The California Academy of Sciences
- Exploring, explaining and protecting the natural world. Since 1853.
Nearly 10 years and $500 million dollars in the making, it's finally here. The new Academy is a masterpiece in sustainable architecture, blends seamlessly into the park's natural setting, and is filled with hundreds of innovative exhibits and thousands of extraordinary plants and animals.
1. Rainforests of the World
2. Morrison Planetarium
3. Steinhart Aquarium
4. Kimball Natural History Museum
See Academy Floor Plan
"The new California Academy of Sciences building, in San Francisco, has been called the greenest museum in the world because of its undulating, 2.5 acre vegetated roof, its emphasis of environmental sustainability, and its energy saving technologies. The innovative structure combines a natural history museum, an aquarium, a planetarium, and scientific research operations within one facility." ---- by Robert L. Reid
Day trip @ Santana Row
Date: June 6th, 2008
Santana Row is an upscale shopping center in San Jose, California. It is home to many luxury restaurants, outlets, multi-million dollar condominiums, spas and salons and a 213 room boutique hotel, located in the heart of Santana Row. Several retailers including Gucci, Burberry, Max Azria, Salvatore Ferragamo, Crate and Barrel, and Brooks Brothers are also located in Santana Row.
Mono Lake Tufa State Natural Reserve was established to preserve the spectacular "tufa towers," calcium-carbonate spires and knobs formed by interaction of freshwater springs and alkaline lake water. It also protects the lake surface itself as well as the wetlands and other sensitive habitat for the 1 – 2 million birds that feed and rest at Mono Lake each year.
Mono Lake is a majestic body of water covering about 65 square miles. It is an ancient lake, over 1 million years old -- one of the oldest lakes in North America. It has no outlet.
Throughout its long existence, salts and minerals have washed into the lake from Eastern Sierra streams. Freshwater evaporating from the lake each year has left the salts and minerals behind so that the lake is now about 2 1/2 times as salty as the ocean and very alkaline.
Location/Directions
Highway 395, 13 miles east of Yosemite National Park, near the town of Lee Vining, California.
NOTE: All the photo were scanned from the slides taken on my '05 summer trip to the Olympic National Park.
These are some pictures taken during my vacation in Taiwan.
NOTE: All the photo were scanned from the slides taken on my '03 fall trip to the Yosemite National Park.