Vacations Blog

Chabot Space & Science Center--Inside the Planetarium

OK just to come clean right up front, I’m sort of cheating on this one because I did not personally visit Chabot’s Space & Science Center, however my wife Lisa, a 3^rd grade teacher, recently took her class to this amazing East Bay attraction. I figure I can’t get much closer to being there than my wife, so this post has been written kind of sort of by osmosis.

Let me also say that The Chabot Space & Science Center is more than can be written about in a simple blog post. If you check out their website you’ll understand what I mean.  The better part of a day is definitely required to check out all that Chabot has to offer.

“We saw “Secret of the Cardboard Rocket,” in the (Ask Jeeves) planetarium,” said Lisa. “It was a fantastic way to teach children about space and the planets; much better than a textbook.”

Projected across the entire planetarium; both the walls and the ceiling, Secret of the Cardboard Rocket is the story of two young boys, a refrigerator box and imagination. With their “guide,” Book, a backyard camp-out becomes a magical journey through our solar system as the two boys take a fantastic voyage to the sun and all nine planets, correction, eight planets, plus Pluto. Sorry Pluto, I didn’t make the call. Along the way, “Book” fills the boys (and us) in on tons of interesting facts about each planet and the wonders of space.

From my research, Sonic Vision appears to be another of the attractions that’s definitely worth your time.  “…a trip out of this world and into the minds of the universe’s most creative musical artists and digital animators, set to a soundtrack featuring today’s coolest music.” Featuring music by Radiohead, U2, Coldplay, and many others, Sonic Vision is “a mind-warping roller-coaster ride” which uses digital technology to create a cavalcade of colors and images on the Planetarium’s big dome.

Is it just me or does that sounds like a whole lot of awesome?

Between the planetarium and the Tein Megadome Theater, there are nearly twenty shows available for your viewing pleasure, including Dinosaurs Alive, Forces of Nature, Mysteries of Egypt, Living Sea and The Human Body, just to name a few.

What else do you want to do? Take a simulated Moon-walk? Crawl through a Black Hole? Check out the stars through a giant telescope?  You can do all that and more at Chabot’s Space & Science Center

The Observatory offers star gazing (weather permitting) with all general admission tickets (and free star gazing on Friday & Saturday during fall/winter from 7:30 – 10:30 pm; again weather permitting).  Chabot boasts two telescopes, “Nellie,” (named for the grandmother of a generous benefactor) a 36-inch Cassegrain reflector telescope, and “Rachel,” a slightly smaller 20-inch scope. Housed in Chabot’s rolling roof observatory, Nellie offers 360 degree views of the celestial sky.

Located at 10000 Skyline Blvd in Oakland, Chabot’s Space & Science Center is open the following days and hours:

• Wednesday & Thursday: 10 am – 5 pm
• Friday & Saturday: 10 am – 10 pm
• Sunday 11 am – 5 pm
• Closed Monday & Tuesday

The Celestial Café offers sandwiches, hot dogs, salads, various breakfast items and plenty of beverage offerings, so plan some time for lunch when you visit.

Cost of admission to Chabot is $14.95 for adults and $10.95 for children ages 3-12. Children under two are free.

Photo Coutesy of tomeppy.

I live just across the bridge from Berkeley & Oakland and I think these two cities are often overlooked by my friends and neighbors, who usually go south into the city for entertainment. I love Berkeley’s politics, the college influenced environment and the entertainment Oakland offers for families. East bay residents will have other suggestions, but here are my favorites for kids under the age of nine:

Aquatic Park—This small park in Berkeley has a nice concrete path along the “lake” suitable for trikes, strollers and little bikes. Kids can feed the ducks and play for hours on the large play structure on the north end of the park. Best of all, real trains go by on the tracks located right near the play structure and the conductors always wave back at the kids. This is fascinating for my kids. It beats a Thomas the Train video any day.

East Bay Vivarium—This is a wonderful weird place filled with snakes, lots of snakes, especially boa constrictors. It also happens to be one of the largest reptile stores in the nation. My young son can spend an hour looking at the exotic reptiles for sale here. If you ask , you can touch the a snake or two (ummm, I don’t ask.) They also have frogs, spiders and turtles. The turtles are nice. This is a creepy, crawly place and is fun for about an hour. It is one block from Berkeley’s 4^th Street which has several good restaurants, stores and a bookstore and it is only ten minutes from Aquatic park. The vivarium, park and 4th street are a nice way to spend morning, just enough to entertain a young toddler before a nap is needed.

Chabot Space & Science Center—The space center is a nice evening for kids and adults. Winter is a good time to visit because of the night time stargazing they offer through their huge telescopes. Once summer comes, the sky is too light until after nine o’clock to see much, too late for most kids. I suggest you have dinner in one of Berkeley’s or Montclair’s many restaurants and then venture to the nearby space center. My nine year daughter, who introduced me to the planetarium through her brownie troop recommends you go to “learn about outer space and see an interesting , wonderful, and amazing dinosaur show. After walking through all the exhibits about meteors, planets, and an astronaut’s life in a rocket ship you can dash to the telescopes and look beyond the starry night and enter a universe filled with many questions.” The place is interesting to kids and adults. I love gazing at star clusters millions of miles away.

The Oakland Zoo—I have always liked this zoo and used to go almost weekly when my kids were in pre-school. It is just the right size for little legs to wander without getting tired, the children’s exhibit is entertaining, the fruit bats horrifyingly interesting and the lunch spot is in the shade next to the flamingos. Does it get any better than that? It is also much warmer than the San Francisco zoo and more accessible for young kids. A bonus is the little rides park adjacent to the zoo entrance. The rides are fun for the kids and give a break to the “zooed out” parent. This zoo is safe, comfortable and just right for the animal lover in all of us.

There is also the Lawrence Hall of Science, a UC Berkeley Science & Math center, Tilden Park, one of the oldest and most popular parks in the bay area and Berkeley Iceland, a funky ice skating rink. If you need more information on anything in the Bay Area, I recommend the Berkeley Parent’s Network, a collection of tips, advice and discussion on everything for parents and visitors in the bay area.

My pen-pal Kelly and her husband Justin visited from Australia in the spring, and as their hostess, I thought it would be nice to put together an itinerary, highlighting the best of the Bay Area (it was the least I could do, since she and her family have done the same for me!). Since their guide book covered San Francisco pretty well, I decided to put together a must-see list outside of the City:

On the day they arrived, in order to try to keep them awake, I suggested something low key and close to home, Stanford University. In addition to being one of the best universities on the West Coast, it also offers much to the local community. We started by visiting Hoover Tower and taking a ride to the top, for a panoramic view of the surrounding area. I am not a big fan of heights, so I stuck to the center area, but Kelly and Justin were excited to take pictures of the scene below. Then we walked over to the Cantor Museum, where we explored the outdoor Rodin Sculpture garden, before going inside to view the exhibits. My favorite is always the giant banana in the courtyard, and the permanent installation upstairs.

Our next adventure involved visiting a few of the 100+ Santa Cruz Mountain Wineries. Napa’s quieter, South Bay cousin, is home to some of my favorite wineries, just a 30 minute drive from our house. For Kelly and Justin, I suggested a visit to Ridge Vineyards, followed by a stop at Byington for a picnic lunch, and then finishing at Bonny Doon. Since we had time, we also visited the new Presentation Center, down the road from Byington, for a view of their new “Green” Welcoming Center.

Since I am such a foodie, I suggested our next day trip venture to the East Bay. We started in Oakland on College Avenue, with a stop at La Farine for some morning buns (who cared that it was already 11am!). For lunch, we stopped in at Oliveto at the Rockridge Market Hall, and spent time after lunch exploring the specialty food purveyors downstairs of the restaurant. Our next stop was Berkeley, for a quick tour of Scharffenberger Chocolate. I had made reservations ahead of time for the tour, and it was well worth it. Before heading home, we stocked up!

No trip to Northern California is complete without a visit to the Monterey Peninsula (IMHO), so for our final excursion we drove down to Point Lobos State Park, where, after entering the Reserve, we headed for the Sea Lion Point Trail, one of my favorite walks out to the ocean. On the way back, we stopped in Carmel for lunch at Casanova, and then headed up the coast to the Monterey Bay Aquarium. After a couple hours in the Aquarium, exploring the Kelp Forest, and my favorite, the Jellyfish exhibit, we headed home. By this time, I think I had exhausted my guests and they were ready for a vacation from their vacation!

Tell me, where do you like to take your visitors?