Reed and North enjoying some mint tea at the hotel as we settle in.
Our first evening, we jumped on a bus to meet some friends for dinner. North became very quiet on the bus. I think he was taking in all the people and their styles. The bus drivers had nerves of steel and lead feet. I wanted to know how often the buses needed their brakes changed, but I forgot to ask. North livened up when we sat down to dinner (Mai's Restaurant, good Vietnamese food!) and our friend's teenage daughter started to make faces at him. The two clowns meet! Kurt and Catherine had some great stories to tell and were very patient with us as we tried to calm North. He had enough about halfway through dinner and became very noisy. It was time to go back to the hotel for bed...
The next morning we jumped back on the Muni to go to Golden Gate Park. We found the Academy very easily. Thanks, Catherine!
Interactive bugs: North chased the "bugs" into a "trap". On a large screen on the wall, we were able to read information about the "trapped bugs". The "bugs" crawled out from under leaves, then scattered if you moved or stepped on them. Very interesting for North.
The academy has a library of books, mounted specimens, and other items that members and California teachers can check out as resources for their classrooms. Very interesting to me.
North liked the Galapagos tortoise.
"What's down there?" (Sting rays and leopard sharks)
Is this an alien colonization or the roof of the Academy?
Looking down the stairs from the roof.
Leaning in for a better look
We all enjoyed the aquarium part of the academy. Most of the displays were easy for North to view at his own level. He enjoyed patting the glass whenever a fish swam by him. The tank with creatures from the California coast was very cool. Reed knew all their names! (North missed it because he was asleep in the Ergo)
Golden Gate Park has an awesome children's playground. We had to play at the park before leaving. It also has a municipal code that prevents adults without children to enter; a very smart idea.
For dinner that night we chose a Japanese place close to the hotel that was toddler friendly. Did you know that an one year old will eat pickled seaweed, and love it too? We had to order an extra serving. Those two dinners were the only eating "outside of the box" that we did. I love going to as many different ethnic restaurants as we can cram into a day, but on this trip North became exhausted by early evening.We are planning another trip back to the Academy next year, I hope we will get to experience more restaurants then.
Leaving the car in the garage was a great idea not only because public transportation around the city is simple but also because North has decided that he is now too active to be contained in his seat. So, riding on the bus with all its distractions eliminated that problem altogether. I had planned on walking over to a Japanese communal bath house after North went to sleep in the evening, but that did not work out. I will make that a priority next time, as I am really interested. Over all, we had a great trip!