California Academy of Sciences

California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco located in Golden Gate park is a place full of adventure. There is lots of fun things to do such as tropical atrium, aquariums, stuffed animals in there habitats, feisty penguins, an albino alligator, always special exhibits, and a planetarium. Although this place is very expensive it is worth the admission as there are so many things to see that you can't see anywhere else. There is also an expensive cafeteria that has a wide range of food.

I love this living museum. My favorite thing was the tropical atrium filled with insects, reptiles, birds, and many more kinds of tropical wildlife. You get to go through the Borneo, Costa Rican, and Madagascan rain forests. I also enjoyed the ocean reef filled with anemones, starfish, stingrays, and beautiful tropical fish.

In the aquarium area there are large viewing areas with many types of fish as well as smaller cases with special fish. One fun area is the live pool where you can touch starfish and sea urchins. 

In the marsh area there is a large reed boat. The man I took the basket weaving class from at Point Reyes actually made it! 

One of the last things we did was to visit the living roof. It covers several acres and Uniquely filters the rain water for use in the building. It is a great example of recycling and conserving resources.

Social media to the rescue!!

One day my Mom saw on Facebook that a close friend had a Afraican Fat-Tailed gecko that needed a new home. Her daughter was going off to college and couldn't take the gecko with her. We made an offer and it was accepted. I had to wait a week because our busy work schedules. I could hardly wait to meet this cute little gecko! 

His name is Obi which means heart in Nigerian. The African Fat-Tailed gecko is from West Africa. Obi came with a cage,water bowl, plant, huge log, and special silica. His cage is in my room. Obi and I have created a unique bond. At night he's very active and I normally take him out and snuggle with him in bed. He likes to snuggle up under my neck and loves my furry bed set. Obi is a huge cricket fan. He will eat live crickets right out of your hand.

So far, Obi has had some very fun adventures. One night my Mom and Dad were sitting on the couch and I decided to bring Obi down for a visit. My Dad decided it would be fun to feed Obi on the couch. When my Dad put the cricket in front of Obi,  he bit it so fast my Dad didn't have time to react and Obi ended up holding on to my Dad's finger. 

Another fun story was when Obi met Dash this week. I put Obi outside of the tank so that Dash could see him.Then Dash got excited and started swimming rapidly into the glass trying to eat his legs.

Ruth Bancroft garden

 This garden is located close to my home. I took a guided tour last Friday. Although the tour was slow, I did learn a lot about the garden. Ruth started the garden when she was in her mid-60s. She used lots of succulents plants that she had been collecting for years. I learned that succulents plants store water in their fleshy leaves  and that cacti store water in their plant bodies. Cacti have spikes that keep the animals away from the body of the plant, where the water is stored. Both kind of plants grow where it is dry. Mrs.Bancroft worked in her garden into her 90s. She is still alive and living in her home behind the garden at 106!!
The garden had many shaded and full sun areas. There was even a beautiful pond with Lily pads in the center. This was my favorite area of the garden. There were nice pathways and many benches where you could sit and reflect on the beautiful garden. While we were there they were showing sculptures from local artists. They were uniquely placed in parts of the garden. They propagate plants there too, and you can buy little plants to plant in your garden. They range in from $5-$100.
Here are a few photos I took.

Oakland Zoo

Summer is a good time to visit the Oakland Zoo. This Zoo is low key, has large animal enclosures, a children's playground, very kid friendly exhibits and even fun rides. First, we saw the flamingos which are at the entrance. Then we looked at the daily feeding schedule and decided to go see the giraffes being fed. In that area we also saw camels, elephants, zebras, lions, and tigers. At that point we decided to take the sky ride. It was a relaxing ride and we got to see the buffalo. After our picnic lunch, we went to see the enormous tortoises, the insect house, reptile house, monkeys, lemurs, and sunbears. We decide that the last thing we would do is go ride the train. It took us to the Outback section where we saw giant birds and wallabies from Australia.
My favorite part of the Zoo is the reptiles. They had the cutest frogs in crazy neon colors. I also loved the tortoises. The little boy that was with me loved the lemurs and zebras as he was into strips that day. The funniest part of this trip was taking selfies with the animals. It was hard but I managed.

Meet Dash!!!

Dash has had an adventurous life so far. She's about two years old and I got her from my former soccer coach. He discovered her in his swimming pool. That isn't unusual because they live in Southern California and Mexico naturally. They're an invasive species and multiply and spead in areas where they are let lose in the wild.
When I got her, we went again to the local reptile store knowing that the owner had just gotten 4 new red eared sliders out of hibernation. He sold us a used 50 gallon tank. We went to another store and got a platform, heater, filter, and gravel. Then later in the afternoon we went to Ace Hardware and got her a small baby pool. This baby pool is for her to swim in during the day to get sunlight and sunbathe.
Dash is an omnivore. Some of her favorite foods are crickets, mealworms, and night crawlers. We discovered she DOES NOT like crandberries or tomatoes.
Here's a funny incident about Dash- when she was eating a night crawler last night water shot out of her nose.  Also a sad tale- Dash got scared and threw herself into the water and hit the side of the glass tank and cracked her chin. It should be healed in a few days. I have to be very careful with her because she's fast when I put her down. So I have to be really quick.

Here's some cute photos of Dash!!

Point Reyes

Last week I took a trip to Point Reyes National Seashore park in Marin county. It is the home of a lot of cool animals and the former Miwok Indians.  Sir Francis Drake discovered Drake's Bay in the late 1500's.  Just like Drake and all the explorers since we encountered fog on the beach but it lifted later in the day.

The first animals we saw up close were deer. It was a doe and her two fawns. They didn't just walk they pranced. We stayed quiet and they did not seem to be afraid of us. We saw the fawns on our hike to the light house. The views were fantastic!! But we had 308 stairs down and 308 stairs up!!! After we got back from the light house, we took a side trail and ended up seeing Habor Seals. We also thought we saw otters playing in the water, too. They were a long distance off so we had to use binoculars. Then we drove to a look out point and walked along the seashore and saw Elephant Seals. During the day we ended up seeing lots of birds.

Besides seeing animals we had and amazing morning walk on the foggy beach. The water was frigid but we walked bare foot in the sand and water anyways. Our last adventure at point Reyes was a basket weaving class. We learned to make a woven basket using the same grasses the Miwok Indians had used hundred years ago. If you have never been to point Reyes, I recommend it for all ages. It is an adventure worth taking.

Stay tuned for my next adventure. I'm going to be getting a Red-eared Slider turtle. Gotta go now... So I can get a 50 gallon tank....