August 22, 2004
La Brea Tar Pits

Today I took the kids to the Page Museum bka The La Brea Tar Pits.

To those not from Los Angeles, the Tar Pits are an area where oil and asphalt have risen to the surface in the middle of the city for the last 40,000 years at least. Water would collect on top of the asphalt and thousands of animals got caught in the tar trap, their bones preserved for centuries.


The tar is still there, waiting for it's next victim.

There is a working museum where they excavate the remains and put them on display. Mammoths, saber-tooth tigers, sloths, American lions, condors, and other extinct animals have all been preserved for us to see.


Zoe & Mira in front of a horse skeleton.

The Tar Pits are a common destination for LA schoolchildren and the museum is well suited for kids. There is a wall with hundreds of skulls of dire wolves caught in the tar. It's as impressive today as it was when I was 10 and saw it for the first time.

If you haven't visited, do yourself a favor and go. You'll have a good time.

Posted by michael at August 22, 2004 05:09 PM