#2: The Los Angeles Zoo

I have always been a huge fan of zoos. Especially living in a city, zoos are one of the only ways I actually get to see animals besides the standard city pigeons and chihuahuas in bedazzled tutus. I love the San Diego Zoo (and the Wild Animal Park!), and have been meaning to check out the LA Zoo for years but just have never gotten around to it.

So last Sunday my amazing, always-a-good-sport boyfriend and I made our way out to the zoo, on the far end of Griffith Park. As we entered the zoo, Ronny said he wanted to see the pandas first (of course)... and it was then that I had to break it to him that there were no pandas at this zoo. The look on his face showed me that that was the only reason he had agreed to come. Well, at that point I was just hoping the new "Elephants of Asia" exhibit could somehow make up for the lack of pandas (hint: they didn't, as if they could).

Despite that first hurdle of disappointment, I had high hopes. The map made the zoo look huge, and all the directional signs kept pointing us toward pictures of zebras, koalas and other cuddly animals. However, 10 minutes into our walk and I could hardly hide my disappointment. I know it may be an unfair comparison, but where the San Diego Zoo really excels is making the animal habitats look spacious and natural. The LA Zoo hardly seemed to put much effort at all into this. The hippo pool is 3 times the length of the actual hippo. I wonder if he can even turn around :( The brown bear was sweltering in the mid morning sun, with only a tiny pile of quickly melting snow to even give him a hint of his "real" home. The zebra had a smaller corral than most rodeo arenas. I mean, it was sad. I guess most zoos really are, but only being to the San Diego Zoo and Wild Animal Park in recent memory kind of let me forget how small, cramped, and "caged" the animals really are.

Don't get me wrong, there were some highlights. The adorably cuddly koala bear high in his tree, back to the crowd. You do you, little koala. The perfectly camera-ready zebra, who saw me aiming my camera and posed perfectly so I could get a good shot. No joke, as soon as I took the picture he started moving around again. The mountain goats perched high up on the rocks, doing down at everyone with a "holier than thou" expression (though I will never be able to take them seriously with those ridiculous goatees.. I mean really guys). And then there was my personal favorite, the giraffes. Their habitat seemed to have a bit of breathing room, and lots of tall trees to reach up and eat from. I saw the tallest giraffe in his 16-foot glory stretching his 20-inch black tongue up into the branches.'

The "Elephants of Asia" exhibit, which I have seen billboards for all over the city for months, was a big disappointment. They seemed to put a big emphasis on educating people on the elephants from different regions (India, China, Thailand, etc) which was cool, but the elephants were literally stepping on each other's toes! They just looked so sad.

Overall, I'm glad I went, but I definitely won't be returning to the LA Zoo. If you want a good zoo experience, there is none better than the two in San Diego (plus, they have pandas). But, if you insist on checking the LA Zoo out for yourself, make sure to arrive early. We got there around 11am, and by the time we left at 1pm, we could hardly walk there were so many people and kids.

Can you see all my stripes from this angle?

Just... a little... further...

Sup.

The elephants were camera-shy so I settled for a picture with the sign.

#22: Horseback ride on the Hollywood Ridge

Like I mentioned in my Playboy Mansion post, in college my friends and I were obsessed with The Girls Next Door. So you better believe I saw the episode where Holly, Bridget and Kendra went horseback riding with some friends up on the ridge of Mt. Hollywood. A simple google search told me that the horse stable in the Hollywood Hills is called Sunset Ranch. A few months of coordination later (my friends are really busy), Marsha, Nicole and I made the trek up Beechwood Dr to the stables.

I had been looking forward to this outing for a few months and had pretty high expectations. I am happy to say that it exceeded all of my expectations, and is something I would highly recommend to locals and tourists alike. The views are amazing, the guides were super nice (both were aspiring actresses who grew up on ranches) and informative, and you get to see a part of Los Angeles that most people never get to see. Griffith Park continues to amaze me and I can't wait to explore another part of it soon (perhaps the LA Zoo?).

If you do decide to take a horseback tour from Sunset Ranch, go in the morning before it gets too hot. You will be sweating like crazy on your ride because you have to wear a helmet, and the horses struggle with the heat too. Wear long pants, because there's nothing grosser than having your legs covered in horse hair and sweat (eewww). Spend $15 extra dollars and do the 2-hour ride instead of just the 1-hour ride. For $30 you get to walk on some paved paths and see bits of downtown, but for $45 you get twice as much time, and get to go all the way up to the top of Mt. Hollywood. You get unparalleled vistas of downtown, the valley, the Griffith Observatory, and the interior of Griffith Park itself. It was well worth the extra time and money. Yet another bucket list item that lived up to the hype and did NOT disappoint!

This is as far as you can go by car up Beechwood Dr. To the right is the Hollywood Sign hike, and a short (yet steep) walk to the left is Sunset Ranch.

Me, Marsha and Nicole geared up in our helmets and waiting to get our horses.

Me with my horse Malcolm and an incredible view.

Marsha with her ironically-named, very large horse Tiny.

Nicole on her horse Kennedy. They named him that because they say he only likes to be ridden by women... hahaha

Walking "nose to tail" on the Old Mulholland Highway.

With views like this, we almost forgot we were actually in the city.

I always claim that "there is no smog in LA.. it's just fog." Unfortunately, this picture proves me very, very wrong :(

Looking down at the Griffith Observatory

A bonding moment with Malcolm, after the ride and a much-needed water break for both of us!

#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!

#3: Hike to the Hollywood Sign

A few years ago I made friends with a German girl named Bernadette, who was visiting the United States for six months while she student-taught at a German-immersion elementary school. I immediately decided to be her official LA tour guide. The first weekend we hung out, I drove her out to Malibu, then down the Sunset Strip, and all of a sudden she gasped.

"Are those the Hollywood letters?!" she asked excitedly as she pointed up at the Santa Monica Mountains.

"Yeah, that's the Hollywood sign."

"Oh my gosh!! Who would have ever thought that a girl from a little town in Germany would ever get to see the HOLLYWOOD LETTERS?!?!" She was beyond excited.

I have to admit, I have become a bit jaded about the Hollywood sign myself. I do work in Hollywood, after all, and everyday when I drive into work I see it. But seeing Bernadette's excitement reminded me what the Hollywood sign might symbolize to non-jaded people in the world outside of LA. To her, the Hollywood sign was a symbol of almost a fantasy land, where movies are made and famous people drive expensive cars down roads lined with palm trees and it's sunny every day of the year. And here we were!

While Bernadette was here, we talked several times about hiking up to the sign, but for one reason or another we never got around to it. So now, 2 years later, I finally decided to make the trek. With Ronny and 2 dogs we were watching for the weekend in tow, we drove up Beechwood Dr. to the trailhead. We got there around 9:30am, early enough to find parking and also early enough so we (and the pups) didn't die in the summer heat.

The trail is easy enough. It is a wide dirt road and then halfway it becomes a paved road up to the top. The round trip is only about 3 miles, but the beginning of the hike is pretty steep (not to mention covered in horse poop! We had quite a struggle steering the dogs around all the piles). Ronny and I were huffing and puffing, and the usually endlessly energetic dogs were even walking instead of straining with all their might against their leashes to run. There was limited shade, so whenever we came across some we took advantage of a little rest break and water break for the dogs.

The trail doesn't lead to the front of the sign, instead we had to hike around the back of the mountain and approach the sign from behind. That means for the first half of the hike, there were amazing vistas of LA behind us, and for the second half of the hike the San Fernando Valley was in front of us. When we finally reached the top, we were greeted by a 20-foot tall chain link fence, through which you could see part of the sign. The sign is so large (the letters are 45 feet tall) I couldn't even fit it into one picture.

We were able to scramble up a small hill at the top to see over the chain-link fence. At the top we could see all of the LA basin, and I'm sure on a clearer day we would have been able to see all the way to the ocean. But it was very hazy the morning we went (I refuse to say it was smoggy), and it was even a bit difficult to see downtown.

It was a fun hike, and a great way to tire out those energetic pups for an entire day. But it was also interesting to see the sign up close and personal. What started as an advertisement for a new housing complex in "Hollywoodland" has now become an iconic symbol synonymous with the glitz and glam and dreams of making it big in the movie biz. And I could be jaded and say that up close, it's just a bunch of steel and chain-link and security cameras, but who am I to deny the excitement one gets from seeing the Hollywood "letters" for the first time? I can't deny that I got excited the first time I saw it, and I still got a little excited hiking up to it!

The view about halfway up the hike

Me at the top with my adopted pups Archie and Walter

The sign is too big to fit in one picture from this close!

Me and Bernadette the day she saw the Hollywood sign circa 2009 (you can barely see it in the background)