Week of July 3rd 2011: La Brea Tar Pits

As I was driving around LACMA looking for parking, I had passed the La Brea Tar Pits. Despite buildings and streets in the area being named "La Brea," I had never pieced together that the tar pits were in the middle of a busy part of Los Angeles. I figured that since I was in the area, it would be a good opportunity to check out the  prehistoric landmark.

Along the street is one of the bigger pits. This one has some large, fake, extinct creatures placed in it for decoration so I decided to snap a few photos of that and then continue exploring.

The actual tar pits themselves are part of a bigger museum that focuses on the fossils that have been found and pre-historic discoveries. I'm actually a huge science nerd and really wanted to check this out, but I knew I didn't have enough time to really do it justice. It will probably be fun to come back some time with my young niece and help teach her about science (and post about that new experience too).

Since I wasn't able to go into the actual museum itself, I decided to keep walking around and looking at the various tar pits that were scattered around the park. Yes, the tar pits are actually separated by lovely paths and gardens (that I later found out all house pre-historic plants) so it was really nice to take a leisurely stroll around the area (about as leisurely as a 100 degree day can be at least).

After walking around a bit, I found something especially interesting - there was a tar pit that was currently under excavation. The pit had a small viewing area for guests to look into and see what the site looks like while scientists are busy unearthing new fossils. It was really interesting to see the set up and wonder if they'd found anything interesting so far.

According to their website, the new site was found when LACMA decided to build a new parking garage. In the process, they found new fossils. Luckily, they were able to start the new excavations despite the construction.

I really loved that there were current excavations going on. It's a good reminder that museums aren't just collections of artifacts for people to look at, they are also places where current research is being done and discoveries are being made.

Plus, it never hurts remembering that Science is fun.