Science Museums, Zoos, Botanical Gardens, and Aquariums

• The California Academy of Sciences in Golden Gate Park is home to the Museum of Natural History, the Steinhart Aquarium, and the Morrison Planetarium: http://www.calacademy.org
• The Coyote Point Museum in San Mateo is a small natural history museum on hill near San Francisco Bay: http://www.coyoteptmuseum.org/index_table.htm
• The Exploratorium in San Francisco is an extraordinary "hands-on" science museum housed in the Palace of Fine Arts: http://www.exploratorium.edu/
• The Foothill College Observatory has public viewing through its telescopes every clear Friday evening. http://www.foothill.fhda.edu/ast/friday.htm
• The Lick Observatory, on Mount Hamilton, south of San Jose, is a world-class astronomical observatory operated by the University of California. http://ucowww.ucsc.edu/
• The Lawrence Hall of Science, is located in the Berkeley Hills, above the campus of the University of California. It has a science museum, a small planetarium, a science store, a cafeteria, and also offers science enrichment classes for children. http://www.lhs.berkeley.edu/
• The Egyptian Museum of the Rosicrucian Order, in San Jose, California, has the most extensive collection of ancient Egyptian arifacts on the West Coast. http://www.rosicrucian.org/
• The Tech Museum of Innovation in San Jose is oriented to teaching high technology to students. It also houses an Imax theater. http://www.thetech.org
• The San Francisco Bay Model Visitor Center, in Sausalito, is a huge, indoor, scale model of the San Francisco Bay, built and operated by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers: http://www.spn.usace.army.mil/bmvc/

• The Oakland Zoo in Oakland, California: http://www.oaklandzoo.org/
• The San Francisco Zoo: http://www.sfzoo.com/
• The Monterey Bay Aquarium is a spectacular aquarium specializing in the life native to the Monterey Bay area on the central California coast: http://www.mbayaq.org
• The Steinhart Aquarium in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park has extensive salt and freshwater environments from around the world: http://www.calacademy.org/aquarium/
• The San Diego Zoo and Wild Animal Park in southern California is one of the top zoos in the world.

• Yosemite National Park, in the Sierra Nevada Mountains, has two web sites: One is operated by the National Park Service: http://www.nps.gov/yose/ . The second is operated by the contractor which provides visitor services, lodging, dining, and stores: http://www.yosemitepark.com/
• Muir Woods is a beautiful coastal redwood grove in Marin County, just across the Golden Gate from San Francisco. It is operated by the National Park Service. http://www.nps.gov/muwo/
• The UC Berkeley Botanical Garden, operated by the University of California, includes specimens of plants and trees from around the world. http://www.mip.berkeley.edu/garden/index.html
• The Strybing Arboretum & Botanical Gardens in Golden Gate Park: http://www.strybing.org
• The Conservatory of Flowers in Golden Gate Park: http://www.msue.msu.edu/msue/imp/mod70/70000021.html
• The UCSC Arboretum is operated by the Santa Cruz campus of the University of California: http://www2.ucsc.edu/arboretum/
• Filoli - Historical House and Gardens: http://www.filoli.org/

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