Bay Area Adventures: The Painted Ladies

As anyone who has been recently unemployed can attest, mid-day reruns of the deliciously cheesy 90's time capsule that is Full House are the bomb.  When I first moved up to the Bay Area and was job hunting, I especially loved that the opening credits (complete with fantastic 90's fashion and hair styles) showcased my new surroundings.  

Along with panoramic shots of the Golden Gate Bridge and trolley cars, the opening credits also show the family tucking in for a lovely picnic in front of their amazingly picturesque San Francisco home.  That row of houses so prominently featured is known collectively as "The Painted Ladies" and, though they could serve as San Francisco's Cultural Museum, are actually private residences.  While in San Francisco a while ago, I made it a point to take a walk and see these Painted Ladies.

The Ladies are located adjacent to Alamo Square Park, and the whole area looks basically the same as it did in the mid-90s Full House montage.  Except, in 2013 there were more Asian girls taking selfies, and less families in bright colors enjoying picnics. 

We took a quick walk through Alamo Square (it was a really lovely day) and then around the block to see some other, just as impressive, houses in the neighborhood.  It was a nice 30-minute adventure, and mostly served as a real-life introduction for me to some of the beautiful home architecture San Francisco has to offer.

Full House Season 5 opening credits, circa 1992

I appreciate that the owners have kept the houses the same colors throughout the years

Bay Area Adventures: Muir Woods State Park

Back in March when I learned my international friend Bernadette was coming to visit, I was determined to show her something she'd never seen before.  Yes, we took her to the Golden Gate Bridge, but we had three more days and I wanted to do something new for both of us.  I decided to take her to Muir Woods State Park, located over the GGB in Marin County, north of San Francisco.  Besides being a beautiful nature area full of hiking trails and even beaches, Muir Woods is also home to the southernmost forest of Redwood trees in the US.  And since Redwood trees only grow on the coast of California, this is the southernmost Redwood forest in the world.

As someone who was born and raised in Germany and had just spent the last few years of her life in New Zealand, I was sure Bernadette had never seen a Redwood before, and was excited to show her these incredibly amazing trees. Now, I'm not really a "nature freak" per se, but something about the Redwoods just totally fascinates me.  As my Grannie would say, some Redwoods are "older than Christ," and you have to respect and admire anything that can literally live over 2,000 years.  Not to mention grow as tall as 30 stories high while also smelling amazing.

In high school a friend of mine sent me a postcard from the actual Redwood National Forest (located about 8 hours north of SF).  The postcard itself was made out of a very very thin piece of Redwood bark, and to this day, more than 10 years later, it still smells faintly like Redwoods. I was not disappointed to be greeted by that exact smell when we got out of the car and entered Muir Woods.   

We walked through the grove of trees on a raised deck-like path.   Bernadette and I both took a million pictures of the gargantuan trees, and took several deep deep breaths of the deliciously fresh air.  After we turned back, we happened upon a group of tourists and a guide, who was leading a "tree talk." We listened for a few minutes and my nerdy self was loving it.  We learned some really awesome trivia, most notably 1) Redwood bark can grow up to 2 feet thick, thus being a natural defense against predators and 2) The bark secretes tannin, which is a natural bug repellant.  So while many trees will secrete sap, and thus attract insects like termites and even birds, all those little pests leave Redwoods alone.

After we got back to the car, we drove down to Sausalito and spent the afternoon walking on the boardwalk, and treated ourselves to some fresh seafood.  It was a lovely day, and San Francisco did not disappoint with another sunny day for my visitor!

We entered through this gate, but it turns out we should have gone through the gift shop to pay an entrance fee.  Whoops.

Redwoods are the tallest trees in the world, and even these pale in comparison to some of the bigger ones found at Redwood National Park

Me and Bernadette on one of the many bridges along the path

My pup Sunny exploring Sausalito

Sausalito beach sculptures with the San Franciso skyline in the background

#41: Bike the South Bay Trail

When I first moved to LA, I worked in Venice Beach.  Every Monday, a friend and I would meet up on the Venice Beach boardwalk, get sandwiches, and eat on the beach.  Even in the middle of winter, the boardwalk would be crowded with bicyclists, rollerbladers, skateboarders, all mixed in with a very eclectic mix of people walking around.  And I could never figure out... who are all these people crowding the boardwalk at noon on a Monday in the middle of December?  As I was on my all-too-brief lunch break, I was very envious of these people and their apparently laid back life-style that could afford them a boardwalk bike ride on a Monday.    

Four years later, I have learned that everywhere in this city is crowded in the middle of every day, because millions upon millions of people don't actually have traditional jobs, or any job at all.  Plus, the Venice Beach Boardwalk (and the bike path, locally known as "the Strand") in particular are very popular tourist destinations.  Well ok, I was still super envious of all those seemingly laid-back people biking along the beach, and vowed to eventually set aside a day to take a beach cruiser ride along the boardwalk for myself.

With a little research, I learned that the Strand is actually called the South Bay Trail, and runs all the way from Will Rogers State Beach in Malibu down to Torrance County Beach.  The entire trail is 22 miles long, which is entirely too long for a leisurely day ride. Plus, like I really want to ride my bike to Torrance, come on.  So I decided to focus on the best beach areas - Dockweiler State Beach to the Santa Monica Pier, which clocked in at just under 10 miles each way. 

My friend Marsha, who is always up for relaxing adventures (not an oxy-moron as one may think) and I headed out to rent some beach cruisers on a perfect Sunday afternoon.  We rented our bikes from Fisherman's Village in Marina del Rey, and once we got fitted with our sweet bikes (Marsha with a seafoam green beauty, me with baby blue) we set off on the Strand north towards Santa Monica.  

The first 20 minutes of the ride consisted of going around the Marina, through all the boat docks and then down Washington Blvd towards the ocean. Along the ride, I learned that Marsha had never been to the Venice Beach Boardwalk, so when we arrived at the beach, we decided to walk our bikes along the main thoroughfare so she could soak in all the unique, quirky, and frankly amazing people-watching Venice has to offer.  We walked past the Venice Art Walls, which are a group of walls that graffiti artists are allowed to paint over any way they'd like. We passed dozens of booths selling locally-made wares, the Venice Beach Freak Show (home to several 2-headed turtles, amongst much more!), groups of rollerbladers performing choreographed dances, and even talked to the World's Greatest Wino.  After getting lost for a few (20) minutes, we parked our bikes outside Zelda's Deli, one of the best sandwich shops I have ever eaten at.  We feasted on amazing panninis, bottled Coca-Cola, and fresh-made mini donuts.  This is one of my most favorite meals in all of Los Angeles.

After the Venice Boardwalk, we continued north, with the beach on our left and awesome people-watching on our right.  We passed the Venice Farmers Market, the Santa Monica Traveling Rings, several amazing kite fliers, and eventually made it up to the Santa Monica Pier.  It was literally a perfect Sunday weather-wise, so the pier was full of people.  We decided we didn't want to carry our bikes up 2 flights of stairs just to walk them along the pier (Marsha and I both have already experienced the pier several times) so we instead opted to take the tunnel under the pier and kept on riding.  

After a few more minutes, we decided to turn around because we realized our butts were getting sore from the bike seats, and we still had 10 more miles to ride.  We cruised back through Santa Monica and Venice, and stopped at one of my favorite Mexican restaurants on Washington Blvd for a margarita break.  Two delicious peach and mango margaritas later, we hopped back on our bikes and continued down to Marina del Rey.  We kept heading south past Fisherman's Village, down to the Ballona Creek trail (where the LMU rowers practice) and all the way down to Dockweiler State Beach in Playa del Rey.  Many people may not know Dockweiler by name, but if you've ever taken off in a plane from LAX, you have flown over Dockwieler.  

After we had gotten our fill of the late afternoon breeze and the loud jets taking off overhead, we turned around and headed back to Fisherman's Village to return our bikes.  Our all-day rental came with a free scoop of ice cream (a business after my own heart) which we enjoyed while watching the seals and pelicans play around in the water.  

Overall, we had a blast.  It was the perfect, laid-back, slow-paced touristy day I had always wanted.  Though I am so, so happy that I eventually moved away from the Westside and now only visit occasionally, it was great to experience everything again, but this time from a beach cruiser. 

The map of our journey.

Photo op in Venice!

The bike path with the front-row ocean view

Preferred method of transportation from now on: Baby Blue Beach Cruiser

Yachts in the marina, Marina del Rey

The Santa Monica Pier

Ballona Creek tributary leading to the ocean in Playa del Rey

#18: The Rose Float Parade

When I was in Girl Scouts as a kid, we used to volunteer to help with the floats for the Rose Parade every year. For years, all we were allowed to do - since we were so young - was help sort flowers. Nothing glamorous. But the last year I participated, I think I was about 12 years old, I hit what I thought was going to be the jackpot. They were going to let me decorate part of the actual float!

So they handed me a board, and a big bowl of white rice and a bowl of black olive seeds (I think) and told me to make a license plate. Nine hours later, I was almost finished. I couldn't even feel my fingers they were so cramped, my back was sore from hunching over the table, and I honestly couldn't stand the sight of rice for weeks. But it was all going to be worth it, because I was going to see my work on national TV during the Rose Parade!

Yeah... no. Of course the cameras spent about 45 seconds examining the vibrant flowers and the people waving on the float, and didn't once pass over my masterpiece of a license plate. At that moment, I was done, DONE, with the Rose Float Parade forever.

That was, until, I moved to LA 10 years later and met a few native Pasadenos (residents of the great city of Pasadena) who live and breath the Tournament of the Roses. This event is their chance to show the country, and even the entire world, how awesome they are. Over time I decided that, though I would never, ever volunteer to decorate again, it might be worth it to trek down to Pasadena to watch the parade in person on New Year's Day.

To watch the parade, I found that you have a few options. You can camp out on Colorado Blvd. starting at noon the day before the parade, and get a front row view of all the action on New Year's Day. Now, I do many things, but camping is unfortunately not one of them. Especially not on sidewalks... that's called being homeless.

The other option is to buy tickets to sit in the "grandstand" - one of the large bleacher structures that they build all along the 5-mile parade route. I looked into it early in the year, and found that a grandstand seat at their cheapest start at around $40 a piece (and get more expensive as the year goes on). It seemed like a viable enough option, until my main Pasadeno Michael told me that they give you about 8 inches of butt-room, you have to get there at like 5am, and the bleacher is as cold as ice (and about as comfortable). I was beginning to second-guess the decision, based on the pure hassle of it all. Not to mention, over 1 million people go to watch the parade, and we all know how I feel about large crowds and having to wait forever. But luckily, I have friends that are in-the-know, and Michael told me a little-known secret.

The night before the parade, all of the floats line up in order along Orange Grove Blvd, as the float designers make last minute adjustments and prepare for the judging. There are huge lights above every float, to the point where it's almost as bright as day. My friend lived just a block away from all the action, and after he explained how easy and fun it was, I was excited to check out this low-key, low-effort version of the Rose Float Parade. Unfortunately, he moved to Chicago last summer so I didn't get to hang out at his house while waiting for the floats to line up!

The Tournament of the Roses has a quirky rule that the parade and football game never take place on a Sunday. Trivia: it's because when the parade first started in the late 1800's, they didn't want the horse-drawn floats to spook other horses that were standing outside of churches. No joke. Since 2012's New Year's Day was on a Sunday, we went up to Pasadena on Monday the 1st instead. Ronny and I had a late dinner, then walked around amidst all the campers on the sidewalks to kill time before 11pm, when the floats started lining up.

The first thing I noticed is that the majesty and grandeur of the floats does NOT translate at all on TV. It doesn't even translate in these pictures and I was standing 5 feet away. It is absolutely awe-inspriring to see the magnitude of these floats, to see each individual petal amongst the thousands of flowers. Each float takes an average of 80,000 man-hours (all volunteer) to complete, and cost up to half a million dollars. There were a total of 47 floats this year, with entrants from corporations, cities, universities and charitable organizations. A great part about seeing them the night before is that each float is "escorted" by a handful of the volunteers that worked on the float, many of whom are a part of the organization behind the float. You can ask them questions about what materials were used, how long something took, its significance, etc. Luckily Ronny found a really cute corgi to go play with while I asked a ridiculous amount of questions.

I absolutely loved the whole experience, and am so glad Michael educated me on it. I would have never known otherwise! I really hope I get to do this again, even though I still have no interest in going to the actual parade. Oh, and the best perk of all, going to this is completely FREE! All we paid was for parking, which was a fraction of what it would have cost us the next morning to see the parade.

It's lamentable, again, that my camera was still broken at the time (I have since replaced my old point-and-shoot with a Nikon D5000 SLR) so I again apologize for these pictures being pretty low quality. I'm sure you can google Rose Parade 2012 and get awesome profesh pictures.

People like me forget that there is actually a football game involved with the Rose Parade. Traditionally, each university playing in the Rose Bowl submits a float, and its marching band and cheerleaders march with it in the parade. Here's the University of Wisconsin...

... and the University of Oregon (the eventual winners of the game)

A breathtaking dragon made from yellow mums from Air China's "Spirit of Prosperity and Harmony" float, which celebrated 2012 being the year of the Dragon. I believe this one ended up winning the top trophy.

This one was called "Shining Knights Still Exist" from Odd Fellows and Rebekahs

Trader Joe's Fearless Flyer! The wheels on the wagon actually turned as the float moved.

This one is from the Aids Health Fund, titled "Our Champion." It featured three floral portraits of Elizabeth Taylor, the charity's founder, in different stages of her long career. The portraits were made using nine different shades of seeds. They were truly stunning in person.

Dole's "Preserving Paradise" float was an ode to the beauty of Thailand. Remember, this entire thing is made up of organic plant materials. Unbelievable.

A very awesome rainbow, I don't remember which float

My company, Paramount, had an entrant this year to celebrate its 100th Anniversary in 2012. It was called "100 Years of Movie Magic" and featured the Grease Lightening car, Forrest Gump's bench, the plane from Wings (the first Paramount release), Bumblebee from Transformers, the Star Trek ship Enterprise, over 4,000 red roses to make up the "red carpet," and the famous Bronson gate that I drive through every morning on my way into work. Pretty cool!!

20-foot tall floral Bumblebee

Me and Ronny in front of the Paramount float. We wanted to take a picture in front of the Cal Poly float, but for some reason it was dark where CP's float was lined up.

#36: Runyon Canyon Hike

Back in the day, my parents used to think that the best family activity was hiking. We lived out in the desert, so we would drive into the mountains for a day of fun activities and hiking. Obviously, this was before the internet. As could be imagined, when I was eight years old I was totally not into it, and was notorious for my constant whining on the trails. But, I have to hand it to my parents, there is now a soft spot in my heart for a good hike.

Living in an urban area, however, there aren't that many hikes close by. Don't get me wrong - drive an hour out of the city and there are amazing hikes all over the place. But there is one special little trail, right in the middle of the city, called Runyon Canyon. It stretches all the way from Mulholland Drive to Franklin Blvd in the heart of Hollywood. I'm sure pretty much every celebrity ever has been photographed hiking on the trail in those "Celebs are just like us!" sections of gossip magazines.

I finally made my way up to Runyon when I had a few days off after Christmas. It was a typical lovely LA December day, sunny in the mid-70's. I would say the hike is easy, but it still definitely raised my heartbeat! I remember having to hike for miles and miles once with my parents, and we even had to scramble up rocks and other hardcore stuff. Runyon is not like that, and in fact is pretty much paved the entire way, but does get pretty steep at times.

A great part about the trail is not only is it dog-friendly, but the majority of the trail is actually a dog park, where you can take your dog off-leash. My boyfriend and I were dog-sitting for the day, so it was a great activity to do with the pups (though, we didn't take them off-leash. Those dogs are totally unpredictable and I didn't want to be responsible for either of them going missing!). Another great part of the hike is that, unlike most hikes -where the view that makes the hike worthwhile is only at the top- Runyon has amazing views the entire way. At every turn you either have a close-up view of the Hollywood sign and the Griffith Observatory, or the downtown skyline.

We hiked the trail backwards, starting at the top at the Mulholland entrance. It was fun starting from the top because we could enjoy all the amazing views at a leisurely pace. Just coming back up was the tough part! Overall it was a great hike, under 2 hours, full of really beautiful people (shirtless men, women in sports bras, etc), lots of cute dogs, and even some celebs (we saw Ron Jeremy... eeww). I really look forward to going again, and maybe I'll even see Ryan Seacrest... Rumor is he runs the trail every day!

Downtown skyline views from the trail

Sign at the top entrance on Mulholland Dr.

#8: The Getty Villa in Malibu

As anyone who knows me knows, in college I studied abroad in Greece. I didn't just pick that destination out of the blue; I had been borderline obsessed with ancient Greek culture since I was 11 years old and first learned what ancient cultures were. While in Greece, I toured around all the big cities, historic sites, museums, etc, and was absolutely in love. But anyway, I'll save the boring recap details and just get to the point of this post. When the beautiful Getty Villa opened a few years ago, exclusively featuring Getty's extensive collection of Greek, Roman and Etruscan art, it immediately went on my "must see someday" list.

My boyfriend and I made reservations to go the day after Christmas. We had lunch in Malibu beforehand, and then made our way to the Villa. It is worth noting that the only way to get to the museum is from the PCH going north-bound. That would have been fine if we just came from LA, but since we went further into Malibu for lunch, we ended up going south towards the museum and had to make a u-turn, which is pret-ty stressful on the PCH and I don't recommend it! Entrance to the museum is free (you have to make a reservation online) but parking costs $15.

A little Getty Villa history, courtesy of the 12-minute orientation video:

The first Getty museum was staged in J. Paul Getty's own Malibu home in the 1950's. As his collection grew, he commissioned the building of the Getty Villa, built adjacent to his home in the Malibu hills. The Villa opened in the 1970's - after Getty's death- and housed his entire, eclectic collection. But soon the Getty Trust was expanding the collection at a rapid pace, and they ran out of room again. The Trust soon began plans to build the Getty Center, which opened in 1997 and is a landmark in Los Angeles, sitting in the hills above Westwood next to the 405 freeway. (It is also a destination I highly recommend. I have been there probably 10 times and always make a beeline for the West Pavilion!)

When the Center opened, the Trust began extensive renovations on the now-empty Villa property. 8 years later it reopened as the home to Getty's most prized treasures - the ancient Greek and Roman art, pottery, statues and artifacts.

I must say, the setting of the villa couldn't have been more perfect. It was built to emulate a mansion found in the ruins of Mt. Vesuvius, and flowed perfectly from indoor to outdoor, and had several outdoor gardens and courtyards. Not to mention that it is literally on top of the hill above the beach in Malibu, and the views are unparalleled. I've never been to Rome, but I could imagine this is how the wealthy Romans lived 3,000 years ago.

As the collection is all from roughly the same period, the pieces are organized by theme instead of chronology. There were rooms dedicated to Gods and Goddesses, Luxury Vessels, the Trojan War (a personal favorite), and Dionysus and the Theatre. But the real reason to visit the museum (if you aren't an Ancient Greece nut like me) is for the gardens. They were built to feature the statues (replicas are outdoors), popular plants from the era, and the views.

Overall, it was a really great experience. I saw pieces that added to things I learned while in Greece. There are also several different tours offered throughout the day, but I decided to pass on a tour since I already had a base knowledge on the era. It is easy to compare the Villa to the Getty Center, but it's not a very fair comparison. The Getty Center is more awe-inspiring both in its collection and its location, but for Greek and Roman art, the Villa can't be beat. I recommend it for anyone that wants to spend an afternoon in Malibu - just make sure to go on a sunny day for the most amazing experience!

The Villa, sitting atop the Malibu hills

The biggest outdoor garden, with a view of the main museum building

A typical Roman vase (there are about 3,000 more similar to this in the museum!)

A statue of Heracles carrying a lion carcass - one of the more famous statues in the collection

Such a beautiful setting on a beautiful day!

#26: Drive all of Mulholland Drive

This weekend I found myself in Malibu, needing to go to North Hollywood. I could have driven down PCH to the 10 East to the 405 North for a rather bland commute, but instead realized that the most glorious 50-mile stretch of road in all Los Angeles would directly connect the two places. Mulholland Drive. Bingo.

Literally minutes into my drive, I found out that Mulholland isn't just famous because of the movie named after it, but because it's also pretty much the MOST FUN road to drive on. Ever. It runs all the way from the middle of the Malibu mountains, to the Cahuenga pass in Hollywood. Driving from Malibu (where it's actually called Mulholland Highway) was exhilarating, literally everything you could want in a drive. It was windy, steep, and had the most fantastic vistas, not to mention it was well-paved and easily marked. I passed several groups of motorcyclists and saw plenty of flashy sports cars - obviously this stretch of road is well known to motor enthusiasts. I felt slightly inadequate in my little Ford Focus, but knowing that most of those sports cars were probably automatics (classic LA) made me feel a little better. Speeding up and downshifting for the tight turns was exhilarating, and the views (which I tried my best to enjoy while still paying close attention to the road) were some of the best I had ever seen. And I don't just mean of Los Angeles, I mean of anywhere. Add in the fact that the weather was absolutely perfect (also classic LA) and Ronny had just made me a new mix to blast, and I had the most wonderful time.

The drive started with mountain and ravine views, then led through some exclusive-looking, incredibly wealthy neighborhoods. It kept winding around for about 10 more miles, with mostly vegetation and mountain views, then it became a neighborhood street, and then it became a dirt road. Hmm. I figured I could handle a few miles of dirt road, but it wasn't until mile 2 when I saw the "fire and emergency vehicles only" sign. Oops. Apparently that stretch of Mulholland is for hikers and mountain bikers only. Luckily no one had seen me and I escaped un-embarassed (admitting it here kind of defeats the purpose of escaping un-embarassed, but oh well). I backtracked up to Ventura Blvd for about 7 miles, then caught Mulholland Drive as it started again in Encino.

Once I was on Mulholland again, the road became a bit narrower and more crowded (read: Priuses everywhere, going 20mph. They plague Los Angeles). This stretch of road actually runs along the ridge of the Santa Monica mountains, which splits LA from the San Fernando valley, and at every turn there are amazing city views. On my left was the valley with views of Burbank, North Hollywood and Universal City, and then as soon as I would turn a corner, I would see Hollywood and the downtown skyline on my right. Also along this stretch you can smell the pine and eucalyptus trees, which shocked me. You would hardly think you were in the city, and then turn a corner and bam! The skyline.

There were plenty of vista points where I could have stopped to take pictures, but I promised myself I would just focus on the driving, and enjoy the experience (this was probably best for everyone else on the road, too). Plus, no pictures could do the views justice.

I read on Wikipedia that the Mulholland Highway was built "to take Angelenos from the city to the ocean." But you know that cliche saying that "life is about the journey, not the destination"? That's exactly how I feel about Mulholland Highway. It's not about getting from one place to another, but enjoying the experience while you're driving on it. I was expecting the drive to be fun, but I really had no idea how spectacular it would be. Especially since this activity is completely free, I highly recommend the drive. Just as long as, if you want to go slow, you pull over for the cars behind you to pass! Stupid Priuses.

A road sign towards the very end of the road near North Hollywood.

The entire stretch of road, from start to finish! This does no justice to the amount of twists and turns.

#14: The Griffith Observatory

For as long as I can remember, my engineer/pilot dad has dragged my entire family to air & space museums, observatories, and other points of scientific interest all over the country. Seeing as I grew up an hour away from LA, I'm actually pretty surprised we've never made a family trip up to the Griffith Observatory. I figured I would make Dad proud and spend a Saturday afternoon getting my learn on at the Griffith Observatory in Griffith Park.

Barbara, Regina and I headed up to the Observatory on a stiflingly hot day in August. We thought it would be a nice reprieve from the heat, but unfortunately we weren't the only people with that idea! The parking lot was full, but luckily we were able to easily find parking along the road for free. After a short (and sweaty) trek up the rest of the hill to the observatory, we rushed to the line to catch the "Centered in the Universe" planetarium show. Entrance to the observatory is free for everyone, everyday, but the planetarium shows cost $7 for adults ($5 with your student ID!). We were able to get tickets to the show we wanted, and immediately headed over the blessedly air-conditioned Samuel Oschin Planetarium.

After settling into our incredibly comfortable reclining chairs in the planetarium, the narrator's almost comically soothing voice came on, and guided us through a map of the stars and the history of theories of the universe, starting with Copernicus to Galileo all the way to current theories about how the universe is expanding. It was fascinating, relaxing, and of course educational.

After the show ended, we started exploring the rest of the observatory. We quickly walked through exhibits on the moon phases, eclipses, and sun spots. Hands down, the best attraction on the main floor is the Foucault Pendulum, located in the Central Rotunda. The exhibit illustrates how the Earth rotates, featuring a 240-pound brass sphere swinging on a 40-foot cable. The pendulum is constantly swinging back and forth, propelled by magnets in the ceiling. So basically, the pendulum swings constantly in the same direction, even though every 10 minutes the pendulum seems to move slightly and knock over a peg. But it's actually illustrating that the Earth is rotating around the pendulum. So cool.

The main floor was super crowded, so we headed downstairs. We walked down the "Cosmic Connection" corridor, which pretty much blew my mind. I like to consider myself somewhat creative, and the display over over 2,200 pieces of cellestial-themed jewelry to illustrate the history of the universe was one of the most amazing museum exhibits I've ever seen. The exhibit not only told the story of the universe's history, but also shows how connected humans are to the sky, and how we are attracted to star, moon, and sun-themed jewelry. Barb and Regina made fun of me for nerding out, but I honestly loved this exhibit and can't wait to take my mom to see it (she would totally love it even more than me).

On our way to the gift store, we passed an exhibit about meteors and meteorites, and a friendly docent approached me and asked if I wanted to hold "the oldest thing on Earth." Hell yes I did! He then handed me a rock, about the size of a softball, but probably weighed around 30 pounds. It was a small piece of one of the largest known meteorites on Earth, the one that created the famous Canyon Diablo Crater, more popularly known as "Meteor Crater" in Northern Arizona (you better believe my Dad took us there years ago).

Afterwards, we headed outside to explore the two telescopes. One was closed at the time, but we learned from a docent that both telescopes are used for observation (haha, at a observatory, duh) and not for research. Both telescopes have 12-inch lenses, and are open every night for the public to look through. The Coelostat Telescope (the one that was closed) on the west end of the observatory is a solar telescope, and was currently focused on the sun. The Zeiss Telescope, on the east end, was going to be focusing on Saturn that night. Fun fact: more people have looked through the Zeiss Telescope than any other telescope in the world.

We spent about 3 hours at the observatory, including the 30-minute planetarium show. But even in that amount of time, we probably saw less than half of what the observatory had to offer. I highly recommend the Griffith Observatory, and all of Griffith Park in general. People complain that there aren't enough parks and green space in LA, but little do they know that Griffith Park is one of the largest public parks in the country (my douchey New Yorker coworker made a bet with me that it was smaller than Central Park... it's actually five times larger). I can't wait to go back to the Observatory sometime in the fall or winter when it's a little less crowded, and I'll be sure to go at night this time so I can look through the telescopes!!

Driving up Vermont Canyon Road, which dead-ends at the Observatory.

A professional picture courtesy of the Griffith Observatory website. The building and its location are absolutely stunning!

The cosmic connection's illustration of the Big Bang.

Holding a piece of the Canyon Diablo Crater Meteorite.

The helicopter over Barbara's shoulder is so LA.

The view alone is worth a trip!

#11: The Playboy Mansion

When I was in college I was pretty obsessed with the show The Girls Next Door. The only celebrity autograph I keep on my bulletin board is from Bridget Marquardt (on a Sprinkles cupcake box lid, no less), and Kendra is still one of my favorite current reality stars. At one point, my college roommate Liz and I decided our new life "goal" was to become Hef's girlfriends so that we could live and play in the Playboy Mansion.

When I moved to LA, seeing the Playboy Mansion was one of the first things on my list to do. But it certainly isn't very easy! I knew that the chances of me getting an invite to one of their parties were pre-tty slim, but luckily, my friend Tracy's brother Gabe is a chef at the Mansion and offered me a tour a long time ago. I finally took him up on the offer, and brought along Ronny, my friend Jaclyn (who is one of Tracy's best friends) and Jac's mom, Susan.

We drove over to the Mansion on an early Saturday morning. I was shocked how close the Mansion actually is to places I go to all the time! I guess it's easy to forget that it is actually a house, in a normal (though rich) neighborhood in Hollywood. Gabe met us in the front of the Mansion, and though we weren't allowed to actually go in the house, he showed us all around the grounds. The place is a complete labyrinth! I'll let the pictures do the talking from here.

Here's the entrance of the Mansion, with Hef's new girlfriend's BMW out front.

The interior of the game room, full of vintage arcade games, all with Playboy themes!

On every table surface were current issues of the magazine.

Next, Gabe took us through the aviary, which was converted from a greenhouse. Apparently Hef loves exotic birds, and owns dozens of parrots, peacocks, and even a toucan!

There were several peacocks roaming around in the backyard, including two albino peacocks. They loved showing off for us!

Me and Ronny striking a pose in the backyard.

Main pool in the backyard. On the other side of the bridge is a koi pond.

Inside the famous "grotto"

Ronny was not excited at all to be in the grotto... :)

Jaclyn and her mom inside the grotto. They took pictures and kept sending them to Jac's dad to make him "jealous"

My car parked outside the Playboy Mansion, no big deal!

We also saw the tennis court, the guest house, the monkey cages, the pool house, the slip-n-slide hill (primed and ready for the 4th of July party!) and we even snuck into a few places I'm not supposed to tell about! It was an AWESOME experience, and I am very grateful for friends that help me cross things off my list!!