First Trip into LA

Last year we spent most of our time in the area around our camping resort. This year we figure on expanding our horizons so a trip into LA seems in order. But I'm not driving! We decided a bus tour would be a good way to get our feet wet in LA. Notice the wilderness of Southern California. Also, the wet cool weather is perfect for a museum trip.

Our first stop at the California Science Centre was an exhibit featuring the Endeavor space shuttle. This is a photo of moving the shuttle from the airport to the Science Centre on city streets. It took 60 hours and a number of poles and trees needed to be removed and replaced along the route. The move was done in October 2012, less than a month before we came to see it.

The Endeavor was the last shuttle built and was built to replace the Challenger which exploded on takeoff. Pictures on TV don't give you any idea of how big this is. Its stored in a special climate controlled hanger to protect it. This things been to space a dozen times and glowed fiery red on re-entry, how much protection does it need? The shuttle program has been cancelled and all the shuttles have been donated to different museums.

As part of the system designed to protect the shuttle, the support frame sits on special earthquake proof supports. They are big concave steel dishes which a big ball bearing rides on and the shaking of a quake causes the ball bearing to roll back and forth negating the shock of the tremors. After all, this is California.

These are the engines at the back. A person could stand in the opening of one. They are the most powerful and complicated engines ever built and yet only provided 20% of the power at takeoff. Rocket boosters did the rest. The heat shield tiles are visible below the engines. The bottom ones are white from the heat of re-entry. There are 10's of thousands of the tiles and each one is unique. Now that's a jig saw puzzle!

Other items on display from the shuttle include the space toilet. It uses a vacuum to contain waste but did you know that the astronaut  had to tape a bag to his butt and the vacuum pulled the bag allowing waste to enter. The front tube was for making wee wee (for the guys). Stirrups helped keep you in position. Be thankful for gravity. 

There are other space program displays like this actual capsule used during the Gemini program. You can see the scorch marks on the capsule and heat shield from re-entry.

Time for a lunch break and then a stroll through the lovely rose garden at the museum. 

There are 165 different rose beds, some still blooming, and numerous little nooks around the grounds like this one. Private and peaceful; doesn't sound like LA does it? 

Some of the buildings are old and very ornate. The rose garden was a pleasant surprise and knowing Grammie, you know she would have spent the rest of the day looking at flowers. I had to drag her to the next exhibit.

How often do you get a picture of two beauties at once? The main focus of the bus tour was the Cleopatra Exhibit. Archaeologists have discovered that the port of Alexandria in Egypt was destroyed by a tsunami and started looking in the harbour for relics. They discovered Cleopatras palace and all of the items on display are from harbour digs. Some items like this statue are in great shape, historically I mean. 

All sorts of gold jewelry have been found. 

All sorts of gold leaf and gold flakes were found as well. That mound of gold is about the size of a loaf of bread. Now that's a lot of bread. 

There is some debate about whether this statue is of Cleopatra. The exhibit did a great job of covering Cleopatras life, but for me it was a bit short on things to look at. It was still a great day and we enjoyed it.

There was so much more to the California Science Centre and museum than we had time to see. If there are planes, I'll find them. A whole building on dinosaurs awaits as well as many other displays. Maybe next time.