California Science Center

The other day during a short business trip down to L.A I figured I'd take the kids on a side trip to the California Science Center.  I've been wanting to go for quite some time so the trip was a great excuse to get out of town and do something different.  Ultimately it turned out to be a much more difficult trip than I had hoped for but I did learn some valuable lessons...

Lesson #1:  If your GPS tells you it only takes 25 minutes to get from point A to point B in downtown L.A. it's safe to say a more accurate time would be at least double that.

Lesson #2:  Kids aren't particularly fond of tuna sandwiches (I don't know what I was thinking but in my defense the store employee claimed they didn't have kids meals and my kids won't eat lunch meat) so next time I'll probably suck it up and go to McDonald's.

Lesson #3:  Parking was fairly cheap (only like $6) and it got you into all of Exposition Park.  And the museum was FREE, although I did donate a couple bucks.

Lesson #4:  It's tough to take two children to a museum by yourself.  They tend to wander and in opposite directions none the less.  

Lesson #5:  The exhibits weren't as hands on as I had hoped although the kids still had fun looking at everything.  They did have two rooms geared toward younger children and that turned out being the kids' favorite parts. 

Lesson #6:  The museum closes at 5:00 so if you want to see everything without rushing don't get there an hour and 30 minutes before they close.

Lesson #7:  Pay better attention, I guess.  This one wasn't so much of a lesson as an unfortunate circumstance.  After the museum closed and after we had seen everything I thought was there to see I was talking to someone outside the museum who raved about how awesome and hands on the new exhibit was.  It turns out there was a brand new (4 day old) exhibit that was super awesome with scuba divers feeding sharks and stuff and we missed it!  It was so new they didn't have anything about it in the brochure or on any of the inside signs.  I did notice they had a huge sign on the outside but I just assumed it was coming soon.

Lesson  #8:  Ice cream and a play place is a great way to win over your kids and wear them out on the drive home.

Lesson #9:  Getting out of town for the day is so worth it no matter what the circumstances!  I will totally do this again keeping in mind all of the above.  Next time I was thinking the Natural History Museum (also in Exposition Park) and making sure to hit up the missed Ecosystems exhibit on the way.  

In conclusion, here are a few shots of the day...

An A-12 Blackbird is the first thing you see coming out of the parking lot.  We came across two touristy looking missionaries so I offered to take their picture and in return they took ours.

Evelyn on the walkway to the California Science Museum.  

Proof that we were there plus the humongous sign for the new Ecosystems exhibit.

Evelyn's favorite part was this video camera.  

Preston's favorite part were the puppets.

Playing on the rocks outside the museum.

This piece of art was pretty cool.  Can you tell what it is?  Hint: It makes more sense from the other side.