After finally clearing LAX, and navigating city streets, it was nice to enjoy our picnic lunch at La Brea.
Picking her up at the airport was an adventure in itself. The traffic came to a standstill and occasionally inched a little closer. Finally, we saw a black emergency vehicle with flashing lights approach the airport. It was the bomb squad and someone claimed to have a bomb at the international terminal. We lucked out. We'd taken the back way in from 96th St. instead of Century Blvd, so it 'only' took us an hour to creep up to Terminal 1 where Lisa was waiting at the curb. It looked like a parade route with people standing 5+ deep waiting for rides and shuttles. Lisa was one of the first to be picked up and felt like she'd won the lottery.
After finally clearing LAX, and navigating city streets,
it was nice to enjoy our picnic lunch at La Brea.
The boys liked the giant sloth.
While we were picnicking, a couple of maintenance people
approached a nearby gate in the fence around one of the
excavation areas. We joked that they would just ram the gate
with their golf cart. Much to our amusement, they did just
that. We hadn't realized the gate wasn't latched. They
enjoyed our joking and stopped to chat. After we finished
eating, Jose came back and offered us a ride to the excavation
pit. Alan wouldn't budge, so he and I walked over while
the others rode.
Looking down at Pit #91.
Jose found us again and suggested taking us over to
the older pit where researchers first started digging
out bones.
He unlocked the viewing area for us. The kids took a turn
at a demonstration of how difficult it is for the animals
to escape the tar.
When they finished excavating this pit, they left a mammoth
skeleton in view to show how they were found.
Close-up of the teeth still sitting in the tar pit.
Then Jose offered to let us in the back doors of the museum
as his guests for the day. He said he's allowed to have
guests each month and he wanted us to be his this time. We
were surprised and very pleased to be his guests.
So Lisa, Jenny, and Roger rode over with Jose and Alan and I hiked again. Jose got the proper stickers for us to wear
and ushered us in through the back doors.
Here we are on the museum side of the 'magic' doors through
which we had entered.
Dire wolves are the most prevalent animal found in the
tar pits. This wall of skulls is merely representative.
Another tar-pulling demonstration showing how difficult
escape can be.
This is an animated model where the cat actually pounces.
Meet a mammoth!
The mastodons, then and now.
Sabertooth Tiger.
Sabertooth tigers acquired new teeth as 'teenagers',
having both sets simultaneously for a while.
The lab where bones are still being cleaned and identified
is built right in to the museum, so you can see researchers
and volunteers at work.
Yes, I sneaked a flower onto this page. This is from
the atrium in the middle of the museum.
After the museum, we walked around the lake with the
iconic mammoth models that have been suffering in that
pose for years.
On our way back to the car, we stopped to examine a little
spot where tar is oozing to the surface.
Here's another little tar-oozing spot. The bubbles just
kept forming and then popping. Find the pinecone to the
left side for scale.
The bubbles reflected the light in shimmering colors.
We then drove Lisa to the LA Convention Center so she could
pick up her (and her friends') registrations early. We
then finished off the day in Baldwin Park at a Denny's.
Lisa's friends met her there after driving down from UCSB.