Exposition Park

Now that all the kiddies are all back to school, I am determined to make the most of a day at Exposition Park. Yes, finally see the Nature Lab and Nature Gardens at the Natural History Museum, and the Endeavour Shuttle at the Science Center.

You know spiders are my favorite! If you visited the old Discovery Center at NHM, you remember the tanks with the snakes, frogs, spiders and other crawly things. Inside the new Nature Lab, the animals are more front-and-center with jumbo tanks for the bullfrogs and ant colonies. I love this cool collection of preserved spider specimens, and there are multiple live ones nearby. Woohoo!!

Outdoor is the Nature Garden, where everything was planted or placed to attract wildlife. I liked the way they indicated with these big arrows the important things going on. There's also a flowing creek to simulate the LA River, bird watching platforms and an edible garden that truly smells wonderful.

Next door, there's the Endeavour at the Science Center. I can't believe it has been almost a year since I saw the shuttle strapped to a 747 flying over LA (see September 21, 2012 post). Now CSC has a temporary bunker with big plans for the permanent gallery. While I was there, the space went from a nice crowd to a packed crowd as another busload of tourists came in to gawk. I look forward to their ambitious plans!

I also hadn't seen the Kelp Forest with the touch tanks up top, or the Rot Room. Both were fun surprises and reminders that I need to make a habit of returning.

Get out there and see all that LA has to offer!