2008-12-02
nerdy thirty
by laura beth
final moments of my 29th year
Happy anniversary of my birth! Turning thirty is only slightly uncomfortable. I very clearly remember turning 20. And an entire decade has passed in only a few short moments. I guess I better start acting like an adult...
Today we went to the La Brea Tar Pits. It was free, not because it was my birthday, but because it was a Tuesday, and admission is free on Tuesdays. With all the time I've spent in California over the years, you would think I would have visited all the pinnacles of California history and culture. I have done a lot, but I still have a list yet to check off and the 'Pits, as I call them, are now checked off.
It's kind of an odd place, a park on Wilshire Boulevard in west Los Angeles. It's surrounded by tall buildings, apartments, and busy streets. When you walk through the gates, however, you are transported back to a time when mammoths, dire wolves, giant ground sloths, and saber-toothed cats ruled LA! That was my attempt at sounding exiting and adventuresome. The smallish park is built around various pits, oozing with black smelly tar and chock full of enormous fossils, even mammoths!
A bunch of years ago, in an area now called Rancho La Brea (the Tar Ranch), natural asphalt (not actually tar) seeped out of the ground in pools bubbling with methane gas. Big silly animals walked into the asphalt pools, which were cleverly camoflauged with leaves and dirt, and got sort of stuck. Big hungry animals would attack the mired animals and eventually become stuck themselves and die. Then scavengers and birds would come to feast on the carcasses and, well, you know how the story goes. The asphalt is a great preservative, and years of sediment and additional seepage buried the bones. Years later, fossils were found during commercial asphalt mining operations. Since 1906, more than one million fossil bones from over 650 species of plants and animals have been found and identified at Rancho La Brea. They represent the latest part of the Pleistocene Epoch. The asphalt also dyes the fossils shades of dark brown and black, which makes them unique compared to other fossils I've seen.
Soooooooooooo it was pretty cool. There are little pools of asphalt everywhere, even bubbling up in the middle of the lawn. The fossil displays are incredible, and there is a "fishbowl" laboratory where you can watch the scientists work with fossils. There are also active excavation sites--pits of bubbling asphalt with huge fossils sticking out of them. Pretty interesting stuff.
Later that night we met up with Friend Heather at the Cheesecake Factory. I often find myself craving the Godiva Chocolate Cheesecake, but the price per slice prevents me from indulging. Turning 30 was decidedly a good excuse to have some.
Today we went to the La Brea Tar Pits. It was free, not because it was my birthday, but because it was a Tuesday, and admission is free on Tuesdays. With all the time I've spent in California over the years, you would think I would have visited all the pinnacles of California history and culture. I have done a lot, but I still have a list yet to check off and the 'Pits, as I call them, are now checked off.
It's kind of an odd place, a park on Wilshire Boulevard in west Los Angeles. It's surrounded by tall buildings, apartments, and busy streets. When you walk through the gates, however, you are transported back to a time when mammoths, dire wolves, giant ground sloths, and saber-toothed cats ruled LA! That was my attempt at sounding exiting and adventuresome. The smallish park is built around various pits, oozing with black smelly tar and chock full of enormous fossils, even mammoths!
A bunch of years ago, in an area now called Rancho La Brea (the Tar Ranch), natural asphalt (not actually tar) seeped out of the ground in pools bubbling with methane gas. Big silly animals walked into the asphalt pools, which were cleverly camoflauged with leaves and dirt, and got sort of stuck. Big hungry animals would attack the mired animals and eventually become stuck themselves and die. Then scavengers and birds would come to feast on the carcasses and, well, you know how the story goes. The asphalt is a great preservative, and years of sediment and additional seepage buried the bones. Years later, fossils were found during commercial asphalt mining operations. Since 1906, more than one million fossil bones from over 650 species of plants and animals have been found and identified at Rancho La Brea. They represent the latest part of the Pleistocene Epoch. The asphalt also dyes the fossils shades of dark brown and black, which makes them unique compared to other fossils I've seen.
Soooooooooooo it was pretty cool. There are little pools of asphalt everywhere, even bubbling up in the middle of the lawn. The fossil displays are incredible, and there is a "fishbowl" laboratory where you can watch the scientists work with fossils. There are also active excavation sites--pits of bubbling asphalt with huge fossils sticking out of them. Pretty interesting stuff.
Later that night we met up with Friend Heather at the Cheesecake Factory. I often find myself craving the Godiva Chocolate Cheesecake, but the price per slice prevents me from indulging. Turning 30 was decidedly a good excuse to have some.
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