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Keegan is not a huge fan of traveling (yet, I hope), so we often limit our excursions to a day or two. We don’t have the energy to endure much more, in general …but we are still hoping that “someone” will enjoy travel more and more.

Last weekend we decided to spend a short weekend in Los Angeles. I had read about an interesting exhibition on Pompei, and since we had been reading about the big eruption with Keegan is the Magic Tree House book series, I thought he would be interested. Keegan is always game if there is a hotel involved, especially Embassy Suites Hotels.

We left on Saturday morning, and arrived in Los Angeles in a little over 2 hours, which is impressive: almost no traffic! A peaceful ride for the most time (well, thanks to the DVD player). Our first stop: la Brea Tar Pits. Amazingly enough, I have never been there and I was very curious to check it out. It is the largest urban ongoing fossil recovery area. Millions of fossils have been recovered so far, and the number may double in the next few years. It is incredible. The tar pits — which are actually liquid asphalt, bubbling with methane gas— are still very much visible, and they also have an open pit open for viewing, that shows all the bones that are being recovered.

Pretty cool. In San Diego, we have a tar pits reproduction at the zoo, but it nothing like seeing the real thing. They obviously built a museum around the pits, as well, to learn more about the discoveries, and to display some of the largest, skeletons they  have found in the pits.

As we entered the museum, a family gave us their tickets to a short show, which turned out to be very informative and interesting, explaining how the pits formed and how they happened to contain so many fossils. They even had a semi-robotic saber tooth tiger, that moved around like the real thing. More animated animals were in display in the lobby.

It was really cool…but as always, I think we were way more excited than Keegan, who was looking forward to go to the hotel. We headed back to the car, and enjoyed one of Los Angeles most famous features: traffic. We got stuck for quite a while, but again, for as frustrating as it was, the quiet that came from the back seat made it almost worthwhile.

We finally made it to the Embassy suites, next to LAX. Matt and I tried to rest, in vain…Fortunately the free reception started shortly after, so we headed for the lobby for free drinks and snacks. The two glasses of wine (mine) definitely helped. We decided we could not brave an outdoor restaurant, so we just got room service, which is always fun. After dinner we settled in for the night. We all went to bed pretty much at the same time. Keegan had a hard time sleeping, since the room was at the first floor and quite noisy. Matt kindly went to sleep with him…while I barely noticed thanks to ear plugs.

Early next morning, Keegan watched a movie, while we tried to catch up on our sleep. We headed to the great breakfast buffet, and as we got ready to check out, Keegan got to jump in the hotel room. We finally headed to the California Science Museum, the main reason for our visit. It is a great museum and quite large. I would say it is a cross between the San Diego Science Museum, the Aerospace Museum and the Birch Aquarium, as it has exhibits from all these areas.

We started with the space area. You could see real space modules, like the Gemini 11 or the Mercury-Redstone module, which sent a chimp named Ham in space. There were also real astronaut suits. It was very interesting…at least for us adults. It was perfectly fitting too, since Keegan is studying about space in his summer school program.

When our assigned time came, we entered the Pompeii exhibit. I think it was very well done. They started with an introductory video and then let us in in the exhibits. More than 150 objects were displayed, and there were many 3D reconstructions and tours of different building, such as homes and baths. There were house objects, and gladiators artifacts, and smaller statues.

photos from the museum site

They also showed a video that showed what happened when the volcano erupted, and how the city was buried. Of course, the part that made a larger impression into all of us was the mold of the people that never made it out. Keegan was particularly sad for the little boy they showed, probably around his age.

photos from the museum site

Again, this was way more interesting for us adults, and Keegan was in a weird mood. Maybe he was tired and cranky, but his usual curiosity seemed completely absent. Oh well, we tried.

Before heading home, we took the time to check out the rest of the museum. We saw exhibits on ecosystems, rivers, sound, and also some kelp fish and vegetation. Our final stop was the actual Space Shuttle Endeavor, that is now hosted by the museum. It was a nice surprise, because we did not really know it was there. Pretty awe inducing. I remember watching it landing on tv and now it was right in front of me. It is now hosted in a temporary pavilion, but will have a permanent home at the museum. We watched a movie that showed the tricky transport from the airport to the museum, via surface street. It took about 2 days. Pretty crazy.

photos from CNN

Unfortunately we could not get closer or inside, but it was still an impressive site nonetheless.

After the long visit, we enjoyed some overpriced lunch and ice cream in the museum cafe and we finally headed back to San Diego. Again, no traffic, and a blissfully quiet ride back, thanks to electronics…I guess sometimes you need to compromise your principles for some peace and quite, especially when driving.

All and all it has been a very fun weekend, and we are looking forward to more fun experiences like this. Here is to our next adventure!

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