Chabot Space and Science Center

Chabot Space and Science Center is a really nice space museum in Oakland that sits right where Redwood Regional Park, Roberts Redwood Regional Park, and Joaquin Miller Park converge along Skyline Blvd. We went this past Sunday to check it out with some friends, and we really enjoyed it!

We got there a bit early, so we checked out the Redwood Bowl, which is adjacent to the museum. I had noticed this area before when I was on a solo hike at Redwood Regional Park, and I wanted to come back here with my daughter. It ended up not being what I thought, though we still had a lot of fun.

Apparently, this is a popular destination for dog-walkers on the weekend; there were lots of folks walking their dogs off-leash, and not all of the dogs appeared to be under voice control. It didn't seem nearly as safe for a free-wheeling toddler as I thought that it would have been when I first saw this lovely meadow. But we enjoyed ourselves instead at a lovely wooden platform for viewing a rare site in the east bay: a moss-covered stump of an old-growth redwood, showing the size of the trees that were zealously logged from this area in the late nineteenth century.

We next went to the museum itself, where we enjoyed the toddler playroom--the Discovery Lab--and quite a few of the exhibits. It was a little on the expensive side ($18/adult, free for children under 3), but it was worth it for at least one visit. I wish we could have gone to one of the planetarium shows; however, I don't think that my 2-year old is ready for that immersive screen experience just yet. She did enjoy quite a few of the exhibits. For example, the exhibit on black holes had a very dark tunnel for her to crawl through (scary-fun!), and she liked climbing into the model of a lunar command module. Her dad and I enjoyed seeing an impressive moon rock and some beautiful telescopes.

We had a nice picnic in the cafe area with our friends before leaving. Although we did not hike on this visit, this museum would make a great launch pad for people who want to hike either before or after a trip to a museum.