Visting the Land of Hippies and Smart People

Located just 15 minutes from Walnut Creek was Berkeley and all it has to offer those who yearn to be smarter. We decided to check out the Lawrence Hall of Science which is tucked away in the Tilden Regional Park providing amazing rolling views of the Bay area. Just to reach the location was an adventure as we climbed higher and through fog. The kids insisted we stop to take a picture since they wanted to show their friends that they were in a 'cloud'.

When we arrived, Isabel was beside herself as the current exhibit is Dinosaurs Alive. For those of you who have not been instructed that she plans to be a Paleontologist or corrected for identifying the wrong dinosaur, let's just say she is passionate about dinosaurs.


She just happened to have on her favorite shirt on for the occasion. A little girl riding a T-Rex.




Yes, that is a bug box hanging from her neck. We made her leave the butterfly-catcher in the car.

After an excavation, we found the small animal room. It had something for each child: Aidan was able to see the fish, Caity preferred the Chinchilla and tarantula, and Isabel was partial to the frog. Opps, she just corrected me, I meant toad.



The Hall was unique in that it was hands-on but with real science concepts from Nanotechnology to Astronomy. Dan and Aidan had fun engineering a bridge.


We ended our day in the Planetarium. Now this was nowhere near the sophistication of the Adler Planetarium we have in Chicago, but it was narrated by a UC Berkley student and done at just the right level for the younger set. Caity loved it and exclaimed that the comet on display looked like a zombie fishing. Isabel decided to use the darkness to refuel.