Museums & Galleries in Hercules

Dust off your explorer's exploring khakis and your museum monocle for today's deal: a one-year Friend of Horus membership to the Rosicrucian Egyptian Museum for $15 (a $35 value). Membership includes free individual admission, 10% off museum store items, and priority entrance to new featured exhibits. The only hieroglyphic capable of expressing your delight will be an owl hugging a jackal's head on top of a human eyeball. Follow @Groupon_Says on Twitter.

Your ticket includes a mind-expanding movie about the cosmos, some live music you can dance to, and access to the observatory and all of Chabot's exhibits. Current exhibits delve into the scientific achievements and cosmology of the Maya, give you a most likely dehydrated taste of the life of an astronaut, and take you on a journey to the farthest reaches of the cosmos, among other things. And—weather permitting—you'll get to spy on other planets from either Nellie, the 36" reflector telescope that allows access to 180 degrees of night sky, or Rachel, the largest refractor in the western U.S. You'll have four hours to amble through the science center with a celestial concoction in one hand (drinks are $3–$5 at the cash bar) and your date in the other. After staring into the depths of distant galaxies, you can stare into the depths of each other's eyes over dinner at the Starlight Bistro or Celestial Café (not included in Groupon; reservations required).

Spread out among 132,000 square feet and three levels are a variety of permanent and temporary exhibits that represent the museum’s goal of innovative inspiration. The recently opened, hands-on, and interactive exhibit Invention at Play examines the evolution of playtime from the hoop-and-stick of yesteryear to the portable holographic virtual wristwatches of today. The art, film, and music-focused Tech Virtual Test Zone conceptualizes ideas from the virtual world of Second Life with interactive wonders such as the Wall of Musical Buttons. The Wall allows visitors to experiment with note intervals in familiar musical melodies, and Mashup Masterpiece gives visitors the ability to add their own creative modifications after observing an artist's artistic process. Aspiring weatherpersons can learn about the powers of wind, water, and sun in Green by Design, or budding Beakmans can perform various science experiments in the Exploration Gallery. Keep the stimulation going while giving tired legs a rest with the included educational IMAX movie. Check out current offerings such as Arabia or Under the Sea or peruse the schedule for other upcoming shows at The Hackworth IMAX Dome Theater.

Make up for the ill-fated model-train competitions of your childhood by celebrating National Train Day in style. You'll board the locomotive in full Victorian regalia at the Sacramento Southern Railroad ticket office in Old Sacramento and embark on an epic 40-minute journey through the central California wilderness. Amid the train's historic 1920s-era El Dorado luxury car, your 6-mile round-trip ride will transport you along the edge of the Sacramento River in the style of politicians and highfalutin VIPs of bygone days. The air-conditioned cabin boasts plush ruby sofas and expansive windows for taking in the panoramic views while enjoying complimentary lemonade and cookies.

Established more than a century ago inside Golden Gate Park, the Conservatory of Flowers houses a vibrant array of rare, exotic, and tropical plants and flowers. Mosey through the National Historic Landmark’s aquatic plants display, where peaceful sounds of cascading water complement the sight of giant Amazonian water lilies with pads up to 6 feet in diameter, leading to their frequent use as trampolines for spider monkeys. The highland tropics area invokes the appearance of misty cloud forests on tropical mountaintops blooming with hundreds of delicate orchids and a forest of stunted trees. A century-old giant philodendron resides in the lowland tropics display alongside the conservatory's cycads, which predate the dinosaurs and many veteran game-show hosts. The potted plants display shows off nature's bounty inside copper urns from India and hand-incised ceramic pots from Burkina Faso, and the temporary Playland at the Conservatory re-creates the historic Playland at the Beach from San Francisco's West End with model trains, miniature famous attractions, and memorabilia from the fair.

Nestled in the shadow of the Golden Gate Bridge, the Bay Area Discovery Museum entices children's inquiring minds with a host of exhibits modeled after the surrounding sea and city. The Wave Workshop lets kids explore the San Francisco Bay's ecology and test their own boat designs against simulated wind and waves. In the 2.5-acre Lookout Cove which overlooks the bay itself, a 23-foot-tall Golden Gate Bridge entices children to put on hardhats and help construct a giant model.