by JiaYing

California Academy of Sciences

The California Academy of Sciences took my breath away. You enter a rainforest sphere, and the path winds upwards. Along the way you see macaws, giant spiders, bats, nothing in cages. Butterflies dance at the rainforest canopy.

Then you take a glass elevator down, down, down below the water, where there is an entire freaking aquarium. It was unbelievable.

I knew it was a natural history museum, and I thought it would be a lot of taxidermy or something. Nope.

Here's a link to my story for Seattle's Child: family-friendly adventures in San Francisco.

The De Young, directly across from the California Academy of Sciences
by JiaYing

Must-do with kids: SF’s Exploratorium

The Exploratorium is so stinking amazing. Every single station is an interactive STEM activity. I was completely blown away. It's like a year's worth of science lessons in one morning — and FUN! Details on some of the experiments in captions below.

RGB light shadows
Looking at samples from the sediment library through a microscope.
Artist Scott Weaver and his INCREDIBLE art made of toothpicks and Elmer's glue. The organic sculptural form features famous buildings in SF, and it's also a ping pong ball run. The artist said he worked in grocery stores for 30+ years, and toothpicks were always his hobby.
Sat down to take a break, and it turns out the bench is also interactive. Touch the armrests and hold hands to complete the circuit, and it plays a song.
Polarized film that changes color when you spin the wheel.
Cloud making, using a bike pump to create pressure inside a 2-liter soda bottle.
The toilet is new and has the same clean drinking water, but would you take a sip from it?
An interactive art installation, where a million light bulbs form one big cloud. You can turn each light bulb on and off individually.
The big construction lab, where you can play with all kinds of materials. I loved this sign.
Flower dissection
Stop motion spinner

Here's a link to my story for Seattle's Child: family-friendly adventures in San Francisco.

Solar time pieces. An Earth day is 24 hours; a Mercury day is 4,223 hours.
by JiaYing

The oldest and biggest Chinatown in the U.S.

San Fran's Chinatown is the oldest and biggest in the US.

Here's a link to my story for Seattle's Child: family-friendly adventures in San Francisco.

Brought back so many memories. When I was 22, I spent a summer interning in San Jose and most weekends, I'd take the train to SF and spend the day walking through the city. More often than not, I'd wind up in Chinatown, gawking like a tourist. That's when I knew I'd have to move to the West Coast. Lemme tell you growing up Asian on the East Coast was not the funnest. My Seattle-born children were not impressed by Chinatown, but it is still where I feel most at home.

by JiaYing

A kid-friendly tour of SFMOMA

SFMOMA! I’d never been, always wanted to go, and it was everything I hoped for and more. The communications director for the museum is a mom, and she gave me her personal kid-approved list. It was GOLD. Here it is in visual form:

Felix Gonzalez Torres golden curtain
Special exhibition Art of Noise with walls of colorful rock posters, immersive listening rooms and sound sculptures
Yayoi Kusama's Infinity Mirror Room
Olafur Elliason's One way colour tunnel on the Oculus Bridge
Cafe 5 and the outdoor sculpture garden
Yayoi Kusama's monumental pumpkin sculpture
I tried to explain to the kids what a big deal the iPod was, and they were like, "Why can't you just use your phone to listen to music?"

Here's a link to my story for Seattle's Child: family-friendly adventures in San Francisco.

by JiaYing

Our favorite meal in San Francisco: Tony’s Pizza Napoletana

Our favorite meal in San Fran was at Tony’s Pizza Napoletana!

Walking in felt like being wrapped in a big hug. Tony's is famous for its Margherita, which won Best Pizza in the World in Naples. But kids. They just want cheese. The general manager insisted if cheese is what they want, cheese is what they get — the best cheese pizza in the world! The kids couldn't stop laughing. Seriously, the best pizza and the nicest people here.

Here's a link to my story for Seattle's Child: family-friendly adventures in San Francisco.

by JiaYing

Heath Ceramics showroom in Sausalito

Bucket list item checked off! I have waited decades to visit the original Heath Ceramics in Sausalito. They have a beautiful showroom and factory tours. The seconds store and tile overstock shed is also here.

Because we were on bike (also, on a freelancer budget), I limited myself to ONE purchase: a Chez Panisse mug. Original price $45, marked down to $16.90 in the seconds shop.