Museum Visits

One of Alan's favorite activities is to visit museums. I'm not as keen on them as he is, but I will go along with it even though with all of the walking and standing it can be hard on my back.

We recently visited the largest art museum in the western states - the L. A. County Museum of Art. It doesn't look like anything very special from the outside, does it. The Getty Museum looks a lot nicer.

The museum is divided up into different buildings where the art of different nationalities are represented. My favorite was the Japanese Art building.

The art on these vases was amazing to me.

And I love the fish on these vases!

Can you tell what this balloon art is? I couldn't. I had to read the sign.

Here is a view from the front. Still can't tell? It's a monkey!

The weirdest display of art was a room full of giant pictures of people jumping from buildings. It was bizarre! Why should these sad, desperate photos of people within minutes of their death be displayed? I didn't take photos of any of that "art".

This Urban Light Sculpture by Chris Burden is a popular feature at the museum. Evidently, at night when it's all lit up it is pretty amazing, but we didn't get to see it at night.

This was kind of weird. A walkway with a huge boulder balanced on top. I guess it is considered art.

Next to the art museum is the La Brea Tar Pit. This is something I had never seen before, but Alan had. 

This is what the Wikipedia site says about the tar pits:

The La Brea Tar Pits are a group of tar pits around which Hancock Park was formed in urban Los Angeles. Natural asphalt has seeped up from the ground in this area for tens of thousands of years. The tar is often covered with dust, leaves, or water. Over many centuries, the tar preserved the bones of animals that were trapped. The La Brea Tar Pits are a registered National Natural Landmark.

Here are a few of the pics I took. You can definitely smell the tar when you are walking past the pits.

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One of Alan's favorite museums is the Natural History Museum by the USC Campus. When the Airds and the Fosters were visiting California (and the Stott's) a couple of weeks ago, we all met Cheryl there for a fun day which included a trip to the beach afterwards.

My favorite section of the museum was the gem stones

February isn't the warmest time of year to visit the beach, but we still had a great time at Santa Monica Beach after the museum.

Len cooling his feet off.  :-)