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| Last stop - The LA County Museum of Natural History |
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| T-Rex and Triceratops fossil display |
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| Silly Elise posing by the dinosaurs |
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| The girls loved the extensive dinosaur displays |
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| Elise enjoyed the mineral display |
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| Minerals & gems at LA County Natural History Museum |
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| Animal exhibits and the preserved mega mouth shark |
Our very last destination during our LA trip was the Los Angeles County Museum of Natural History. We got the double entry pass for both La Brea Tar Pits and the Natural History Museum and while we thought it would be a quick trip, it turned out that the girls did not want to leave and made sure to explore every corner and exhibit. They really loved this place and I would highly recommend making it a top go-to spot while visiting LA. The highlights were the dinosaur exhibit the extensive mineral and gem exhibit. The girls were in awe over the colossal dinosaur bones and Elise especially loved the colorful mineral displays. She declared that she planned to start collecting "beautiful and colorful rocks" once she gets back home. We also paid a little extra to visit the butterfly pavilion and they loved getting to locate and identify the different butterfly species on their guides.
What a great end to a very fun trip. We had plenty of relaxation, family and beach time early on, so it was nice to spend the last day doing a bit of sightseeing. Elise was thrilled to see the Hollywood sign on our drive back since she recognized it from the movie "Hop". The kids did surprisingly well on the drive back home. We only stopped a couple times and there were no are we there yet's uttered, so all-in-all success. We are looking forward to visiting LA again soon. We want to see our family more often and visit a few more Southern CA beaches. I really want to take the kids to Laguna Beach as I have some great memories there visiting the tide pools with my grandparents. We also still have the California Science Center (home of the Endeavor Space Shuttle) on our future to-do-list.
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| Cute Alina posing with the polar bear |
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| South American art exhibit |
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| The Nature Lab was another highlight for the girls |
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| Elise identifying butterfly species; she had it down! |
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| Fun in the butterfly pavilion |
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| Alina found this beautiful monarch butterfly |
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| View of the Hollywood sign on our drive home |
