Page Three of the California visit!

Thursday, Jan 19, 2006

Wednesday, MrsB had the day off, so our tour could continue. We slept in, so we really didn’t get started until after 10 am. It was sunny in the morning with a bit of a wind, so it was nice in the sheltered spaces as we entered the Museum of Natural History. The HittyBs had been here before, so they were eager to show HMC the mounted dinosaur bones exhibit in the rotunda. There is a same size sculpture in the back plaza depicting how they looked in life as the T Rex battled his Triceratops.

Deeper within the museum is another rotunda, surrounded by a second floor gallery.

One of the classes coming through on their field trips had a boy who correctly identified it as the lab for “Spiderman.” The HittyBs knew it from “Bones”, the television series. The rotunda/gallery leads into the Science Center. Fossils were being worked on.

There a fascinated class watched as a staff member held a tarantula in his bare hand The girls had a great view, perched as they were on the forearm of the larger stuffed polar bear.

They checked the entire center out before more serious matters arose- they’d almost forgotten to get to the gift shop! Their favorite was the intriguing re-cycled metal bits made into dinosaurs.

It was pointed out to the girls that they would be the ones to carry them all the rest of the day, so they took only pictures.
The Rose Garden was next door, a pretty place to see all the blooms in the winter. There one can see both the side of the Natural History Museum that is used as an entrance to the “Jeffersonian Institute” in Institute well as the roof of the Aviation Museum on the other side of the Rose Garden that depicts the “laboratory roof” for the same show.

Across the street from the Rose Garden is the Museum of Science and Industry.

We stopped by to see out giant 50’ cousin Tess, who daily demonstrates the wonders of the human body. It’s incredible how big she is- and she does great narration.

Exposition Park does have a great cluster of museums, but the benches to rest on there are embossed not with any museum logo, but with the five Olympic rings. The Park also is a sports venue for the Coliseum. The Olympics were held here in both 1984 and in 1932. Los Angeles is very proud of having the honor twice.
After the science, we needed entertainment. Off we drove, headed for Hollywood and Vine. There we found the star of Greer Garson embedded along the Walk of Fame.

It was Greer who played Marie Curie in the film “Madame Curie” We also found Walter Pidgeon’s star- he played Pierre Curie.
We happily checked out the stars as we headed up to Grauman’s Chinese Theatre. Having seen “King Kong”, we were excited to see Fay Wray’s star.

It was a photo opportunity! In fact we even took a third photo shot at the star of Leonard Nimoy. (We wanted to be sure to let the LTBS students know about that! In fact there is a group plaque from the Star Trek crew in the Grauman’s courtyard. Sadly the tinted concrete is very dark and couldn’t be photographed- but we did try!)

We also looked for any Hitty feet. Nope. We did find two plaques with very tiny feet and hands- Jean Harlow and Mary Pickford. Yes, the very same Mary Pickford of “Tess of the Storm”- shot right at the foot of the Palisades, the HittyB home. Oh, there was much excitement!

Heading back, we continued to check out the stars: Marilyn Monroe, Mr. Rogers, Gracie Allen, George Burns, Fred Astaire, James Cagney, Walt Disney,… Some had three stars- for film, recording, and TV. LA is an entertainment capital for all three. Speaking of such, the unique stacked shape and stylus top of the Capitol Records building called for another photo! The best view would have been from the middle of the freeway close by, but the Bs were reluctant to try that. (Why is it that the best shot for many LA locations is smack in the midst of the street?) Traffic is a firm discouragement.
In fact, we never were able to get a good shot of the girls and the Hollywood sign for the same reason. We had to solace ourselves with a visit to Pink’s. Another local landmark, Pink’s has been serving hotdogs- first from a cart and currently from a stand for 67 years. It’s family run business. No matter what time we’ve been there, there is a line winding back and forth along the sidewalk in front. Everyone agreed- for the sake of one’s waistline, it’s a good thing we do not live very close! Their website is
www.pinkshollywood.com So good!
The Bs also tried for a tour for us of JPL/NASA, but it takes time for the security clearance these days. They tried driving in just to get a photo of the JPL sign and me, but were turned away by two very firm gentlemen at the gatehouse. Oh well, it would have been a great place to set up the laboratory, but...
On the other hand, getting into the California Institute of Technology (Cal Tech), also in Pasadena was a breeze. The local streets go right through the campus. Having found a parking place, we just walked around the corner, counted down three houses, and there, just as described was the "yellow house with dark green shutters"- the United States Geological Survey building, home of Lucy Jones and Kate Sutton- major players for earthquake cognoscenti, and most of the population of Southern California! They seemed to have gone home for the day, but we took a photo anyway!

Driving home, the freshening breeze had brought several levels of clouds in. Among the standard issue wisps and bumps turning from orange to pinks the sunset, were long thin twinned feather-like clouds. They looked like migrating whales, in their purple gray, swimming in the magenta surf of the day's end. The colors lasted until we reaches the coast, turned and drove along the ocean, sky darkening slowly as we headed north.
Come to think of it, now is the time for the true whales to appear.

The Transfer!