Today's Destination: La Brea Tar Pits. FREE!

Last month I did some research and discovered that the Page Museum, better known as the La Brea Tar Pits, have a free admission day on the first Tuesday of every month. So, you know me by now, right? To greatly alter the words of Gordon Gekko: "FREE... is good!" Several friends and I agreed to have a lil' meetup there.

We arrived right around lunchtime. We immediately stumbled upon our first almost freebie: A metered parking space on the street with almost 4 hours already on the meter! (There is a parking lot attached to the museum, but it was full already. It costs $7 with validation.) We dumped about 50 cents in and moseyed into the park.

To be honest, we were in fear that the museum would packed, a la Vatican. Luckily, the museum isn't just a walk through, look-at-the-stuff-on-our-shelves kind of place. The outdoor area includes a massive, bubbling tar pit, which the kids (and parents, to be honest) could watch all day. A mammoth tragically struggles to escape the pit as two others, including a lil' one, look on in despair. As a little girl, I recall being distressed about this set-up. I felt terrible for that poor mammoth - and the kidling! The kids I went with today seemed to have full grasp that these were nothing more than dramatic depictions of what happened here, thousands of years ago. (Side note - kids today are a lot more savvy than the children of the Brady Bunch era!)

After a good 20+ minutes of watching the tar bubblebubblebubble, we met up with the rest of our group and headed indoors. Since it was FREE day (!) we wandered right on in and hit the exhibits immediately. Truth be told, it was a bit crowded. However, we soon discovered that it's really not all that big, so only minimal time is needed to explore. There was a lot of stuff on shelves to look at, mostly bones of animals that met their maker via the tar pit. The array of animals represented is fascinating! There are entire mammoth and mastodon skeletons prominently on display. I was a little surprised to discover that here in SoCal, there used to be camels and HUGE ground sloths! The boys were more interested in the drawings of the natives. (Click through, you'll see why!) This provided my laugh of the day. :)

The least crowded place in the museum was the atrium. It's a little piece of serenity, complete with nesting birds, colorful koi, and tiny turtles. The most crowded place in the museum: the gift shop. You couldn't get me out of there fast enough! I won't lie, I did spy something similar to this awesome, reusable cup,and it did take some restraint to keep from buying the darn thing!

We headed outside to one of the many picnic tables available directly in front of the museum. Most of us had packed mostly-healthy lunches of fruit and sandwiches. Translation: FREE! We all chowed down, and soon the kids were off playing on the hill (rolling down over and over), climbing the trees, taking pictures of the tar pits, and just having a wonderful time.

The unexpected thrill of the day was when the kids all lined up in front of a gentleman playing his banjo. In no time, he had them lined up, and was teaching them how to square dance!



This guy works for tips, so the parents tossed in some cashola, and sweetly, one of the boys proudly tossed his allowance into the musician's collection box.

We made our way over to Pit 91, where visitors can see an active tar pit excavation. This is also where I discovered that even some grown-ups can't keep their fingers out of the plentiful tar! It oozes from everywhere, sometimes where you least expect it. I understand the need to check it out, I really do, but for the sake of "lead by example", I kept my paws out of it. So, word to the wise, keep an eye on your kiddos or you might end up with some lovely new tar-smeared clothing. (Disclaimer for my friend pictured: She wasn't with lil' kiddos when she was overwhelmed by the desire to test out the tar, so no "Do as I say, not as I do" issues. She was with her 18 year old son, who also couldn't resist!) :)

We were ready to hit the road, partly because that magical "free" meter was about to expire. We capped this awesome free excursion off by taking Pacific Coast Highway, past the Santa Monica Pier, to Malibu. We watched the sunset as we drove. (Well, at least I did... The kids were engrossed in SpongeBob SquarePants - Pest of the Weston the DVD player!)

Sum total of the day - random donations to the museum and tips to the banjo guy. Spending the day learning about prehistoric Los Angeles and watching the kids play... PRICELESS!