Day 6: L.A. or Hell in Traffic Form

L.A. Ahh you tempt me with your lusty thoughts, ideas, and movie-made dreams and then you doubly betray me with your stupid traffic. Seriously. No matter where we went or what we did...traffic. Not the kind that allows you to at least surf your phone. Noo noo no no. The kind that you are constantly gas, break, honk...gas, break, honk. We tried to go to the Santa Monica Pier and after fighting traffic, we just opted not to. It was insanely crowded and just not worth the effort. Sorry, Santa Monica.
We had give-up, you guys. Give. Up.
We drove back to the hotel in Anaheim and decided to explore on our trip to see the Endeavour and the museums the next day.
So, every city it seems, has something similar to our Fair Park. Here's the difference-The natural history museum and science museum in L.A. is FREE. That's right. Free. You pay nothing. And let me tell you people, the natural history museum is like something I've never seen before. It is stunning. Stunning I tell you!!

Endeavour was our first stop. It was awe-inspiring to see this massive vehicle used for space exploration/travel. I was hoping they'd let us get inside, but that was a giant no.

Science-y things here:

Natural History-y things here:

This building has some great architectural structure to it. Not only on the outside, but the inside is the most beautiful place I think I've ever been.

This is a stained glass ceiling piece in a round room that branched off into other exhibits. I wanted to see if my voice would echo, but B said I'd get security called on me. Next time, I will try it. I just know it.

A note from Walt Disney. A for real one.

The museums were awesome, but I found the fact that they were all free admission to be the best part. Seriously, everyone should have access to museums be they art, science, or natural history. The more people go, the more they understand, and the more informed they become. 

Hotels or The One Time Mom and Dad Get a Break From Doing Daily Chores

We stayed in 3 hotels. Should you decide to go insane and take a 10 day trip to California, here are the lodgings and how I found them. I can be a snob and a half about accommodations. I may not be as picky as some, but I am pretty picky.

Wyndham Bayside- Grade: C-. It was alright. The room was smaller than we wanted and it was old looking from the outside. Inside, nice and remodeled. Still had to pay for parking and it was kinda busy. I loved that I could still run (on the dreadmill) and it was within walking distance of Seaport Village and the bay. The bathrooms were beautiful, but the tubs/showers needed updating terribly!

Anaheim-Red Lion-Grade: B- We were less than a mile from Disneyland. We walked to Disney no problem. This is a fairly new(ish) hotel chain or maybe I just haven't seen them before. This was 10x better than Wyndham. The pool and the fact we could see the fireworks show at Disney from the pool was aces. Also, I loved the firepits/seating area at the pool. It gets cold here (cold to me, I'm from Texas remember?) so the boys could swim in the heated pool while I sat by the fire at night. Loved it. Room was bigger than the last and the laundry service was awesome.

The Layfayette Hotel (San Diego) Grade: A We are staying in a historic hotel, The Layfayette. Apparently some pretty famous people would stay here when they wanted to get away from Hollywood. Bob Hope was their first visitor and most frequent, I believe.

http://www.lafayettehotelsd.com/

(Go look this hotel up on Wikipedia. Crazy-cray stuff like the pool club being created by the guy who played Tarzan)

They have a swimming pool the size of Manhattan and tonight, it's a dive-in movie tonight. Guess where we're spending our evening? (Wall-E and s'mores sounds like a great plan!)

This place is beautiful and amazing and I am in LOVE with it. In. Love. I want to live here.

This is our room number and the plate outside of our room. The Abbott and Costello room. We found the irony in the fact that this is the room we were assigned because their shenanigans are on par with our boys'.

The decor is too-die for beautiful and kitschy.

Day 5: Aquarium of the Pacific and U.S.S. Iowa or FDR Was the Hot Roosevelt and *That* is What is Important Here

Long Beach is stunning. It is also where you can see the L.A. river thingy they filmed the race scene in Grease. The Aquarium of the Pacific is the best aquarium I have ever been to and believe me, I've done my fair share of aquarium-ing in my day. The boys were able to touch sting rays, sharks, and starfish. They had seals and sea lions too. They said that the sea lions and seals were not captured, but were needing medical care or were in retirement from a certain marine theme park.

I know this is blurry, BUT this is a fetal shark still in the egg and still gestating. The aquarium cut around the egg and replaced it with plastic. You can see them moving around and growing.

Brian wanted to take the boys to visit the battleships and aircraft carriers around here, but because of the time constraints, we settled on the U.S.S. Iowa. I thought the boys would be bored, but they loved it! They even saw where 3 U.S. Presidents stayed on board AND they met someone who served on the actual ship. (Also, kinda off topic but kinda not, FDR= hoooooooot.)

This. Just... everything about this.

Stalin, Roosevelt (Hot), and Churchill (who I also love because he was kinda snarky)

Love.

Ahh, it's good to own land...

Their fascination with the portable hand washing sinks ASTOUNDS me greatly. For real, y'all?? Really?