tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21409676914637175042024-02-18T18:44:55.702-08:00Downey—ishPam Lanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01594207985230898752noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2140967691463717504.post-51890175581680082162011-03-06T22:18:00.000-08:002011-03-06T22:18:42.578-08:00The benefits of membership at the LA ZooThe Los Angeles Zoo is located on the north side of Los Angeles, about 20 miles from Downey. If you get an annual membership, you get free entrance to the zoo for a year, plus a lot of other perks. One of the perks is early entrance to the zoo on select days during the year. Today was one of those days.<br />
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Aside from avoiding the crowds, the main advantage to entering early is that the animals are still eating breakfast and feeling frisky. Many of them are still enjoying their enrichment activities.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/pamlane/5504677028/" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="Lion and lioness by pamlane, on Flickr"><img alt="Lion and lioness" src="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5213/5504677028_9af3634f57.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Both the lion and the lioness are quite old. The lion suffers from arthritis, which showed when he finally got up. Not only did he move stiffly, but he also acted like a grumpy old man as he chased the lioness away from her place in the sun.</td></tr>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/pamlane/5504676698/" title="Lion by pamlane, on Flickr"><img alt="Lion" src="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5291/5504676698_1cca1e63cb.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/pamlane/5504676398/" title="Lioness by pamlane, on Flickr"><img alt="Lioness" src="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5017/5504676398_2f46c3f9ae.jpg" width="500" /></a><br />
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<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/pamlane/5504677738/" title="Tiger by pamlane, on Flickr"><img alt="Tiger" src="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5131/5504677738_4ba22caeca.jpg" width="240" /></a><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/pamlane/5504677308/" title="Tiger drinking by pamlane, on Flickr"><img alt="Tiger drinking" src="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5294/5504677308_1a5aa75eff.jpg" width="240" /></a><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/pamlane/5504083907/" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="Gorilla by pamlane, on Flickr"><img alt="Gorilla" src="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5137/5504083907_b2439f5630.jpg" width="500" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">One of the female gorillas enjoyed her branch and leaf breakfast in the sun. There's only one male in a group of gorillas.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/pamlane/5504678552/" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="Young giraffe eating by pamlane, on Flickr"><img alt="Young giraffe eating" src="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5094/5504678552_86c0720875.jpg" width="230" /></a></td> <td><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/pamlane/5504086563/" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;" title="Giraffe necks by pamlane, on Flickr"><img alt="Giraffe necks" src="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5058/5504086563_6c06298208.jpg" width="230" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">For giraffes, enrichment means a series of especially tasty leaves scattered on the rocks that surround their enclosure. This particular young female giraffe will be the next breeding female at the zoo. The gestation period for a giraffe is 15 months.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/pamlane/5504678324/" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="Elephant by pamlane, on Flickr"><img alt="Elephant" src="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5213/5504678324_f09dbbdb7a.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The all-new Asian elephant exhibit is a little disappointing to me. The elephant enclosure is huge, as it should be. But even though you walk all the way around it as you view the other zoo exhibits, there are only a few viewing areas for the elephants.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>Pam Lanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01594207985230898752noreply@blogger.com1Los Angeles Zoo, Los Angeles, CA 90027, USA34.1486464 -118.287012334.130888399999996 -118.3161948 34.1664044 -118.2578298tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2140967691463717504.post-36895368899725675592010-05-24T23:21:00.000-07:002010-05-24T23:21:04.593-07:00Mission San Juan BautistaMission San Juan Bautista, founded in 1797, was the first of several missions my friends and I visited on a "mission trip" up the California coast in March. It is the largest of the twenty-one missions in California.<br />
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The first thing that struck me upon walking inside was the multitude and intensity of the colors, and second, how nicely the colors all blended together. <br />
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<div class="figurel"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/pamlane/4621095496/" title="Mission San Juan Bautista interior by pamlane, on Flickr"><br />
<img alt="Mission San Juan Bautista interior" class="scaled" src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4047/4621095496_85cd195b34.jpg" /></a><br />
The main altar at the front of the church holds statues of six saints, with patron saint San Juan Bautista (John the Baptist) in the center.</div><br />
The colors, arches, and columns combined to make beautiful patterns.<br />
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<div class="figurep" style="max-width: 260px;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/pamlane/4620484063/" title="Mission San Juan Bautista arches by pamlane, on Flickr"><br />
<img alt="Mission San Juan Bautista arches" class="scaled" src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4029/4620484063_bf6dec3e41.jpg" /></a> </div><div class="figurep" style="display: inline; max-width: 230px;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/pamlane/4623888890/" title="Mission San Juan Bautista columns by pamlane, on Flickr"><br />
<img alt="Mission San Juan Bautista columns" class="scaled" src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4020/4623888890_7fe4d3c70c.jpg" /></a></div><br />
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I always love the glow of the candles in the dim light.</div><br />
<div class="figurel"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/pamlane/4623888854/" title="Mission San Juan Bautista candles by pamlane, on Flickr"><br />
<img alt="Mission San Juan Bautista candles" class="scaled" src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4007/4623888854_539cbc1f97.jpg" /></a></div><br />
We spent a lot of time wandering through the mission museum, with its exhibits and re-created rooms. Imagine copying books and books of music by hand! The lines were incredibly straight.<br />
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<div class="figurel"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/pamlane/4621095388/" title="Mission San Juan Bautista music by pamlane, on Flickr"><br />
<img alt="Mission San Juan Bautista music" class="scaled" src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3306/4621095388_0b33e33112.jpg" /></a> <br />
The mission museum displays included music books, maps, tools, and vestments.</div><br />
<div style="clear: both;">Outside was a small graveyard, with a view of the backside of the bell tower.</div><br />
<div class="figurep"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/pamlane/4621095428/" title="Mission San Juan Bautista bell tower by pamlane, on Flickr"><br />
<img alt="Mission San Juan Bautista bell tower" class="scaled" src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4001/4621095428_714aaa799f.jpg" /></a> <br />
The mission and parts of the bell tower were used in the 1958 Hitchcock film Vertigo.</div>Pam Lanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01594207985230898752noreply@blogger.com0San Juan Batista State Hist Park, San Juan Bautista, CA 95045, USA36.845164783477522 -121.5360939502716136.844091783477523 -121.53791795027161 36.84623778347752 -121.53426995027161tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2140967691463717504.post-5090041091746462872010-05-16T21:50:00.000-07:002010-05-16T22:29:47.725-07:00The Columbia Memorial Space CenterToday, my daughter and I visited the Columbia Memorial Space Center in Downey. We had a great time with the interactive exhibits.<br />
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<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/pamlane/4614325234/" title="Columbia Memorial Space Center by pamlane, on Flickr"><img alt="Columbia Memorial Space Center" height="500" src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4030/4614325234_1b4d756b09.jpg" width="333" /></a></td> <td>I love these collage pictures made up of individual photos. The photo below shows the detail area of the shuttle rudder. I think they've cheated in some places by changing the picture coloration instead of finding photos that actually change from light to dark.<br />
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<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/pamlane/4614325116/" title="Columbia Memorial Space Center by pamlane, on Flickr"><img alt="Columbia Memorial Space Center" height="240" src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3372/4614325116_602790410a_m.jpg" width="160" /></a></td> </tr>
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At this exhibit, you could launch paper airplanes. The goal was to fly the plane through a hoop about 10 feet away.<br />
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<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/pamlane/4614324946/" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" title="Columbia Memorial Space Center by pamlane, on Flickr"><img alt="Columbia Memorial Space Center" src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4003/4614324946_085e502b6a_m.jpg" width="200" /></a><br />
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<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/pamlane/4613707709/" title="Columbia Memorial Space Center by pamlane, on Flickr"><img alt="Columbia Memorial Space Center" src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3360/4613707709_f9f56aa4ee_m.jpg" title="Columbia Memorial Space height=" width="240" /></a><br />
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<div ;="" style="clear: both;"></div><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/pamlane/4614324766/" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;" title="Columbia Memorial Space Center by pamlane, on Flickr"><img alt="Columbia Memorial Space Center" src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3555/4614324766_693074fb62_m.jpg" width="240" /></a>Here, you could see how much you would weigh on other planets.<br />
Mercury — good! Jupiter — bad!<br />
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<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/pamlane/4613707479/" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" title="Columbia Memorial Space Center by pamlane, on Flickr"><img alt="Columbia Memorial Space Center" src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3333/4613707479_8cac37d0f8_m.jpg" width="300" /></a>Here, you could land the space shuttle. It was not pretty! :-(<br />
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<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/pamlane/4613707325/" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;" title="Columbia Memorial Space Center by pamlane, on Flickr"><img alt="Columbia Memorial Space Center" src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4010/4613707325_f33b791462_m.jpg" width="300" /></a>At this exhibit, you could use the yoke, the rudder, and the throttle to take off, turn, and land this plane.Pam Lanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01594207985230898752noreply@blogger.com0Downey, CA, USA33.920055157943132 -118.1331324577331533.91782965794313 -118.13678045773315 33.922280657943134 -118.12948445773316tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2140967691463717504.post-39876235829812443812010-05-10T17:24:00.000-07:002010-05-10T17:27:19.732-07:00St. Steven's<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/joanandersonphotography/4594764766/" title="IMG_3660 by joanderson08, on Flickr"><img alt="IMG_3660" height="500" src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3378/4594764766_53c1c7bb14.jpg" width="334" /> </a><br />
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St. Steven's is a Serbian Orthodox Cathedral located in Monterey Park. We found it by accident, so when we visited it was not open. It was sad not to see inside, but I was impressed by the beauty of the exterior. Built in 1946, the building is a work of art.<br />
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<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/joanandersonphotography/4594193015/" title="IMG_3632 by joanderson08, on Flickr"><img alt="IMG_3632" height="240" src="http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1020/4594193015_3bc31bef50_m.jpg" width="160" /></a> <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/joanandersonphotography/4594192813/" title="IMG_3622 by joanderson08, on Flickr"><img alt="IMG_3622" height="240" src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4057/4594192813_3925e872e0_m.jpg" width="160" /></a> <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/joanandersonphotography/4594192701/" title="IMG_3605 by joanderson08, on Flickr"><img alt="IMG_3605" height="160" src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4013/4594192701_650eb95a12_m.jpg" width="240" /></a>joanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10352563375310451846noreply@blogger.com0St. Steven's Serbian Orthodox Cathedral34.061478125540091 -118.1470073461150634.060922625540094 -118.14791934611506 34.062033625540089 -118.14609534611506