One of Many Returns To LA

I returned to LA in August before classes restarted; this time I was a tourist.  The first stop was Griffith Observatory because I'm a giant nerd.  It is a beautiful old observatory perched on the top of a hill within LA, which means it is actually completely useless, except for the solar projects they were doing.  Naturally, because this was an observatory, I was overly critical of the exhibits, or rather those explaining the exhibits.  I held my tongue.

From the back of the observatory, I saw the test fly-over of the planes that were going to accompany the space shuttle Endeavour as it was flown into LA on the back of a 747.  That was oddly convenient timing.

Anyway, the view from Griffith Observatory was quite impressive.  The view includes the Hollywood sign, which I was a little excited to see.  This was my fifth (I think) trip to LA, and my first time seeing the sign.  I was satisfied, and then gawked at the observatory some more.  Since I have a habit hiking in inappropriate shoes, I walked up the mountain a little bit where there was a nice path in flipflops.  I didn't make it too far.  

The next day was the La Brea tar pits!  There are these tar pits in the middle of LA.  It's so weird, but awesome.  The tar has a ton of fossils in it, including mastodons (you can see a model of that in the tar pits picture to the left).  Obviously, it smelled bad.  The Page Museum, where they have the fossils excised from the tar.  It turns out that mastodons have giant teeth.

Then there was a trip to Malibu.  The cliffs are pretty impressive.  I entirely get why there are rehabilitation centers there; it is just beautiful.  This particular cliff was descended, and I watched the waves roll in for a while with a picnic.  Once the Sun started setting, the cliff was ascended.  Next to a city full of millions upon millions of people, I was on a beautiful cliff watching the sun set on a Sunday night with something like five other people.  I question the ability of people to appreciate things like sunsets.