La Brea Tarpits, Hollywood & Chinatown

On Monday we started with La Brea Tar Pits.  David had really great memories of visiting here here as a child and had wanted to go back.

It was very cool--not like any place I had been to before. 

The tar pits are right there, in the middle of Los Angeles, and all the fossils that are in the museum have been found in those tarpits.  And there are lots of fossils.

The fossils are all from the ice age--wooly mammoths, mastodons, saber tooth cats, etc.  Not a single dinosaur in the whole place, since dinosaurs were extinct long before the ice age.

Evidently the animals would get trapped in the tar, and wouldn't be able to get out.  Here we were experiencing how difficult it would be to get out of tar. 

William absolutely loved this place.  He spent the rest of the week pretending to be a saber tooth tiger. 

 After we left the Tar Pits we drove to Hollywood.  We stopped at the Chinese theater,

 and looked at all the handprints and footprints of the stars.  Here was Julie Andrews,

 and the Harry Potter cast.

 Kate, Ben, and Sarah had to get a picture on the Harry Potter footprints.

 There were tons of characters hanging out, hoping you would tip them to pose.  We gave in once.

 This guy was just a statue, but he was pretty cool.

William gave him knuckles.

We walked around for a bit looking at the stars on the sidewalk. 

We really aren't much into Hollywood and celebrities, and the kids didn't recognize too many of the names on the stars, but we found a few we liked. 

 Kate and William found another guy they liked too.

Since the Oscars were less than a week away, they were getting all set up.  It was cool to see.

We went into the mall where they hold the Oscars, and stumbled upon the greatest candy store ever, called Sweets.  The kids thought they were in heaven. 

They had fun walking on this giant Crunch Bar, that actually made a crunching noise every time someone stepped on it.
There was a man dressed up like Willy Wonka and a whole section of the store devoted to incredible Wonka treats.  We also saw a Jelly Belly mosaic of Harry Potter, and a live candy making demonstration that enthralled the kids for quite some time. 

Everyone got to pick out a treat--which helped validate our parking. 

 We left Hollywood and drove to Chinatown. 

I love the beautiful architecture and lanterns strung everywhere.  And of course, the amazing cloudless blue sky.

 I had fun doing a little bit of shopping.  Who can resist cute hair clips for only $1?

We finished off our visit to China Town with what else...Chinese Food.  A couple at the temple the night before had recommended this restaurant, called Yang Chow, so we decided to try it, and it was delicious.  Some kids even made it the whole meal using chopsticks. 

We headed back to our hotel, and after his bath, William got to taste his lollipop.  He was one happy kid. 

It was another great day!