So I normally would probably wait until the end of the weekend to write a blog post, but this day was too crazy to not write about now. You'll see why soon.
So today I went to the La Brea Tar Pits. I took the bus up to Wilshire Blvd. and meet Alli and her roommate and fellow Disney Store design co-op Colin. It was a wonderful day to go to the tar pits.
In the picture above you can see the statues of mammoths that show one mammoth stuck in the tar and its child looking on helplessly with another parent standing by. Don't worry, that's not all tar, its water with tar bubbling up in it. This is the largest pool of tar, and is also where the volcano began in the classic movie Volcano starring Tommy Lee Jones. Here's a clip of the Volcano starting at the tar pits and the mammoths sinking into the tar: http://youtube.com/watch?v=eVBn6vYyM4Y&feature=related
From what I remember, the tar pits have been here for about 40,000 years, and because of folds in the layers of the earth caused by earthquakes, layers of tar seep up to the surface of the earth. For thousands of years, thousands of animals have gotten stuck in the tar and died. In fact, in many cases, an large animal like a mammoth would get stuck in the tar while trying to drink water, then a Saber Toothed Cat would come too feed on the mammoth, and would itself get stuck in the tar as well. Dire Wolves would even come to fight a Saber Toothed Cat for their prey, and many of those got stuck as well.
In fact, there have been more Dire Wolves found in the tar pits than any other species. Here is a case full of hundreds of Dire Wolf skulls in the museum.
The museum was pretty cool, with many skeletons of animals like Mammoths, Giant Sloths, Mastodons, Horses, Wolves, Birds, and Saber Toothed Cats, to name a few.
One of the things I learned that surprised me was that there was such a creature as an American Lion. Did anybody else know there were once Lions in North America? Apparently they were very similar to the African Lions we now know, only they were much larger, like Aslan, I guess.
Also, did anybody have any idea that Camels once lived in America? I was really surprised by that, too.
Anyway, one of the pits you can walk to outside the museum is Pit 91. They have been digging in Pit 91 for something like 90 years, and they are still finding things. Pit 91 is a tar pit that is probably about 30ft by 30ft wide and they just keep digging into it. Just last year, they found a whole Saber Toothed Cat in it, and obviously, more wolves. They only dig in the summer though, when the Tar is softer, so we didn't get to see any digging in action.
Alli and Colin and I posed for pictures with some of the statues along the pathways outside the museum (check facebook) and then stopped to poke this newly formed tar pit along the walkway.
As we were next to this pit, a man and a young couple came out of the bushes from the parking lot, and the man bent down to point out things about the tar pit. This man obviously knew what he was talking about and was very excited to share his knowledge with his companions.
Well, guess what? TODAY I HAD MY FIRST CELEBRITY SIGHTING!
That's right, we soon realized this man was a celebrity. And who was he? Well who else could so passionately capture and explain the natural wonder and intricacy of the La Brea Tar Pits?
"Intertia is a property of matter"
Why, It was Bill Nye, of course!
That's right, I freaking saw Bill Nye today! My first Celebrity sighting of the quarter! And it was the science guy himself!
Could I ask for a better guy to be my first celebrity sighting? I think not!
Unfortunately, by the time we realized it definitely was Bill Nye, he and his companions had walked away. This was the best picture I could get of the guy. He's on the right in the blue coat.
If he had been wearing his white lab coat, we would have recognized him in a second, but alas, he wasn't and we didn't. But it most definitely was Bill Nye, we could see his face and hear his voice, plus we saw a guy get his picture taken with him once he was further away. I really wish we had stopped him an asked for a picture, but its ok that we didn't. It was still amazing to see Bill Nye in real life and know that I was standing a few feet away from the man.
It made for an amazing trip to the La Brea Tar Pits.
After the tar pits, we went over to LACMA, the los angeles county museum of art, which is huge and full of great stuff. It's free after 5pm, so that was awesome. The museum had lots of stuff I recognized from Art History with Cindy Damschroder. The bronze "Bird in Space" was especially cool to see. The parts of the museum we saw had works from many famous people, including Kandinsky, Pollock, Mondrian and many, many Picasso's. It was pretty impressive. Plus they had Rietveld's Red and Blue Chair. I still doubt it'd be all that comfortable, but nonetheless it would be great to build myself a set of them. The museum is finishing up some major remodeling right now, so I'll probably try and go back once its finished and see some more.
We went to a Pizza place on Wilshire for dinner and all got delicious calzones. It was a darn good day. It was really cool to see more of the famous Wilshire Blvd, which is also where Crew Creative is moving its offices on June 1st, so if I come back in the summer, its the part of town I'll be working. There's some beautiful classic Los Angeles architecture on the street and it was exciting to see.
Well, I'm hoping that now that I've seen one, I'll start seeing celebrities all over the place.
Whatever the case, I have seen one celebrity, and what a great guy to see. If I go back to school only having seen the science guy, I won't be disappointed.
Tonight, I dedicate this blog post to you, Bill Nye, and I thank you for deciding to go to the La Brea tar pits today. A case of great minds thinking alike if there ever was one. I should hope our paths cross again someday.
Anyway, it's great to hear that the Punxsutawney trip was awesome and you all had a lot of fun. I'll be looking forward to more stories soon. Travel safely back school and co-ops!
Have a great rest of the weekend, everybody, and let's all say a prayer for the Giants, eh?
Take it easy!
much love,
So today I went to the La Brea Tar Pits. I took the bus up to Wilshire Blvd. and meet Alli and her roommate and fellow Disney Store design co-op Colin. It was a wonderful day to go to the tar pits.
In the picture above you can see the statues of mammoths that show one mammoth stuck in the tar and its child looking on helplessly with another parent standing by. Don't worry, that's not all tar, its water with tar bubbling up in it. This is the largest pool of tar, and is also where the volcano began in the classic movie Volcano starring Tommy Lee Jones. Here's a clip of the Volcano starting at the tar pits and the mammoths sinking into the tar: http://youtube.com/watch?v=eVBn6vYyM4Y&feature=related
From what I remember, the tar pits have been here for about 40,000 years, and because of folds in the layers of the earth caused by earthquakes, layers of tar seep up to the surface of the earth. For thousands of years, thousands of animals have gotten stuck in the tar and died. In fact, in many cases, an large animal like a mammoth would get stuck in the tar while trying to drink water, then a Saber Toothed Cat would come too feed on the mammoth, and would itself get stuck in the tar as well. Dire Wolves would even come to fight a Saber Toothed Cat for their prey, and many of those got stuck as well.
In fact, there have been more Dire Wolves found in the tar pits than any other species. Here is a case full of hundreds of Dire Wolf skulls in the museum.
The museum was pretty cool, with many skeletons of animals like Mammoths, Giant Sloths, Mastodons, Horses, Wolves, Birds, and Saber Toothed Cats, to name a few.
One of the things I learned that surprised me was that there was such a creature as an American Lion. Did anybody else know there were once Lions in North America? Apparently they were very similar to the African Lions we now know, only they were much larger, like Aslan, I guess.
Also, did anybody have any idea that Camels once lived in America? I was really surprised by that, too.
Anyway, one of the pits you can walk to outside the museum is Pit 91. They have been digging in Pit 91 for something like 90 years, and they are still finding things. Pit 91 is a tar pit that is probably about 30ft by 30ft wide and they just keep digging into it. Just last year, they found a whole Saber Toothed Cat in it, and obviously, more wolves. They only dig in the summer though, when the Tar is softer, so we didn't get to see any digging in action.
Alli and Colin and I posed for pictures with some of the statues along the pathways outside the museum (check facebook) and then stopped to poke this newly formed tar pit along the walkway.
As we were next to this pit, a man and a young couple came out of the bushes from the parking lot, and the man bent down to point out things about the tar pit. This man obviously knew what he was talking about and was very excited to share his knowledge with his companions.
Well, guess what? TODAY I HAD MY FIRST CELEBRITY SIGHTING!
That's right, we soon realized this man was a celebrity. And who was he? Well who else could so passionately capture and explain the natural wonder and intricacy of the La Brea Tar Pits?
"Intertia is a property of matter"
Why, It was Bill Nye, of course!
That's right, I freaking saw Bill Nye today! My first Celebrity sighting of the quarter! And it was the science guy himself!
Could I ask for a better guy to be my first celebrity sighting? I think not!
Unfortunately, by the time we realized it definitely was Bill Nye, he and his companions had walked away. This was the best picture I could get of the guy. He's on the right in the blue coat.
If he had been wearing his white lab coat, we would have recognized him in a second, but alas, he wasn't and we didn't. But it most definitely was Bill Nye, we could see his face and hear his voice, plus we saw a guy get his picture taken with him once he was further away. I really wish we had stopped him an asked for a picture, but its ok that we didn't. It was still amazing to see Bill Nye in real life and know that I was standing a few feet away from the man.
It made for an amazing trip to the La Brea Tar Pits.
After the tar pits, we went over to LACMA, the los angeles county museum of art, which is huge and full of great stuff. It's free after 5pm, so that was awesome. The museum had lots of stuff I recognized from Art History with Cindy Damschroder. The bronze "Bird in Space" was especially cool to see. The parts of the museum we saw had works from many famous people, including Kandinsky, Pollock, Mondrian and many, many Picasso's. It was pretty impressive. Plus they had Rietveld's Red and Blue Chair. I still doubt it'd be all that comfortable, but nonetheless it would be great to build myself a set of them. The museum is finishing up some major remodeling right now, so I'll probably try and go back once its finished and see some more.
We went to a Pizza place on Wilshire for dinner and all got delicious calzones. It was a darn good day. It was really cool to see more of the famous Wilshire Blvd, which is also where Crew Creative is moving its offices on June 1st, so if I come back in the summer, its the part of town I'll be working. There's some beautiful classic Los Angeles architecture on the street and it was exciting to see.
Well, I'm hoping that now that I've seen one, I'll start seeing celebrities all over the place.
Whatever the case, I have seen one celebrity, and what a great guy to see. If I go back to school only having seen the science guy, I won't be disappointed.
Tonight, I dedicate this blog post to you, Bill Nye, and I thank you for deciding to go to the La Brea tar pits today. A case of great minds thinking alike if there ever was one. I should hope our paths cross again someday.
Anyway, it's great to hear that the Punxsutawney trip was awesome and you all had a lot of fun. I'll be looking forward to more stories soon. Travel safely back school and co-ops!
Have a great rest of the weekend, everybody, and let's all say a prayer for the Giants, eh?
Take it easy!
much love,
Alex
2 comments:
The guy on the left that was with Bill Nye looks like Ed Begley, the star of "Living with Ed", a reality show about this guy who is Bill Nye's neighbor and they compete about who can be "greener". Totally cool that you saw Bill Nye!!!
I was going to point out Ed Begley too!! Great minds think alike ;)
Post a Comment