The Picetti clan, minus Fehmeen (who was teaching) and plus Julian (who is our caregiver and BoostMaster), took a field trip up to the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco this morning.
Earlier this summer we saw a commercial advertising the lizards and snakes exhibit there and we knew immediately that it would be right up Emma’s alley. Fehmeen purchased tickets in June but I wasn’t feeling well at the time we originally planned to go. And then two months later the summer and the exhibit are almost over…
Anyway.
The first thing Emma saw as we rolled in was the Tyrannosaurus Rex fossils in the main entryway. “Dinosaur,” she kept saying as she pointed up to it from her stroller. It should be noted that we had just watched the T Rex scene in Jurassic Park not even three days ago.
Our first stop was on the second floor for the aforementioned lizards and snakes extravaganza. Thankfully we had arrived early enough in the day so we had a practically unobstructed view of each one of the reptiles behind the plexiglass. I think Emma enjoyed the iguana most of all, in part because she saw it yawning, and because it has a cool sounding name.
We then visited the rain forest. Seriously. It was amazing to experience that kind of tropical ecosystem in Golden Gate Park. There were giant blue parrots, more snakes and lizards, and even hundreds of butterflies fluttering around. Thank goodness we forgot my Giants wearable blanket in the van because it was hotter than heck in there.
The next port of call was the aquarium. Lots of Emma jawdrops in this room. Especially notable was the large sea turtle and the gigantic catfish that practically swam up to Emma in the tunnel tank. She also liked touching the starfish and seaweed.
We tried to stick around for the Snakes of the Bay Area presentation but were collectively underwhelmed by the educators excessive verbosity and adamant no touching the snakes policy. Basically, we were hungry for lunch.
Except for me. I had a Boost before they started the show.
The Adventures of ALS Boy 
I am so “j” as Nani would say. Let’s go again, soon 🙂
What a cool outing!! Didja see the albino alligator???
The albino alligator was sleeping but we saw him.
What a cool field trip! I’m jealous! It sounds like you all had a really good time, and everyone looks happy in the pictures.
So I have a couple of questions for you.
1. Was it crowded? Did you go in the morning or afternoon?
2. I’m very interested in the butterflies. Were there flowers in the rainforest for them to light upon? Were they fluttering around at eye level and landing on things so that one might shoot some photographs of them?
3. Is your wheelchair more comfortable now?
Thanks!
Karen
1. We were in the parking lot at 10:15 and there were spaces everywhere. The museum was practically a ghost town until a little bit before eleven. After that there were noticeably more people but it was by no means crowded.
2. The rain forest was incredible. The higher up you went in the enclosure the more butterflies there were. They were everywhere even in front of your face. Bring the camera for sure.
3. No. But whatever.
Hi! I heard a lot about you from my sister, who was in your class a few years ago. Anyways, I thought this song might have some meaning to you: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RvaGiLSmRNI
I LOVE this place! Le and I took his nephew’s kids last year and they were about Emma’s age, and they had a great time and had much the same reactions that Emma did. Did you see the albino alligator/croc?
Hi jason I’m in your wife’s english class and she talks a bout you so much, in such a passionate way and always talks about your blog and I love it you have really funny stuff!!! 🙂
Jason, curiosity has gotten the better of me. I see from the pictures (btw, they are fantastic, love them, and still laughing at the random poser in a blonde wig in the second pic) that you don’t take your computer with you… how do you communicate when you’re out and about?
Besides my arsenal of engaging and emotive grunts, we use something we call low tech. It’s basically a laminated Alphacore extreme home screen that I point to with a laser pointer attached to a pair of lenseless glasses. It works in a pinch.