Us, August 11, 2010 (clockwise): John, Ondine, Roy, Leo, Buddy
Us, August 11, 2010 (clockwise): John, Ondine, Roy, Leo, Buddy
We had a fun-filled weekend! We had planned to go to Disneyland with the free vouchers we’d earned through Disneyland’s “Give a Day Get a Day” promotion, in which we’d volunteered for a day at a local thrift shop for African assistance.
Well, Ondine and the boys had just returned from three days of beach camping at San Elijo and the house was a mess of damp camping gear, wet and sandy clothes, and unused food. Then, John referred a potential new client to Ondine, so she turned her attention to that for a while. Then, temperatures skyrocketed to the high 90s. In all, the thought of scrambling to get to Disneyland in the sizzling sun just lost its appeal. So, we decided to postpone Disneyland for a couple months. The kids took the news much better than we’d expected and about as well as anyone could hope.
Friday morning after breakfast, we headed up to John’s Mom’s in La Canada for a leisurely weekend. We wanted to talk to her about our possible Japan trip, look at photos of relatives there, and see her photos of Thailand and Vietnam.
We closed all the windows before we left, as a precaution in case there were any wildfires. Well, as we drove up the 125, we saw … a brush fire! Helicopters shuttled water from Santee Lakes and made drops, and fire crews made a firebreak farther up the hillside, in front of a line of homes. Other than that, the drive up was uneventful, although after Sand Pond almost any drive is a breeze.
Saturday it was chilly and overcast! We made plans to go to the Rancho La Brea Tar Pits, but realized that we’d packed for record-breaking heat and had nothing for cool weather! So, we left the kids and dog with John’s Mom and went to the Bargain Box, one of our favorite thrift stores. Score!
Just after lunch, we went to Rancho La Brea Tar Pits near downtown L.A. It was a fun drive down Alvarado Blvd and Wilshire: lots of funky shops, sketchy neighborhoods, and colorful characters.
The tar pits were amazing! Almost all the bones on display are actual fossils, found there at the tar pits. The tar – it’s actually asphalt – is still oozing out of the ground today. As you walk across the grass in the surrounding park you see cordoned-off areas where the tar has seeped to the surface.
We watched the two films, which were very interesting, and played with the exhibit that simulated pulling your foot out of a tar pit. It is very sticky stuff; just a few inches of tar can entrap a mammoth! The animals didn’t sink into the tar; they got stuck and either died from exposure or starvation, or became bait for predators.
That’s why most of the bones recovered were those of carnivores – Dire
Wolves (we love that name) and Saber-toothed Cats (don’t call them tigers)
were the most common. Some Saber-tooths:
Another of our favorite exhibits was the “Fish Bowl,” in which a small staff
and squads of volunteers laboriously sorted, cleaned, and pieced together finds.
Here are two people hard at work.
And here we are in the ice age forest!
Sunday we left La Canada just after lunch. John found out lots of new information about the family history, including his paternal grandfather’s name – Sakuichi. We arrived home only a couple hours before Barbara and Bill returned from a week up at Sand Pond!
Monday the boys plan to sell lemonade on the mountain. Also, Ondine had a callback about the potential new business! Yay!
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