It’s Friday!  OK, this is probably posting on Monday, but remember how fun Friday was?!  I do.  Our team at work went for an Off-site to the California Academy of Sciences (http://www.calacademy.org/).  I’ve been wanting to check this place out for more than a year since they reopened after ~10 years  and $500 million of renovation.  Today, it’s arguably the greenest building in the world.

 

The building can be classified into three main segments – Aquarium, Planetarium, and Rain forest.  The Planetarium was booked, so we got a good look at the other two.  Here’s the team!

 

Erin, Bernadette, Zoe, LeAnn, Emily, J Lu

 

I don’t care if you’re an adult, this place is awesome and you can’t help but be amazed.  See, even these big kids forget they were “adults,” at least for a little while.

 

This is the albino alligator from SE U.S.  Apparently his eyesight isn’t great and he bumps into things. Poor guy.  At least he’s got a little buddy in that snapping turtle…

 

The jellies may have been my favorite exhibit.  There were three tanks:

 

Here’s my other favorite.  This reminds of diving in Koh Tao, Thailand where there are underwater fields of these anemones.

 

Some of the other exhibits that caught my eye were the ones under black light.  These guys are downright florescent.

 

Unfortunately, my battery died and my backup was dead, so I didn’t get enough of the museum, but I did get a picture of these amphibians.  Thank goodness!  What a shot.  I’m pretty sure they’re doing what you think they are.  And one of them’s even watching!  Horny toads…

 

OK.  Enough of THAT!  Sorry we had to go there at the end, but I couldn’t help it.  Later on that day…we had our first meal at our new place.  JP picked up some steaks from, where else?  Costco.  The New Yorks here are a real anomaly (in a good way).  Anyway, this is what a little TLC does to ’em.

 

They also made me eat some salad. 🙂 There’s a wedge of iceberg under there…  I’m honestly not sure which I liked more between the meat and the veg.  Dinner was goo-ood.

 

Mmm mmmm.  You know we didn’t go thirsty.  Our first open bottle in the new house was a Bordeaux blend for under $15.

 

Followed up by one of our new love interests – the Vino Cobos winery.  On JP’s birthday we had the “LeGarto” Merlot, which knocked our socks off.  Since then, we found her sister wine, the “Felino” Malbec.  Which was better?  I couldn’t quite say.  We’re planning a side-by-side test very soon.

 

That’s all for today.  Don’t think I forgot about JP’s guest appearance.  He promises to post some amazing stuff tomorrow.

 

Until then…Kampai! (Cheers in Japanese).