Nightlife at the California Academy of Sciences

I do occasionally get out of the house, away from my latest obsession with glass (and I've got the pictures to prove it).  A friend from work, a graduate of Penn State, invited me to accompany her to a Penn State alumni night at the California Academy of Sciences this last Thursday.  The Academy offers an Adults only event called Nightlife weekly.

view from the living roof, the tall twisty building to the right is the DeYoung museum

We were pleasantly surprised it took only a little over an hour to get there from Vacaville, parking was easy to find and because this is a weeknight event there were no huge lines or crowds (that was actually the best part)!  They had some DJ and live music pumping through the open spaces, lots of options for food and beverages and all the exhibits were open AND free tickets to the Planetarium show, such a good deal!

We saw the 6:30 Planetarium show (spectacular) and afterward I was initially a little disappointed that we missed the opportunity to see the living roof, but actually it was totally cool to see the view at night.

looking out over the music concourse

We wandered around checking out the displays and spent a considerable amount of time in the Aquarium.
Our nominee for "Ugliest Fish in the Aquarium" (he didn't seem to mind, a guy's gotta eat right?  And this is good camouflage for an unsuspecting fish dinner).

and our nominee for "Coolest Creature in the Aquarium" (we were not allowed to photograph this light sensitive guy, but I pulled a photo off the internet to show you how totally cool this one is;

ah, the Weedy Sea Dragon, oh how I love thee, so elegant and graceful, so colorful and otherworldly gorgeous!

Other creatures of note:
the eels, sleek, sinuous and with a menacing sense of danger about them.

the upside down jelly fish, this one is reaching out a tentacle to check out the nearby starfish, hmm... friend or foe?

These frogs which look like aliens pondering how they got stuck in this strange glass world with giant faces peering at them all day and night

the albino American alligator, named Claude

I have fond memories of this enclosure from yearly school field trips, I'm sure this is a different alligator, but it sure does bring back those memories.  My best friend at the time got shelled by the seagulls during lunch and we had to perform some major hair clean up in the little bathroom sinks, all the while I was desperately trying to be sympathetic, while inside dying to laugh uproariously, good times, good times.