Valley Ventures: The Endeavor

I have been back to my Valley hood all week and love being poolside, hanging out with my family, being in traffic and seeing downtown.
While being back home, I thought it fitting to bring back the Valley Ventures.

 This past week we ventured out to the California Science Center to see the retired space shuttle, The Endeavour.

Every since it got retired at brought back to LA in October I have been wanting to go.
Before seeing the ship we went through a short Museum all about space travel and specifically the Endeavor.
I was intrigued with the section on using the restroom while in space.
Never thought about the gravity issue...I thought it was interesting, however my 9 year old niece was pretty grossed out.
These are the tires last worn by the Endeavour. The wear seen here is from just one landing of the ship, and must be changed after each mission. Tires are $5,000...a piece.

One of the coolest parts of the space shuttle coming to LA was the fact that it arrived via an airplane and then was taken throughout the streets of LA to get to the Science Center.

We watched a short film of the time lapse of the shuttles drive through LA.
To see the video, you can go here.
Roads had to be reinforced to support the weight, streets poles had to be moved, electricity needed to be cut and the shuttle had to be carefully maneuvered around trees.

Now on to the Space Shuttle...

The Endeavour is only one of five shuttles built.
It was named after Captain James Cook's ship and his first voyage.
It was built to replace the Challenger, which was lost in 1986.
It's first launch was in 1992 and had a total of 25 missions.
It orbited 4, 671 times.

{photo bombed by Laura & Lyla}
It was really cool to see it up close.
I mean, this thing went into OUTER SPACE!
How mind blowing is that!?

Valley Ventures: Santa Anita Park

Well its the holidays and so my family finds themselves at the horse races.

{We couldnt go during Thanksgiving this year due to Laura's birthday being on actual turkey day this year, and for some odd reason she vetoed going to see the horses on her birthday. Whoulda thought??}

As a result we were able to venture to Opening Day at Santa Anita Park.

Lets just say this park is a bit classier than Hollywood Park.

And a lot more crowded! I was shocked at the amount of people.

And the horse races never disappoint.

 

We took the rest of the fam this year.

 

Not all of them loved it as much as me and my Dad...

This boy loved it! Until he realized none of his horses were winning their races. He shed a few tears. Good thing mom told him we had been "cheating" by reading up on the races in the program. Whoops.

 

We did see Gene Simmons

 

And found the bugler! I got my picture with him at Hollywood Park too!

I was so excited to see him again.

 

We stayed for about 5 races and each one of us picks a horse to cheer for.

My horses won twice!!

I could have won a lot of money on those races...

{Doesnt that smile just melt you??}

 

Its so fun. I like to pretend that now I know a thing or two about horse racing.

 And its unreal how excited you get when you cheer for your horses when ten minutes ago you knew nothing. And the people watching! Never disappoints.



two favorite men.

Ronald Reagan 

and 

George Washington. 

duh. 

I got to see them BOTH last Saturday.

And by "got to see"...I mean...I went to the Museum. 

I feel lucky to live by the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library. I went for the first time in High School with the Blonde Burgade and for some reason we feel in love. 

It was definitely Ronald's dashing movie star good looks that did the trick. 

Well last Saturday I went back to the museum for the first time since it has been re-done in honor of President Reagan's 100th Birthday. 

And boy. Was it good. 

The part of the library about his presidential nomination donned this plaque. 

Oh hey Mom's ex-boyfriend!! {Ive always enjoyed the stories about the outlandish dates with Mike Curb...think of how rich we could have been...}

I am always impressed with Reagan and how he was able to turn America back into good after such a tumult time. And everything that was described during those years in the 80s sounds oddly familiar to now. 

The whole place just gave me goose bumps.

I just love that man! So handsome and funny. 

I mean, how can you not love him!?

Another highlight was being able to experience the new George Washington exhibit that is being featured at the museum. 

bonus!! 

Although it was a good exhibit, nothing can come close to seeing Mount Vernon in person. 

I did however, thoroughly enjoy the exhibit on George's teeth.  

{Not wooden. False misconception. He was given dentures made out of animal and human teeth. I was able to read letters from Washington to his dentist explaining how much they hurt his mouth and how he needed new ones often}

I also found out that George and I had the same color hair!! 

{remnant of his hair to the right}

The one time I have ever been proud of my darker roots. 

And to top this all off it was a beautiful day. 

{part of the Berlin Wall}

Its a must see Valley Venture. 

{good words}

Valley Venture: The Arboretum

On Saturday I went to the Los Angeles County Arboretum & Botanic Garden.

I didnt even know this place existed until about a week ago, but Im so glad I was able to go. 

My BFF Rudy planned a near perfect surprise outing for a Saturday afternoon activity. 

I didnt know anything that we were doing! 

So I was pretty dang surprised when we pulled up to a place that I knew nothing about. {surprise #1!}

It was good company, lots of photo opps, perfect weather and so many beautiful sights. 

I was near famished by the time we got there, forcing us to start our picnic immediately which included sharing a pastrami sandwich from my favorite Italian bakery.

{Surprise #2!}

Before we ventured out to the gardens, he surprised me again with bringing The Game of Life in his backpack for us to play during our picnic {3!}. This has been my most favorite game for as long as I can remember and luckily its his favorite too! So now I always have someone to play with me. I almost dont even want to admit this--but I think he has even convinced me that the newer version of Life is better than our 1980 version. What!? I know. I cant believe I just typed those words. 

We then started walking around. 

This place is huge. HUGE. 

We walked around for a good two hours and still didnt even see everything. 

The concept being the Arboretum is that it has plants, trees, flowers etc from all over the world. 

You can see cherry blossoms from Japan, shrubs from Mexico and bamboo from China. 

My dad would be disappointed in knowing that I didnt read every sign...I kinda forgot. 

But I still admired how beautiful each plant was.

One of my favorite things about it is this place is that not only is it massive, but its still right in the city. We didnt have to drive to the middle of nowhere, we were still in the heart of LA!

It was so cool to walk around and still see the backdrop of the mountains, one of my favorite things about LA. 

Our favorite part was the little forest of bamboo trees. Seriously so cool. 

its a brown and gold kennedy cougar! loved that little rock. 

I also loved the waterfall, the wikiup, the historical house, the little lakes and last but not least...the PEACOCKS!

I kinda always knew I had a thing for peacocks...I have peacock earrings, a peacock background on my phone, but when I saw those peacocks in real life, you KNOW I got real excited, chased them around and screamed "peacocks!" like 3463 times.

see. i chased it. for a good 10 minutes. 

I learned a new fact. When Arcadia was being founded, the Baldwin family built a ranch and brought peacocks. They have since gone wild in the city, freely roaming the Arboretum as well as the surrounding neighborhoods. We drove down some of the streets and there were peacocks everywhere!

 Straight up in peoples yards, crossing the street and sitting on roofs and trees. It was insane! And I may have had a mild flip out over it.

I wanted my picture with it, he was running so fast!

I think peacocks just officially became one of my favorite animals.

I highly recommend a trip out here!
Im glad my BFF knows me so well to plan something so fun. 

Valley Ventures: Santee Alley

Last Saturday I ventured to Santee Alley with Rudy and Tom.

I have heard of this place before from Tom but didnt exactly know much about it.

We took the metro into Downtown

(which has become one of my favorite activities. love public transit into the big city)

and walked to the semi fashion district of LA. 

The streets were jammed packed with shoppers with tons of stores to go into.

But the real place to go is the actual Alley which definitely reminds me of NYC shopping for all things knock-off.

However, Santee Alley is A LOT more ghetto. I mean, this is LA...

aka I was like the only white person 

A highlight of the day was my continuation of being a hot dog connoisseur. And although I have only been to two LA hot dog places, I think I already found the best in town. Anyone that has been in downtown before can always smell the bacon wrapped hot dogs that are literally sold on every corner. 

wrapped in bacon, smothered in grilled onions and peppers and topped with ketchup and mustard.

the best are sold out of ghetto shopping carts with the grills placed on top from little ladies that dont speak any english. 

they are so legit. 

the are a must have with a stop in Downtown.

After hot dogs and Santee Alley, the three of us hopped back on the metro and headed to Union Station and Olvera Street. 

Other Downtown faves.

with a must have filled churro. sooooo gooood. 

i love lazy Saturdays wandering the streets of LA with two of my favorite people.