California Academy of Sciences: Opening Day
The new California Academy of Sciences, in Golden Gate Park in San Francisco, opened today, and as expected, the building soon reached its capacity!
The only photo of the California Academy of Sciences that I have is the one above, which was taken while the building was still under construction. My family toured the old California Academy of Sciences building just once before its demolition, and, as we did for the de Young (one tour on the last weekend that the old museum was open), we patiently awaited its reopening.
The building contains a four-story rainforest, the Steinhart Aquarium, the Kimball Natural History Museum, and the Morrison Planetarium (the largest all-digital planetarium in the world), and the Naturalist Center. The building (nearly 10 years and $500 million in construction) is also now home to almost 40,000 animals (in addition to the capacity crowd). 
Check out the African penguins on the PenguinCams! Some 1.7 million native plants have been planted on the 2.5-acre roof! Take a virtual walk through the floor plan of the Academy, with hyperlinks for glimpses of the areas in the plan! Archived Exhibits that are no longer open in the museum are preserved for online viewing!
More than a museum, the California Academy of Sciences also houses research and educational outreach programs and resources.
Information on tickets, free days, and membership is here.
I noticed all of the exclamation points above, and if I sound excited, it’s because I really am! Science is still “in my blood,” and those of you with science in your blood know that it is a fire that never goes out during your lifetime. I am going to skip the opening weekend for the California Academy of Sciences, since I love science far more than I love crowds. (I may be “mad,” but I’m not crazy! Well, maybe just a little bit. ) Certain things and places fan the flames of that fire (e.g., The Ascent of Man series with Jacob Bronowski, and Planet Earth), and I am sure that the new Academy will be one of those places.
Come and visit!
(Update September 28, 2008: I was quite surprised today to receive an email that the California Academy of Sciences is “following” ME on Twitter! Sure, I noticed this morning that someone had visited my site after searching for “california academy of sciences” on Google’s blogsearch. I returned the compliment by following the California Academy of Sciences on Twitter. You may want to, as well!)
-Bill at Cheshire Cat Photo™
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