The Bay Area Discovery Museum

This past weekend I was so excited to see my brother that I threw out all reasoning. (Which by the way is completely unlike me.) I went forward and made plans to stay in San Francisco the night before his arrival to break up the six hour drive. Saturday came and we loaded up the car. I decided to pack a cooler with snacks and meals for lunch and breakfast. I figured my mom packed a cooler with the stuff to make sandwiches and cereal and milk for breakfast when we traveled, we will too. We love picnics.

Once we were in San Francisco we had forgotten what it was like to find a parking place. The hotel was nice. We stayed at the Courtyard Marriott Downtown. (Note: you get much better prices going directly through the website rather than discount travel sites.) We had a spectacular view of the city which I wish I could have captured with the camera. But, that would have involved opening the window and with three little kids I was not going to chance one of them slipping past.

The next morning we headed out for a nice walk in Golden Gate park. Then we took a side trip to the Headlands Beach as the Museum was not yet open. The kids were excited to see the water. They have been asking us to take a trip to the beach for months. Needless to say, Mason went splashing into the water and was knocked over by a wave. Since he was wet and would have to change clothes he felt he might as well finish his beach visit off by making sand angels. So much for keeping them clean and dry.

This was our first visit to the Discovery Museum. We do not get to the city as often since we moved to the Valley. There was so much to do for ages eight months to six years. I liked it mostly because it was quaint and not as wild as the Exploratorium in San Francisco can get.

Inside the Tot Spot house are several frog ponds and logs to teach the children about animal habitats.

Water play in the tot spot river. Equipped with aprons, fish and frogs.

Inside the Discovery Hall the kids hung from bars, climbed rock walls, danced, learned Karate and pretended to balance on a surf board/snow board. (Kids can put on a Hawaiian shirt for surfing or a puffy ski jacket for skiing.) Outside in the play area they set to sea on a small vessel. Donned hard hats and shovels in the rock pit and scalled the broken pieces of a pirate ship.

This is only half of what was available to explore. We ended our fun with a nice picnic on the grass with the Golden Gate Bridge over looking us.