Today Will and I went to the La Brea tar pits. We had to drive straight through downtown Hollywood to get there, which Will was annoyed with, and even drove by the Klasky Csupo studio, which Will was even more annoyed with.

But once we got there, things were quite cool!

It did not smell as heavily of asphalt as one might expect, and the large bubbling lake of tar was super awesome. There were dramatic statues of a mammoth sinking into the lake trumpeting in despair whiles’t a baby mammoth stood on the shore, reaching its trunk out and bellowing “Noooooooooo!” It was a strange touch to a family-friendly park.

I discovered that I have the same physical reaction to tar as I do to oil paint. That is, when I’m in the same vicinity as it, I’m going to somehow mysteriously get it all over me. It was worth it, though, to use a stick to poke at a newly bubbled up tar puddle that they hadn’t put a safety fence around yet. It was so gooey and awesome!

The fossils inside the museum were super-cool! On one wall they have something like 400 dire wolf skulls mounted in a glass display together, and that is of something like 1600 total dire wolf skulls that have been dug up at the tar pits. It was impressive to see them all together, but it gave a rather “holocaust museum” impression upon first seeing it.

I was a big fan of the sloths, the bird skeletons, and the antique bison skeleton. We took some photos, but only managed one or two before the camera battery died. I did some sketches, but only a couple.

It was an awesome place and I’m glad I got to go. HOORAY FOR SCIENCE!