Never Too Old for a Field Trip

Last week was one tornado of a week and this weekend has followed in its tracks!  I must be getting old, but time seems to be traveling so quickly- not a bad thing when it's the bad stuff, but I wish it would slow down for weekends and weeks that I have work and school deadlines breathing down my back!  Enough of that- let's get to what we did on Saturday.

One of the great things about living in the San Francisco Bay Area are the cultural amenities.  We live about 30 minutes away from the city and we really love mixing things up and coming to play tourist for the day.  Yesterday we went to the California Academy of Sciences in Golden Gate Park.  We have both gone there for field trips back in the day and this was a great time to explore the newly pimped out museum.

The website describes it as "the only place on the planet with an aquarium, a planetarium, a natural history museum, and a 4-story rainforest all under one roof" and hubby and I spent 5 hours exploring.  It seems like we were the only adults there without rugrats, but hey- it's still only 6 months into our marriage and I made sure to make all the requisite bathroom stops, so I perfectly replicated the child-like experience for my date that day.

We started with a beautiful drive into San Francisco.  The weather was gorgeous.

We explored the rainforest

 Stopped to see an albino gator (he's in the back)

Learned about the carbon footprint of a fruit plate:

(Thumbs up to fruit plates, as long as they are local!)
I stopped for about 15 minutes to watch the Penguins in the Africa exhibit.  I wanted to take a couple home with me.  Who doesn't love penguins?

We also went up to look at the roof- this building has a living roof, making it one of the most sustainable buildings ever.  It is stunning from the inside too!

We were starving by about 3:30 and stopped for a late lunch while waiting for the planetarium show.  All the food here is local and organic and it was no PB&J sandwich!  We shared both dishes.

First up, shrimp spring rolls with peanut sauce:

Next up- curry chicken salad with almonds and mandarin slices:

Both were ridiculously good and restaurant quality!
I would love to go back and visit when they update their new prehistoric mammal exhibit or to spend the day exploring.  It was so nice to get away and pretend to be a kid!

Now I'm back to adult-land with homework, gym, housework, and other shtuff to do!

What are your favorite kid-like activities?  Mine include field trips, random playground equipment explorations, any type of museum, and trampolines or jump houses!