Down the Rabbit Hole

I expected bright lights, loud music, and a long queue of cars making that last turn into the parking lot. I was mistaken because my family encountered a wall of black emptiness as we navigated the driveway.  That darkness slowly gave way to soft flickers of   light along the pedestrian paths, gradually turning into an otherworldly experience. Once we reached the exhibit area, we realised the scale of the place (thousands upon thousands of lights... and I am not exaggerating), yet the overall effect was more subtle, like the bioluminescent forest in  Avatar .  This was our first visit to Sensorio, and we were quickly drawn in by its magical atmosphere. Mommy, Daddy, Donan, and I were all drawn in by the magical atmosphere of Sensorio. We didn't just see the lights; we felt like we had stepped into another dimension. What I wish I knew: The temperature drop. I was expecting warmer weather because Paso Robles is around 180 miles south of the East Bay. But ...

Donan enjoys tactile exhibits of a children's museum: climbable, interactive, and colourful. Mommy likes to wander aimlessly through labyrinthine aisles of department stores, scouting items she'd buy during sales events. The problem is simple: when we engage in one activity, the other person is completely bored.  On a slow Sunday, I had difficulty finding a venue that both of them would love to visit. And then it hit me like that flying spanner that punctured the sidewall of one of my tires many years ago: We didn't need to compromise. We're going to IKEA! View this post on Instagram A post shared by Rochie Cuevas (@rochiecuevas)   IKEA as a children's museum For Donan, each showroom was an interactive exhibit: an invitation to tinker with the toys, such as the plushy Aftonsparv astronaut bear, open drawers and refrigerators, tap on keyboards, and experience a whole range of different textures. He went round and round on a PS Lömsk chair, cocc...

Polynesian Cultural Centre , I have returned! Echoing General Douglas MacArthur's famous speech in Leyte, I  returned  nine years  after  my last visit to Hawaii. During my first trip, I wished I had more time for exploration, as I only had a brief stop at the Hukilau Marketplace and ate lunch at the barbecue before boarding my tour bus for the next stop.  For this trip (my third time in Hawaii, actually), I went with Mommy, Daddy, and Donan. I got tickets that allowed us to visit on three consecutive business days. No wonder I couldn't explore the Centre in two hours: it takes three days to experience all that the centre has to offer! We only had time for two afternoon trips to Lā'ie, so we had to make the most of these visits. I had to consider that I was with seniors and a preschooler, so our fastest pace at the centre would be a slow walk. Day 1 We had just arrived from the  Dole Pineapple Plantation , which was an hour's drive from Wahiawa. That visit ...

I have encountered the Rosicrucian Egyptian Museum while searching for child-friendly places to visit in San Jose, CA. Some of my co-workers have seen it and only had good things to say. I ran the idea with Val, and he was interested in seeing this museum, so we went there on a Sunday afternoon. Who are the Rosicrucians? The Rosicrucians are a group of people who believe that they hold some secret knowledge handed down from ancient times. This hidden knowledge is a combination of occultism and monotheistic religious beliefs. The Rosicrucian group is symbolised by the "Rosy Cross".  Rosy cross found near Luxor Temple, Egypt.  This cross features a rose in the centre and is estimated to date back to around 100 AD. Reading about the Rosy Cross reminded me of Dan Brown's Da Vinci Code due to the connections between the Knights Templar, Freemasons, and Rosicrucians. A brief inte...

When I first visited Orlando, FL (in 2005), Kuya Rendo  and Ate Lori drove me around the tourist spots in their home city. I noticed an upside-down building; it was as if a tornado pulled it out and then dropped it with the roof on the ground where it now stands. It has intrigued me since then; when we had some free time between the airboat ride and the dinner at Kaya , I checked in with my parents, my sister, and my aunt to see if they wanted to see it. They all said yes, and so we drove to WonderWorks. (Façade of WonderWorks. The rest of the family was not in the photo because I was taking the picture while Daddy was making sure Donan wasn't too close to the road.) WonderWorks is where we can let our imaginations run wild (the company's motto). It is divided into zones crammed with hands-on exhibits. It was sensory overload. Extreme Weather Zone Anna and I were blown away by the 74-mph wind in the hurricane simulator.  As if that wasn't chilly enough, we dunked our hand...

Alcatraz Island is one of the more difficult National Parks to visit.  Tickets to the island sell out fast, especially on weekends (a very popular tourist destination) The only way to get there from Embarcadero is by boat (15-min trip) The road on the island is uneven and difficult to walk on because of the terrain (wear super comfortable shoes) After watching Nicholas Cage and Sean Connery's The Rock, I always wanted to visit Alcatraz. Val and I took a  cruise  around the island once; we didn't land there, though. This is why I was excited when I snagged a day tour slot when I was in San Francisco. Finally, after years of finding an opportune time!  The highlight of the island tour was the audio-guided tour of the federal penitentiary, which used to be a maximum-security prison (and is famous because of it). Before it became a federal penitentiary, however, Alcatraz Island was home to a military fortress designated to protect the West Coast from foreign invaders (d...

That's one small step for [a] man. One giant leap for mankind. – Neil Armstrong (July 20, 1969) My fascination with the space age began when I watched a 1980s cartoon about the different periods of human civilisation (e.g., Stone Age, Bronze Age, Iron Age, and Space Age). I seized the opportunity to visit the Kennedy Space Centre on my first visit to the USA almost two decades ago. I also saw the Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C. I probably have been passing on my interest in space exploration to Donan—subconsciously—because when he started to stitch words into sentences, some of his first topics were rocket ships! I only fueled his interest when we started frequenting NASA 's Ames Visitor Centre at the Chabot Space and Science Centre (I am not exaggerating when I say that he can lead a tour group before he's even potty trained; that's how interested he is about space exploration). Thanks to the wonders of the internet and supportive family members, Donan has ama...

When I was in preschool, Mommy gave me a red lunch bag with Woodstock and Snoopy prints. I remember being happy because I knew I'd be in school briefly. After all, the bag only had some snacks and a juice box. Back in my senior year of high school (and/or freshman year in uni), on the other hand, I ate more than 20 McDonald's Happy Meals to collect the Snoopy World Tour toys. I was so happy because I got several pieces featuring different traditional attire. Mommy threw those toys out soon after she saw my growing collection; kulatsang  ("junk"), she used to call them. It was a sad day because I had spent a huge chunk of my allowance to get those toys. However, Mommy was teaching me a life lesson at that point (i.e., do not accumulate junk). Suffice it to say that I had encountered Snoopy in various childhood moments. And my encounters with Snoopy did not end there. Decades later, I coincidentally selected a pediatric dentist whose practice features Snoopy and the Pea...

The Jelly Belly factory is a popular destination for families with young children. Tita Babie had good memories of it. Anna recommended riding the choo-choo train. Ate Maddie brings her school-age out-of-town visitors there if schedule permits.  On one of the last warm days of the year, my parents and I took Donan to demystify the Jelly Belly experience. The factory grounds were busy as a fair was going on. We rode the choo-choo train, but it was a letdown after the Tilden steam train experience. We bought a few books about outer space and about Santa Claus in one of the shops. We saw a glimpse of a cultural show. And then, there was the factory tour. It was worth the visit. The self-guided tour wound above the production floor. We saw hoppers, packaging machines, conveyor belts, spraying machines, ingredient pallets, and crates and crates of jelly beans.  View this post on Instagram A post shared by Rochie Cuevas (@rochiecuevas) The sights all reminded...

Donan's interest in animals started when he suddenly decided that he wanted to see beluga whales (but we found seals, narwhals, and blue whales instead). I thought he might be interested in seeing other animals but I decided that zoos might be too crowded on weekends. So instead, Anna and I brought Donan to the Lindsay Wildlife Experience in Walnut Creek's Larkey Park. The Lindsay Wildlife Experience hosts a wildlife hospital, where injured and orphaned wild animals can be taken care of. It also has a museum that features California's wild animals. On our visit, we met the first bald eagle I have seen in real life. Her name is Atsa ("eagle" in Navajo). She injured her right wing during a windstorm that toppled her nest off a tree; she couldn't fly anymore. The museum's website said that her enclosure was currently behind the scenes but we were able to see her because the door to her enclosure was open. She made such an impact on Donan that he decided that...

Val and I took Donan to the California Marine Mammal Centre because of Donan's sudden interest in whales (it seemed to come out of nowhere). During this trip, I learned that the centre caters mainly to the sick and injured seals and sea lions rescued along the shores of the Bay Area. The centre did not have cetaceans (e.g., whales, dolphins) in the facility. As a public health microbiologist , I became very interested when the docent we talked with mentioned that California sea lions are getting leptospirosis (leading to kidney disease). Leptospirosis is caused by a spirochaete bacteria called Leptospira . Humans and animals typically get infected if they wade into urine-contaminated water (e.g., flood). Aside from leptospirosis, marine mammals are also at risk of being poisoned by domoic acid. This toxin is produced by algal blooms, or "red tide". The toxin is particularly harmful to marine mammals due to bioaccumulation, the increase of concentration of domoic acid in t...

The wee one has started to be fascinated with vehicles, particularly trains. On a clear Saturday afternoon, when the early spring blooms appeared, I brought him to the Western Railway Museum in Suisun City, along with my parents and my sister. The museum is unique because it is one of the rare places where visitors are allowed to ride the exhibits, rather than just stare at them. In fact, a major attraction for us was the train ride on the old Sacramento Northern Railway Line. The railroad segment we were on took us from the Rio Vista Junction to the Pantano Station in Birds Landing. Along the route, we saw jackrabbits who dared cross the railroad while a train was approaching, colourful spring flowers, spinning wind turbines on many hills in the area, and historical buildings from the time this route used to be busier (with lots of commuters on trains).  We definitely enjoyed our day out into the grasslands of Solano County. Its biggest selling point—to me—is the friendliness and ...

Many years ago, Daddy often brought Anna, Biboy, and me to museums in Manila while Mommy was shopping in Divisoria. Oftentimes, the highlights of our educational trips were not the exhibits; instead, they could be the train ride to the museum or the automatic glass door. Anyway, flash forward to 2020. Biboy and Barbara appear to want to start Gabriel's educational adventure pretty young, following what we've experienced as kids. So one Saturday, we trooped to the California Academy of Sciences. Gabriel's attention was mostly captured by the big animals moving inside their aquariums. He had a grand time saying hi to the fish and the penguins. Because they're all on the other side of the glass, he kept tapping on the glass and calling them "Balbon", the name of their dog. For older kids (including me when I first dropped by), one of the whoa! moments is seeing this skeleton of the Tyrannosaurus rex towering over the academy's lobby for the...