LA and La Brea Tar Pits

 

On 26 December, Mom, Dad, Carlos, BJ, and I (Shannon had to go back to work that day, boo-urns) drove to LA and enjoyed our day before Mom and Dad had to go to the airport to fly back home (Carlos and I stayed in Lancaster for three more days).

We planned to visit the LA Farmers' Market and the La Brea Tar Pits (their flight didn't leave until the evening so we basically had an entire day to play). We parked at the Grove shopping center and it was extremely busy (it was the day after Christmas after all!) and wandered over to the Market. We walked though all of the stalls, stores, and restaurants before deciding to eat a tasty lunch at a Greek restaurant (I had some really delicious sweet red pepper spread, garlic potato spread, and tzatziki with pitas for my lunch). We looked around a great big French gourmet food store (and bought some home-made marshmallows) before deciding to go to the La Brea Tar Pits before it got too late.

I had been to the tar pits before when I was really little and I still remembered most of the outside tar pits and museum. It was really fun to see the huge tar pits (with their bubbling gaseous bacteria) and play in some small tar puddles that seeped under the fencing. We looked through the exhibits inside the museum and it was really well-done. By this time Mom and Dad had to get to the airport so we said our goodbyes. Carlos, BJ, and I continued touring the museum and took more time to look at all the excavations outside before it got too dark. We made our way to a modern art museum nearby (where we saw a giant, yet artistic, rock). We soon called it a night and drove back to Lancaster to eat dinner and play with Shannon and the kitties!

 

 

 

 

Universal Studios, Hollywood

Back on the 23rd of December, while Carlos and I were visiting all of our family in California, Shannon, Dad, and I decided to take a day trip to Universal Studios in Hollywood. I hadn't been back there since 1999 when I visited with my Dad (looking at potential colleges) and Arnold Schwarzenegger was there for the opening of Terminator 2:3D. It is funny that during this trip, that same ride was only days away from closing!

We drove to Hollywood from Lancaster (about an hour trip), parked in the huge parking garage and made our way through CityWalk to the entrance of Universal Studios. We got there right when it opened and headed straight for the Tram Ride -- we actually made it onto the first tram of the day! The Tram Ride was just as I remembered it and a lot of fun. I really enjoyed seeing the Back to the Future clock tower (and other props), King Kong, Earthquake, and Jaws!

 

After riding the tram, we went on the Simpsons Ride (which used to be the Back to the Future ride) and it was fun, but quite jerky. From there, we took the gigantic escalators down to the lower level of the park where we rode Transformers (very fun!) followed by the Mummy (fast and dark).

 

Next, we rode the Jurassic Park ride. I really love this ride (the scenery and dinosaurs look amazing), but I do not like getting soaked. We were in the front row of the boat, so we were thoroughly drenched by the final fall! We dried off a bit and snacked on some Dippin Dots before heading back to the upper level of the park. Next we visited a special effects show (meh) and finally the Terminator 2:3D ride. I really liked it and am glad that I got to ride it again before it closed a couple of days later. After saying goodbye to the Terminator, we decided to call it a day and headed back to Lancaster!

 

In & around Lancaster, CA

I have (finally) uploaded, organized, and edited all of the pictures from Carlos' and my Christmas trip to Lancaster, CA and thought I would make another post of miscellaneous pictures from our stay with Shannon, BJ, Mom, and Dad.

I had a lot of fun playing with Shannon's kitties Daphne (who I met before when Shannon still lived in Las Vegas) and Ernie (who I had not met before this trip). Both kitties were fun and I think they enjoyed the extra attention. Ernie really liked napping under the curtains or in the sun room and Daphne was shy at first, but loved being brushed and playing with the laser pointer.

 

We enjoyed getting out of the house and visiting the various landmarks around Lancaster and Palmdale, especially the desert (more on that in a later post) and the aqueduct, which my grandpa helped build.

Of course, what would a holiday vacation be without tons of delicious food? We ate lots of tasty treats, including In-n-Out burgers and fries, Christmas lunch o' snacks, cookies, and hot cocoa.

 

 

I have some more California oriented post plans (Universal Studios, meteorite hunting, and LA Brea tar pits/LA) and I should be able to post about more fun soon.

Carlos and I have been running around the rain forest these past few days (doing SCIENCE!) and it has been so energizing and intellectually-stimulating. I am sure I will post about our Costa Rican adventures soon too!

X-mas in the CA desert

Carlos and I had a busy Christmas break this year: we started off by traveling to Redmond, WA (staying and playing with my parents and Remlington up there for about 4 days) then we all (except for Remlington!) flew down to Los Angeles, CA then drove to Lancaster to stay with my sister and her husband BJ for Christmas (Carlos and I stayed for 8 days). We had so much fun and I am glad that all of us were able to celebrate Christmas together as a family (this was the first time we were all together in about 3 years). We spent a lot of time relaxing and exploring Lancaster. I loved the desert there and the town was so pretty, relaxed, and was overall full of fun -- I can't wait for our next visit!

The first night there, Shannon made a beautiful chocolate tart for her co-workers. It even had gold glitter and gold leaf on it!

We spent a lot of time playing around the warm fire -- it was colder in Lancaster while we were there than it was in either of the Washingtons (state and DC)! Note the kitty bed hehehe.

Shannon and BJ set up their huge tree before we arrived and I decorated it (up to a certain height) with all of Shannon's ornaments. I especially like the giant sparkly purple Mickey head from Disney World.

One afternoon (every day was gorgeous while we were there) Shannon, BJ, Carlos, and I wandered into the desert behind their house to look for meteorites (we did this again later in a more sophisticated way...another post will talk about that adventure). The landscape around Lancaster is really pretty. I would love to return during the California Poppy festival!

On another day, Dad, Shannon, and I all drove into Hollywood (about an hour away) to visit Universal Studios -- and on the way saw the famous Vasquez Rocks -- but that is a topic for another post!

PS. Tomorrow morning (leaving the house at 3:15 am) Carlos and I embark upon another Costa Rica trip. We will be gone until mid-March, but I should be able to keep posting because we will be at stations with pretty reliable internet access. Chau!

2012's Christmas cards

 

Things have been very, very busy here on the home front as Carlos and I are getting ready for yet another trip to Costa Rica. I am extremely excited to get back to the forest, but there is a lot of stuff to do and organize before we leave.

Anyway, I am still working on the X-mas vacation pictures, so in the meantime here are some photos of the Christmas cards I sent out this year. I am pleased with the design (arboreal anteater -- Tamandua mexicana -- in a festive and fuzzy Christmas sweater vest) and it flows very nicely from last year's candy-cane themed tapir. I will have to think of something even better for next year!

Back from Magfest 11

Carlos and I are back in DC after spending the past few days out in National Harbor, Maryland for Magfest 11 (a most excellent video game and music festival). I had SUCH a great time and now am sad that it is all over (this is what they call "post-con depression" hehe). I will upload my pictures soon, and also get busy posting about what we have been up to this past month.

In other news, we have our tickets for Costa Rica and will be there from 21 Jan - 20 March. We will spend about a month at both La Selva and Las Cruces working on various research projects. I am very excited! After that, we will be in China (finally!) to interview for jobs. 2013 promises to be an exciting and busy year!

Agouti x-stitch & update

Now that gifts and hand-made cards have been received by everyone, I can finally blog about more of the crafty things that I made for the holidays. This year (like every year), my UCSB friends and I do a Secret Santa gift exchange. I was the Secret Santa for Christina this year and I bought her a Smitten Kitchen cookbook and made this little " A is for Agouti" cross-stitch (I thought it would fit in her baby nursery). I am really pleased with how it turned out (did you notice the sparkly copper stitches on the agouti's rump?).

 

As for an update: Carlos and I are back from California and we had such an amazing time with all of our family down there! We really liked the high elevation desert in and around Lancaster and I will post some of what we did over Christmas break soon. Tomorrow, we are off on a mini-vacation at National Harbor, Maryland for a video game festival called MagFest! We are going to be gone for five days and it will be non-stop nerdiness and video game fun. This will be my very first video game con and I am glad to accomplish another item on my bucket list~

PS. Happy New Year everyone!

3 crows x-stitch

 
Carlos and I are in Redmond, WA now with my parents and tomorrow morning we are all off to Lancaster, CA to see my sister and her husband. We had a full (and fast) few days here visiting with friends and seeing our usual WA haunts (the Root Beer Store, Uwajimaya, and REI top that list).

A couple of nights ago we visited with our friends Judy and Terry for dinner at my parents' house. As a gift for Judy, I made a cross stitch of three crows in the Charley Harper art style (Judy likes crows). I really like how it turned out -- it is pretty simple but looks cool. I have more arty things to post about (gifts, X-mas cards), but I can't put those up until later (after people receive them).

Posting might be a little more sparse than usual while we are out and about in the Mojave!