The Getty

My last day in LA I decided to visit The Getty since I had never been.  Amazing what you can collect and the legacy complex you can leave behind if you own an oil company.

I took the architectural tour, and let's just say I got carried away taking pictures of the amazing buildings and grounds...

Amazing views...you could see downtown LA to the east, and the ocean to the west (yes, it was actually a clear-ish day)

 (the infamous 405 in the background - the piece under construction which caused "carmageddon" last summer)

Oh yeah, I actually went INTO some of the buildings and there was some art in there...

 Monet - one of my favorites

 There were a few Calder's also, another one of my favs

Da Beach

On Monday I met a friend from high school who I hadn't seen in about 10 years!  It was good to catch up and meet her family.  We met at Crystal Cove State Park in Laguna Beach. Of course it was cold and overcast...

 We wandered around the tide pools looking for critters

My friend's children playing on the rocks...

We went to Balboa Island and took the ferry to the peninsula for lunch (yes, the same ferry which only days earlier lost a car off the front)

Hiking at 7,000 ft

My brother and I also went for a hike one day.  It was the most snow I've seen all winter so far (go figure, I'm in So Cal in January...)

We were hiking along the Pacific Crest Trail...

 The pinecones were gigantic!  (sorry mom, I didn't bring any back with me)

 Doesn't this dead tree look like a goat?

The "waterfall" we were hiking to...I think

 Not quite enough snow to ski at Mt. Waterman...

And here is as good as any place for a couple cute pics of my brother family...

 T. Rex waiting for me to stop taking pictures and play ball with him

Dr. Zhivago is still loving his arugula

And although I've always heard the owls when visiting my brother...this was the first time I saw one in a tree just outside his deck

The The Tar Tar Pits

While visiting my brother in LA, we went to The The Tar Tar Pits.  I learned that La Brea means "the tar", so The La Brea Tar Pits is really The The Tar Tar Pits.

(hee hee - looks like the baby is poopin)

 the pits are still bubblin

they are still excavating at the site and still finding bones

We then went next door to the LA County Museum of Art... 

...the infamouse lampposts out front

inside we went to see the Metropolis exhibit which opened that weekend

 outside, we stumbled across another piece of the Berlin Wall