Bowers Museum

The first Sunday of the month is free at Bowers Museum, courtesy of Target. Back in August, we paid a visit.

They had an exhibit on the rituals (weddings, funerals, rites of passage) from tribes in Africa and Asia. There were many beautiful pieces of clothing and jewelry on display, as well as stunning photography.




We then walked into the newer wing of the museum and out into the statue garden with a wall of fountains. Guess who went straight to the fountains.





I can't remember what these were, but they were in the California history part of the museum

De Young Museum w/ Warhol & YSL

Right after we went to the Academy of Sciences, we walked across the plaza to the De Young Museum. There was an Andy Warhol and an Yves Saint Laurent exhibit. The museum was designed by the Swiss architects Herzog and de Meuron. They clad the building in copper, which will develop a green patina over time, like the Statue of Liberty.







Alex ascending a staircase


We stopped for lunch in the cafeteria, which had some cool lollipop lights.


During lunch, we spotted a woman dressed up like a mouse walking around the park with her friends.







Posing next to the exhibit sign with my shopping full of YSL souvenirs

Alex and Jasmine visit the Academy of Sciences

We really wanted to see the reopened California Academy of Sciences and heard about the crowds, so early Saturday we headed out to Golden Gate Park. It was cold, but luckily the lines weren't too long when we arrived around 9:30.




Alex waiting for Mom to get tickets


Jasmine waiting for her mom to get tickets


Alex and Jasmine in the humungous rainforest exhibit.


In the rainforest sphere


Alex goofing off while waiting for an elevator


The exterior of the rainforest exhibit, which is a big glass sphere, looking up at the skylights


On the "living roof" looking the same skylights that illuminate the rainforest.

We told Alex that's where the Teletubbies live.


Underneath the living roof is the museum.


The aquarium part of the museum, which uses seawater pumped in from the ocean via huge pipes running under the park for miles.


JC & Jasmine in awe of the large catfish.


The giant pendulum. Can you see our reflection? I think they are trying to find the island on "Lost."

UPDATE: check out this link from the design firm Pentagram, who did the environmental graphics.

post by Armilyn

Skirball Cultural Center

We had somewhat of a late start to our mini vacation. We decided to let Alex go to school while we packed. It was noon and we were off to Santa Barbara for the Dan Zanes concert, Alex's 3rd concert. We headed up the 405, passed the Getty, then saw the Skirball Cultural Center. David had heard that they were having a Superhero comic book exhibit so decided to take a short detour to check it out. It was a good thing we did because we got in for FREE including parking! Not spending any money at the start of our vacation - Priceless ; )
Of course Alex couldn't wait to get there.

The Superhero Exhibit

Zap! Pow! Bam! Free is good, thank you mam!

Super Mommy at the costume area - hey that's for the kids!

Super Daddy calm, cool, collected, despite Superman crashing our party.

Alex practicing the art of drawing comics despite the Joker's antics.

Now it was off to Noah's Ark.

How appropriate that I wore my zebra print scarf.

Metal sculptures of an elephant and zebras.

Alex rides the camel outside Noah's Ark.

The whole thing was interactive for kids

even the aadults could play.

The red owls made of fans was my favorite

as were the wooden camels and giraffe.

The lifesize models were truly spectacular!

Looks like both exhibits will be around until end of August.

Outside for some fresh air.

A lovely ampatheater for concerts.

A cool outdoor sculpture with spraying mists.

Alex just couldn't help himself - there was a rainbow!

Lesson learned: "A truly happy person is one who can enjoy the scenery while on a detour."

Rainy Day LA

Today was President's Day, and both Alex and David had the day off. It was either off to the snow or up to LA for some museum time. Well because it was raining (and likely snowing) we decided to head to LA.

On holiday Mondays, Target sponsors free admission days to the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. The last one was on Martin Luther King day back in January, but we ended up going to San Clemente. This time we piled in the car early and braved the wet weather. We arrived 40 minutes before opening, so we walked around the grounds for a bit. The museum has an installation on Wilshire Boulevard of numerous old streetlamps. Walking through them felt like being in an 80s music video.



We walked over to the new Broad Contemporary wing that opened last year

Then we headed back inside the main buildings to get out of the rain and waited on the steps for the galleries to open. We saw the BMW Art Cars, Indonesian textiles exhibit as well as the Vanity Fair Magazine portraits.

While David went to feed the parking meters, Alex and I went to the sculpture garden that had Alexander Calder's fountain mobiles.

They had a free music performance as well, where all the kids in the audience got a drum to play along with the band.



Afterwards, we drove a few blocks to the Farmers Market at 3rd and Fairfax. We ate at the French Crepe Co. where David and I shared the Tropical Crepe, which was drizzled in melted chocolate and was filled with strawberries, bananas, mango, papaya and grapes. Yum.



We walked around the Farmers Market and The Grove a bit, and had to buy Alex some socks after too much puddle jumping.

Alex fooling around in the children's store.


On the way home we saw a beautiful rainbow. Hopefully it means good luck since we bought a lotto ticket at Farmer's Market.


The end of our rainy day adventure.