Merry Christmas!

Rocket would like to wish everyone a very merry Christmas and a happy, healthy 2012!  We are looking forward to another year of adventures in Los Angeles.

Tar Baby

Story and Photos by Jennifer Gill

Rocket and I decided to explore a unique feature of our neighborhood - the La Brea tar pits. 

The tar pits are one of the world’s most famous fossil localities, recognized for having the largest and most diverse assemblage of extinct Ice Age plants and animals in the world.  During the last Ice Age (between 10,000 and 40,000 years ago), animals such as saber-toothed cats and mammoths roamed Los Angeles...much different from the "creatures" we see today!

This big, gnarled tree is at the entrance to the park.  Rocket sat politely for a picture, but he couldn't keep his eyes off something just in the distance...

...It's a mammoth and her baby standing on the edge of a giant tar pit!  Cool!

On our way to see what else the park had to offer, we stopped for some rock climbing.  

  

Rocket was smiling from ear to ear when he got up close and personal with this tar pit!  

Look at the size of those kitties!  Rocket was wishing he was around in the last Ice Age so he could have played with them.  

There was way too much excitement at the tar pits, so we sat on the grass for a bit to rest.  Rocket sampled a clover, but decided it wasn't worth the calories. 

On the way home, Rocket stopped to watch this fountain for a bit.  At one point, he tried to lean all the way over the edge for a better look (or maybe it was to try and wash the taste of clover out of his mouth).