories of long lines and no parking reassured us that we did the right thing by waiting until things calmed down. One Tuesday I got up, called in sick to work, grabbed the wife and headed for Golden Gate Park! The museum parking lot was full, we had to park several blocks away, but the lines at the museum were short enough. So did it live up to all the "Hype" we had been hearing?
After walking into the main hall your a little loss as to which way to go. There's this huge glass-box-of-a-room in