Three degrees of Glory tour

Today was the educational portion of our vacation! Michael and I had a brilliant idea........well it seemed like one at the time. I went online to order some small columns for the "emily" wedding and saw that my internet source had a new storefront in downtown LA. Well why pay shipping...we could just swing by on our way to the La Brea Tar Pits and pick them up. Did I mention it was in DOWNTOWN LA? Today's educational adventure brought our children a unique view of the American way of life. We not only got to witness several drug deals take place but Michael did a whole lot of praying after he kicked me out of the van to RUN in the store. While I was in the van the hooker and the 2 men sitting next to our auto were kindly making sure that we were okay...since the parking meter did not accept money. I kindly gave them all the change out of my pocket after I returned from my few minutes in the warehouse which Michael said felt like an eternity. We were definitely not of the correct ethnic origin to be hanging out on the corner. Did you know that 2 1/2 hours of driving here equals only 40 miles and the way is colorfully decorated with every sort of name available in creative spray paint design.
After this eye opening or should we say 'Please close your eyes kids" route....we headed to the La Brea Tar Pits which was pretty incredible. There are still tar pools all around and they have tons and tons of bones on display. Maliea was fascinated with all of it.
After we drove through Beverly Hills, Hollywood (got to see the sign on the hill) and continued on through the opulence until we finally found food.
Heading toward the Santa Monica pier, we drove past the LA temple!! I was so nice and much much bigger than I thought it would be.
We played on the beach for awhile. Lydia was not impressed at all. She was scared and just wanted to go back to the hotel. The other kids stayed fairly dry until the last five mins when Chaiya got knocked over by a wave and pushed Maliea as she was trying to get out of the water. They were soaked!!!!! Thayne even put his toes in.
Our drive back was long as we got misdirected several times by a faulty map.
Very long day.... Quayde and Lydia would have been happy the whole time to just sleep in the hotel and watch tv!
On to another day....