The end of our whirlwind California adventure took us down another stretch of Highway 1 (the PCH), as we headed south from Carmel. The drive was BEAUTIFUL.

We stopped at a charming little place called Ripplewood in Big Sur for breakfast. Nestled in the forest of redwoods and wildflowers, this combination restaurant/campground/general store was obviously a hit with all the locals and backpackers in the area. Breakfast was amazing, and my mom had “the best hot chocolate of [her] life”.

      

Next, we hopped back on the PCH and soon ascended into fog, catching occasional glimpses of the ocean below – far, far below down the steep cliffside.

A little while later we came upon an elephant seal vista. Elephant. Seals. I had no idea they were one of my favorite animals before, but now they definitely are. Fun fact: not all these bad boys actually have the proboscis that is their namesake. None of the females do, and it takes several years for the males’ characteristic nose to fully develop. The males grow to be up to 5000 lbs. – more than twice the size of the 1800 lb. females. When the pups are birthed, they weigh a whopping 60-80 lbs., and will gain approximately 275 lbs. over the first 28 days of their lives. Here’s a picture for size comparison:

Mature female (left), pup (middle), and mature male (right); from www.marinebio.net

See all those scars on the male? That’s from the intense battling with other males during the mating season (January-February). It being late May when we were at the elephant seal rookery, all the adult males were far away at the Aleutian Islands (Alaska) feeding as part of their annual migration. There were hundreds of females and juvenile males all across the beach:

You can see how many of the seals have thrown sand onto their backs to act as a natural “sunscreen”. The more raggedy-looking seals are actually molting their outer layer or skin and fur. To conserve energy when they are at sea, the blood-flow to the seals’ extremities, including their skin, is restricted. This keeps them from constantly regenerating new skin and hair like we do. Once a year, when the seals return to the rookery, they shed this outer layer, revealing fresh new shiny skin and hair beneath. Another fun fact: whenever the elephant seals are on land, they don’t eat or drink at all. This is why they’re all lazing around in the sun, conserving energy by warming in the sun and minimizing movements. The only seals really doing much of anything were the juvenile males, who were play-sparring in the surf. From January to February when the seals return to the rookery, the intense fighting and lack of nutrition causes the males to lose hundreds of pounds, ending up emaciated by the time they finally return to the sea.

After our elephant seal adventure we hopped back on the highway and crossed into Los Angeles County for the tour a la 1993. I was born in Valencia, in the valley over from LA proper, and this was the first time my mom, Grammie, and I had returned since a few months after I was born. Of course we had to stop by the hospital I was born in:

Apparently everything around Valencia had changed dramatically in 22 years… And then we ate at the same restaurant, a Marie Callendar’s, which was the first sit-down restaurant my parents had ever taken baby Emily to, and which apparently hadn’t changed a bit in 22 years.

The next day we headed into the city of LA and up above the smog to The Getty Center. The Getty is an amazing center for the arts that includes astounding architecture, beautiful gardens, a massive collection of art, and a major art research library, conservation laboratory, and grant program. And the amazing thing? It’s free to everyone.

What this picture doesn’t capture are my screams of pain as my abs are giving it their all

We spent nearly the whole day seeing just a glimpse of the massive collection of Western paintings, photography, gorgeous, flowing flower gardens, and the complex itself.

The Getty also has a large collection of French furniture dating back a few hundred years. One of my favorite pieces is a chandelier that some French artisans devised to sell to Louis XIV for Versailles. Apparently anyone who sold anything to Louis at that time got rich, so they decided to make something irresistible – a chandelier that resembled a hot air balloon, which were up-and-coming in popular culture at the time, and Louis loved them. Now, imagine the chandelier below, but with fish swimming in the glass bowl near the bottom – like ladies in the wicker basket of a hot air balloon – that is what the artisans made:

And did those artisans get rich? Nope. At that point Louis XIV had poured so much money into Versailles that the treasury finally said ENOUGH! Apparently it never sold until the Getty’s purchased it.

After a long day at The Getty, we headed to the Santa Monica pier. Per recommendation by a local (thanks Donna!!!) we headed to world-famous Japadog (Japanese-style hotdogs) on the pier for dinner. In case you didn’t notice, I love trying unique foods wherever I go, especially street food, and this was no exception. Behold the “Hot Spicy Japadog” in all its peppery glory:

Fun fact: The Santa Monica Pier has been a filming location for several movies, including Forest Gump and Sharknado, and is technically the end of Route 66.

 

I think those pictures pretty much sum up our night on the pier.

The next day we headed out on a whirlwind totally touristy tour of LA on the RastaBus with tour guide Brett at the wheel.

We covered every inch of important ground in LA that it’s physically possible to cover in 8 hours. We started at Venice Beach, where we were greeted by these two sights in quick succession:

Yes, that is a dog wearing a tutu, tiara, and sunglasses, lying on its pillow like the princess it is

We watched the skateboarders – those 8-year olds are way better than I’ll ever be, browsed the endless stalls of art and touristy goods, watched guys shoot hoops on the same courts that the classic White Men Can’t Jump was filmed on, and saw a couple early risers working out on Muscle Beach (which I honestly thought only existed in the Spongebob universe until now).

We then cruised through Beverly Hills past 102-million dollar megamansions (nope) and walked around the ridiculously exclusive Rodeo Drive shopping area (super nope). Though I did see an original Salvador Dali sculpture for sale for only $40,000… I guess I’ll have to wait until I’m $40,000 richer. Next we headed to the original LA Farmer’s Market for lunch, which was a crazy chaotic never-stopping flow of people from stall to stall, with an endless supply of every type of food you could think of. Slightly overwhelmed by the amount of options and long lines, I went for the tacos followed by some old-fashioned rainbow sherbert. It was a solid choice. I couldn’t resist capturing this hilarious exchange on these windows as we drove to our next destination:

Our next stop was Griffith Observatory, perched on the mountains high above LA. Part observatory, science museum, and trailhead, I geeked out real hard.

Not one, but TWO telescopes! The one on the right tracks the sun 24/7.

Mural inside the central dome depicting historical interpretations of astronomical events. The cable hanging down is part of a pendulum that demonstrates the tilt of the earth on its axis.

Oh hey, Galileo, come here often?

I swear the Hollywood sign is in this picture. Right above my head. Really tiny.

And my favorite part of the day? Well, this of course – I am a chemist after all! In case you can’t tell from the picture, this is an amazing periodic table that contains actual samples of each of the elements within their block (well, the ones that are stable enough). I never thought I’d be able to see most of these in their elemental form!

Our tour ended with a stop at none other than the Hollywood strip itself. I had to find the star of my most favorite actor, of course:

A word of warning for the unsuspecting tourist: the Hollywood strip is not a classy place, and is a bit overwhelming, but an awesome place to just sit back and watch the crazy crowd go by.

We finished up our last night in LA on the Third Street Promenade in Santa Monica, enjoying some gnocchi, and taking in the whirlwind of a trip we had just done. The next morning was a tearful goodbye with my Mom and Grammie as they headed back to North Carolina. I still can’t believe my parents lived in such a big crazy city like LA, but everything truly has come full circle! I headed out to Catalina Island yesterday morning, and I’ll be posting about my new adventures soon!