yesterday, maddie invited me to the bay area discovery museum (BADM) in sausalito.  i would say that this is my new favorite local hotspot, but it’s not really “local”.  it’s far.  it took us almost 1.5 hours to drive there, but it was so awesome that it was worth it.

i had heard about this place before, but i always assumed that it would be just like the children’s discovery museum in san jose.  not the case at all.  when we go to CDM, we stay for maaaybe 2 hours, and then leave to go eat lunch.  we stayed at the bay area discovery museum for over 5 hours, and we didn’t even get to see everything.  we could have stayed longer, but i was so exhausted that i couldn’t even stand up straight.  mama had to carry me to the car, where i promptly passed out before we even got out of the parking lot.

so what’s so exciting about this place?  lemme tell you.  first of all, the BADM is at fort baker.  it’s huge.  so even when there are lots of kids there, you don’t feel squished like a sardine (like i often do at CDM).  and mama likes the fact that there is free parking and an incredible view of the golden gate bridge from right there in the parking lot.  (check out the photo of the golden gate bridge that mama took from the car, right before we went inside the museum.)

the BADM is made up of a bunch of individual halls.  there’s an art studio, discovery hall, wave workshop, etc.  my top 3 favorite exhibits were painting on windows (where you even get to “erase” your artwork with a squeegee!), making frogs blow bubbles by stomping on a button on the floor, building with colorful magnetic shapes, playing with the wooden train set with miles of track (ok maybe not miles), balancing on the waterbed “pond” with real fish that swim above you…  oh wait, that’s more than 3.

to get from hall to hall, you have to walk outside.  but that’s ok cuz there are so many outdoor exhibits to explore.  the tot spot has an outdoor stream with waterfalls, the lookout cove is a 2.5-acre interactive exploration area, and there’s lots more, too.  my 3 favorite outdoor exhibits (really just 3 this time) were searching for treasure in an archaeological dig, playing the wooden xylophones while sitting on tree stumps, and chasing the birds all around the whole place.  i guess the birds aren’t really an exhibit, but just an added bonus

i always include only 1-2 photos per blog entry, except for extra special posts, like vacations.  but this entry has 3 photos because BADM is like a vacation!  maddie and i had such a great day.  mama kept trying to take photos of us playing together, but every time she whipped out that camera phone, one of us ran away.  i didn’t want my girlfriend kimora to see pictures of me with another girl.  i dunno what maddie’s excuse was.  maybe she has a boyfriend.  we don’t talk about that kind of stuff.

i can’t wait to go back to BADM!  anyone wanna day trip to sausalito?  make sure you sleep in that day, cuz i guarantee that once we get there, you will not want to have to leave for your afternoon nap!