Last time we took Kina to the Exploratorium in San Francisco, she was not yet quite three and seemed generally uninterested in the miracles of science demonstrated there. She rambled around aimlessly, oblivious to the wonder around her. It was fun enough, but I did a lot more exploring than Kina.

Yesterday’s visit was much more of a Kina jam, and while her interests leaned towards exhibits that were artsy and dancey (see the main illustration of the trippy color room), she got her fill of fluid dynamics and surface tension and electricity in ways that two-year-old Kina never did.

At the end of the day, we were more worn out than she was, and we sat on the pier of the Embarcadero, watching her frolic in the rain simulator and shout into the echo tunnel—a happy five-year-old scientist from New York wearing a little princess gown and showing the locals how to spin around.

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