Celebrating the Season in San Francisco

 "City sidewalks, busy sidewalks,

Dressed in holiday style,

In the air there's a feeling of Christmas!"

That was the song playing in my head as I spent the weekend with my daughters in San Francisco this weekend. We began with dinner out, then Christmas movies in our pj's Saturday night, for some cozy catch-up time. Who needs a real fireplace when you can set the Christmasy mood on TV via Netflix, complete with crackling and popping sounds?

Sunday morning arrived in a rainy, blustering fashion, but we made our way downtown to the Hyatt to enjoy their beautiful display... or so we thought.

 The Ferry Building across the street matched the gray skies.

 We were glad to get out of the rain and into the lobby.

To our disappointment, however, the lobby was undergoing renovations and there were just a few decorations and the large Christmas tree at the top. So after grabbing hot drinks and bagels at Starbucks across the street, we got back in the car and drove to Golden Gate Park's Museum of Natural Science. Now we were in for holiday treats!

We knew we were in the right place when we walked through the front doors 

to face a dinosaur skeleton surrounded by giant snowflakes!

 

 We entered the first exhibit hall and were greeted by carols playing, 

snow flurries falling around us, and a big snowman theater!

 Hands-on educational exhibits about reindeer lined the glass walls...

 ...and outside were two beautiful live reindeer -- Frosty and Holiday. 

My, what big antlers you have, Frosty!

 

 We learned a lot about reindeer. 

As hard as those antlers are, they feel velvety soft to the touch!

 We also enjoyed the penguin display with several adorable penguins.

This one kept everyone entertained by getting right up to the edge, but never quite taking the plunge.

 We decided he knew exactly what he was doing!

 

 The rain forest is a favorite exhibit, with many tropical animals and butterflies!

 

 With temperatures in the 80's, we were shedding our coats 

as we advanced the walkway up three floors, through the forest.

From there we descended to the aquarium with the tunnel 

that allows huge fish to swim over your head.

 By the time we left, the rain had lifted.

"Soon it will be Christmas Day!"

The Rainforest

Last weekend we took a drive up to San Francisco's Museum of Natural Science in Golden Gate Park. We half expected a lot of rain, but the skies opened and the sun broke through. This brought out park visitors in droves. After 30 minutes of driving around and around and around, we slipped into a parking spot about a mile away from the museum and set off for a sunny walk to the museum.

One of the main attractions to us was a walk through the rainforest. We entered the huge rainforest sphere, walked up the ramp that ascends to the top of the fourth story, and discovered the mysteries of rainforests from around the world. Read more about this museum within a museum here: Rainforest

There are over 1600 animals in the rainforest exhibit, some are free and some are in terrariums such as these poisonous frogs!

Butterflies abounded, requiring us to check our hair and clothes for hitchhikers before leaving the dome.

They were even still enough that we could capture some close-ups:

Far below we caught glimpses of the aquarium -- and the people walking through the acrylic tunnel going right through the fish tank!
There were snakes, bats, chameleons, and these squabbling parrots:

From the top floor we desended via an elevator ride through the forest to the basement to the "flooded forest" where the aquarium awaits. The rainforest had been hot and humid, so the cool air in the basement was welcomed. Now it was our turn to walk through the tunnel with the fish swimming all around us.

I especially enjoyed watching this huge turtle swimming by:

From there we returned to the main floor where we visited the "swamp". This is the home of Clyde, one of only 50 living albino alligators that we know of. He looks fake, and we began to second guess if he was, but a museum guide assured us he was real -- and about that time he decided to move around a bit!

Here is a youtube of Clyde's arrival at the museum, as well as information about the museum in general: Clyde.

People in the aquarium section peering into the swamp:

There were several other displays in the museum:
Can you imagine a flower this big?
Entering the arched ceiling hall of natural history -- this was an older section and I remembered visiting this years ago:

In this hall there are diaramas of many animals, such as these lions:

Feeding the penguins was a popular show:

Stay tuned as I'll be posting photos from the Living Roof and Japanese Tea Garden next!