October 6, 2010

During dinner yesterday we asked the kids what they wanted to do tomorrow (today). We gave them the choice of staying at the house and playing in the swimming pool or go up to San Francsico and visit the Exploratorium. The vote was split and Viktor was the only one who wanted to go to the Exploratorium.

I had found the Exploratorium on a list of things to do with kids in San Francsisco and checked their web site last night. It turned out they have free admission one day a month and that was today. There were warnings on the site that it would be very crowded. Bummer!

Viktor and  I drove up to San Francisco anyway while Hélène stayed behind in Menlo Park with Iseline and Adrian.

Judging from the web site I had expected a flashy modern museum with lots of activities for kids. The first impression was very disappointing. The place looked dirty and very worn down. The building seemed like it had been an old warehouse and the ceiling could not have been cleaned for decades. The expositions looked like it hadn’t been renewed since the late 1950s, except for the computer stuff they must have thrown in during the 80s and 90s. But I quickly realized that Viktor was having a ball and that, old as it might be, the place was riddled with high quality science experiments for children.

There were a lot of people, but no too many, we practically never had to wait.

We spent 3 hours in there and time passed very quickly. This was curiuos kid heaven and both Viktor and I learned a lot during our stay. We discovered how iron ore dust will align itself to the lines of a magnetic field, even through your hand. There is a strong magnet under Viktor’s hand here.

Look at the wall behind Viktor below. The wall is completely flat, there are are only square tiles and all lines are straight and parallel, believe it or not.

Here is a normal picture of a boy creating shadows by standing in the way of some light sources. But, hey, those shadows have color. How can shadows have color? Answers in the comment field below, please.

Laaaarge bubble in the making.

A square wheel will actually roll very nicely and can be used for a car, as long as the road has this shape.

On our way back to Menlo Park we stopped by a supermarket and bought some thick american rib-eye steaks we later had for dinner.

Tomorrow we will have stayed in this nice house for a week already and it will be time to hit the road.

Eirik

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