By Emi Gruender
[INSTALLMENT 10]
In the fog-choked distance, the rust-red spires of the Golden Gate Bridge rise above the winding San Francisco streets. On the very tip of the San Francisco Peninsula, in the Golden Gate Park, sits the sprawling campus of the CalAcademy of Sciences. Established in 1853, the CalAcademy has been a beacon of scientific research and public education for the Bay Area for many generations thus far, illustrated in its fascinating history, enchanting exhibits, and extensive specimen collection. More than just an institution of education, CalAcademy also heads programs such as Thriving California—a statewide movement aimed to “regenerate biodiversity, build resilience to climate change, and advance equitable access to nature across our state”—and Hope For Reefs, a global initiative to save suffering reefs. In this issue, for which I have been anticipating since the beginning of the year, writers Gio Arteaga, Averi Halbert, Laura Lipcsei, and Kathryn Tanaka will be joining me on a field trip to sunny San Francisco to the one and only CalAcademy of Sciences.
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Welcome back travelers, to The Daily Explorer. In this series, we travel to interesting places within the Bay Area, hoping to inspire the readers of The Shield to explore their hometown. Keep an eye out for some of your favorite writers from The Shield. If you have any favorite places, restaurants, parks, etc, please email me at emi.gruender@gmail.com to issue a recommendation. Your name and input about the place in question will be credited, of course.
Without further ado, buckle up and enjoy the blog-style ride of The Daily Explorer!
FRIDAY, April 19
10:55 am, Morning Commute
Thanks to the generous staff at the Academy, we were able to obtain eight press passes to the museum, two of which must be adult chaperones. Unfortunately, Mia Hanuska was unable to attend this trip based on a short-notice emergency—so eight sadly became seven. With the help of Averi Halbert’s dad and my own as chaperones, the long-awaited day finally arrived. After two grueling hours of state testing, we met outside in our Shield blue, piled into an 8-seater minivan, and chugged our way up to San Francisco, hoping that Gio wouldn’t get motion sick and spew all over the crowded backseat.
12:58 pm, VIP– Very Important Publishers…
After a quick pit stop to a nearby Super Duper, we navigated through the throngs of elementary school children and parents alike until we stood before the Academy’s towering facade. “Meet your VIP Tour Guide at the booth next to the T. Rex,” read my instructions from a couple of months prior. The first thing we saw walking in was the towering skeletal reconstruction of a Tyrannosaurus Rex.
“It’s huge!” Mr. Halbert exclaimed.
I shrugged nonchalantly, to the chagrin of my companions. “I don’t know, I guess I thought a T. Rex would be bigger. That’s like the size of an elephant.”
“You wouldn’t be unimpressed if it was trying to eat you.”
I gently disagreed. We continued our lighthearted debate in between group photos to show off our matching Shield shirts, while waiting for my dad to find parking. Soon enough, my dad arrived and all seven of us cleared the great glass doors to meet Marcus, our friendly tour guide with a nice hat and a vest full of colorful pins. He handed us a couple of official-looking lanyards that proclaimed our heightened status as VIP guests. Practically shivering with excitement, we followed Marcus to the top floor for our first stop—the Living Roof.
1:00 pm, VIP—Very Important Publishers…(Part 2)
Let me just start off with this: I recommend the VIP Tour, if possible on your visit. Marcus took us traipsing all over the museum, answering our plethora of questions with professionalism and grace. On the roof, we got to walk through a hilly garden of scattered whale bones curing in the sunlight. Due to unique architecture, the Academy doesn’t have air-conditioning installed, despite the high visitor content and potentially hot summer months.
We got to see a room chock-full of 2.2 million individual “pickled fish” (they were fish submerged in ethylene), including samples from 1888, which survived the great 1906 San Francisco earthquake. My personal favorite in this room was the massive pufferfish stored in the biggest jar I’ve ever seen. It was odd to think that so many of these fish, albeit dead, were three or four times my age. Each shelf was only accessible one at a time, since the taxonomically-sorted shelves would need to be cranked to rearrange for access.
To finish off our tour, we visited their VIP Mineral Vault, which included some incredible specimens, like massive amethysts and chalcedony variety chrysoprase—both of which had the chemical makeup SiO2.
“Wait a minute,” Gio said, comparing the two specimens. “Why are so many of these gems made of silicon dioxide?” (credits to Mrs. Daniels for his chemistry education which yet pervades.)
This was where our VIP tour came to a bittersweet end. Marcus told us to keep our VIP lanyards, as they could provide us express access to the Morrison Planetarium, Osher Rainforest, Shake House, and a 10% discount on Academy purchases. After thanking him, we left the mineral vault and ventured to our next destination: the Morrison Planetarium.
2:30 pm, Motion Sickness and Naptime
Viewings at the planetarium occur every hour on the half-hour; we had finished our VIP tour just in time to peek into the 2:30 viewing of “Habitat Earth,” one of the three shows available. Averi, especially, was disappointed that we hadn’t caught the astronomical option.
“It’s gonna be a ten outta ten, because space is so cool, and I love planetariums, and they make me so happy, and the last time I saw one was so long ago, so this is going to be amazing,” Averi said in one breath—unfortunately before we discovered the subject of the viewing. Despite her disappointment, we settled into the cushy green chairs to view the house-made presentation on the largest all-digital dome in the world. The robotic voice over the loudspeakers informed us to “close your eyes if you feel motion sick, and the feeling should pass.” I scoffed, convinced that I would be able to handle it. Gio, who was looking around anxiously, I wasn’t so sure about.
Spoiler alert: I got motion sick. And maybe it was the ambient music, or the darkness all around, or the pre-reclined chairs, but I fell asleep. Along with Kathryn and Gio. What little I did see was outstanding, despite my subsequent “seasickness.”
3:12 pm, True Academics
Between impromptu bathroom breaks and coffee runs at the Academy’s built-in cafe, we tried our best to utilize our remaining two hours as best we could. Thanks to our VIP passes, we were able to skip the lines for the massive Osher Rainforest—a tropical rainforest inside a giant snowglobe—and the Shake House—a simulation for a San Francisco earthquake, set within a picturesque living room.
We walked along the spiral ramp of the rainforest, marveling at the massive catfish swimming in teal-blue water below, and the jewel-toned birds hopping around in the canopy. The last time I visited the Academy, I remember panicking when a butterfly approached me a little too closely, but I held nothing but awe for these creatures this time around. We got spat out back in the aquarium after riding an elevator to the bottom, where we got to walk underneath the aforementioned teal-blue water, face to face with giant catfish.
We viewed the taxidermy in the Tusher African Hall—marveling at the sheer size of these creatures, giraffes especially. We visited the new exhibit set up in the back, where animatronic dinosaurs moved and bellowed. For my dismissal of the T-Rex skeleton’s size in the beginning, I was quite a bit more intimidated when confronted with the visualized reptilian giant.
“I told you,” Mr. Halbert and the others told me alike. Despite my pride, I admit defeat. Unfortunately, we couldn’t catch another show at the planetarium to try and see a space-themed show, given the impending rush hour. Reluctantly, we shuffled back to the car, vowing to come back to the Golden Gate park again as seniors. One day… perhaps a large-scale day-trip to San Francisco as the finale of the Daily Explorer of senior year? Who knows?
5:22 pm, The Long Haul
Our drive back to San Jose consisted mostly of Jack Johnson blasting through the speakers and impromptu nap times. All of us highly enjoyed this experience, and only wished we had more time scheduled for exploration. Another huge thanks to the generous staff of CalAcademy and Enhanced Experiences alike— our highly anticipated trip did not disappoint.
PHOTO ALBUM:
THE VERDICT:
- If given the opportunity to visit, make sure to allot more than 3 hours. Despite our highly efficient combing of the exhibits, there were still so many that we had to skim in order to get through everything.
- The deYoung Museum, San Francisco Botanical Gardens, Conservatory of Flowers, and Japanese Tea Garden all neighbor the Academy. We wished we had enough time to see these as well, after our museum experience.
- You must be tolerant of many small, loud children running around. As much as I enjoyed the experience, I was painfully reminded of how much these experiences were no longer primarily catered towards myself.
- Try the VIP Tours with friends/family members with an insatiable curiosity.
- Check out the Academy’s initiatives!
- Thriving California: Specifically, check out their “Reimagining San Francisco” program, and the “City Nature Challenge.”
- Hope for Reefs: A global initiative led by the California Academy of Sciences to research and restore critical coral reef systems. Referred to as the “rainforests of the sea,” these ecosystems are at high risk due to human activity and rising ocean temperatures. Starting in 2016, CalAcademy has since partnered with global programs such as SECORE International, to launch efforts to save these at-risk habitats. Phase II is already underway!
Join me in the next issue for yet another adventure, hopefully with better foresight for scheduling.
Signing off until next issue,
The Daily Explorer