A little City culture

I have been a bit wimpy on the California day-trips so far this year! While I was a bit of an adventure-holic last (intern) year, I have somehow become complacent and cozy in my little Sacramento home and have not been exploring as I should/as has been characteristic.
I have been meaning for a while to make the trip into SF to go to the Asian Art Museum and the California Academy of Sciences.

On Sunday, despite being nervous that my 39-plus week pregnant patient was going to go into labor the minute I headed west on Highway 80, I decided to make the trip anyway, as full days (much less weekends) off are still quite a novelty/rarity for me in residency. Lucky for me was that Amy, back from week 1 of her vacation with her boyfriend in Cancun, wanted to go with me! (And, no worries; I was lucky and my patient did not go into labor while I was the 80 miles away or whatever. I saw her, still pregnant, back in clinic today. She is 39 and 4/7 weeks, a prime but dilated to 3 cm (!) although not contracting very much. Despite my offer, she declined membrane-stripping this morning with the hope that it makes her "go" sooner (and which would allow me, if she delivers before her 40-week mark, to leave town for a guilt- and worry- free weekend... but, alas, there is nothing predictable or plan-able about OB).

In any case, Amy and I had a wonderful time on Sunday! I found out the day before that the Asian Art Museum is free on the 1st Sunday of the month, so it worked out wonderfully that we decided to go this weekend (not that I like free stuff or anything...the best was that we didn't even have to pay for PARKING in San Fran on the Sunday because the meters, too, were free)! They had a great current exhibition on treasures of Afghanistan, as well as gallery after gallery of rooms featuring art and sculpture from periods, and locations all over the Asian world, including China, Japan, Korea, India, Iran, Bhutan, Indonesia and more. Here are a couple of neat pictures!

The nearby City Hall (NOT opera house, as my mom corrected me)





(Amy laughed at me for taking a picture of the San Francisco Public Library, which I imagine must be awesome, but, to refrain from further ridicule, I will refrain from posting here).

The art and sculpture...

We had a wonderful lunch (shared 2 asian dishes- a lamb curry and an udon noodle bowl) at the museum cafe and then headed over to Golden Gate Park (I hadn't actually been to that park yet!) where the newly-reopened California Academy of Sciences is located, which houses a planetarium, 4-story aquarium, and natural history museum all in one place. It was wonderful! We visited some exhibits on conservation and got to see a ton of little creatures including amphibians, birds, fish, and other sea creatures in the aquarium/rainforest setup. On our way out, we ogled the 13-year old albino alligator that is unique to the academy and which, featured on the cover of a AAA travel magazine (we actually got $3 AAA discounts to the academy! Yeah!), piqued my interest in visiting sooner rather than later. Very cool. (Thanks to Amy for taking the pics since my camera battery died).

View of (a very small part of) Golden Gate Park from the Living Rooftop

View of (some of) San Fran from the living rooftop

T. rex display


Part of the Rainforest/Aquarium

Snakes... ew....

Little red poisonous froggies (yes, JB, that is the Latin name)

Magical fish


Pre-historic-looking Sea Bass

Jellyfish

The albino alligator-- cool, huh?



Ah. Such good times.

Some other California locations on the Must-Visit list: Apple Hill for apple-picking, Lassen National Volcanic Park (near Redding in the north), Grover Natural Hot Springs (near Tahoe), Monterey Aquarium/whale-watching, Hearst Castle (down south on the coast), and San Diego. And the list will certainly keep growing. I'm open to other suggestions, too :)