Twists,Turns, and Tar

CA Rt. 39 - a solitary squiggle

Friday, Jan 6...  The last 2 days have been rainy, but today is gorgeous so this morning we’re going to head up San Gabriel Canyon - a twisty drive made for Greg’s M3, and one of the “must do’s” suggested by his racing buddy. A glance at the map gives you a pretty good idea of the skill/fun ratio. Aside from the 2 dry reservoirs (which we only saw briefly), the scenery is – as always – gorgeous.  We were following a couple of Mazdas, who pulled off at one point and later told Greg how much they enjoyed the “exhaust note” as we passed. Again, I am astonished at the vastness of every view. I’ll let a few pictures tell the story.    

Entering the Canyon

One of many scenic turns.

Rugged

Can you see the road in at least 3 places?

LA in the distance.

After lunch we drive to LA to see the La Brea Tar Pits. (I know… tar pits when we could check out Hollywood and Vine? Sometimes we march to our own offbeat drummer.) The drive in isn’t bad and we cruise Wilshire Blvd (that’s kinda famous 😃) for quite a while. We eventually land at the site/museum and are directed to park across the street in the SAG (Screen Actors Guild) lot – not a cost-effective start to this venture. We head back to the museum and check out the skeletons of ice age animals like woolly mammoths…  OMGosh – 20^th Century Fox is located in LA, and – seriously – I’ll bet these tar pits were the genesis for the Ice Age movies. (The skeletons of Manny, Sid and Diego are prominently on display.)

Woolly Mammoth

Saber-tooth Cat

Pit 91 - still a work in progress.

Then we took the walking tour (and I remember maybe a tenth of everything we were told). One of the more interesting tidbits was that, once Californians realized this goo (asphalt) had practical uses, they began marketing it. But customers complained about having to extract skulls and other bones as they spread the tar over road surfaces. Eventually someone realized why these skeleton bits might be there… and the rest (over time) is history. They are still extracting fossils and actively cleaning and classifying them.  It’s a pretty interesting place – especially because all these ice age remnants are right in the middle of a bustling modern city.

BlogThoughts… The tar pits were our only destination, but as we worked our way in and out (a different route) of the city, we passed through several ethnic communities including, but not limited to, Little Ethiopia (lots of very popular restaurants), Historic Filipinotown, Koreatown (more Koreans live in LA than anywhere else outside Korea), Thai Town, Chinatown, Little Armenia. I’m not a city person, but from what little I saw and have read, LA certainly seems to have a very interesting history and current culture.   

Looks open here, but we averaged
15mph on the way home.

Ground Sloth