Highlights of Day 3 of the exploration of Los Angeles:

1. Day was focused on West Hollywood (right?) starting with the La Brea Tar Pits.  Contrary to what I remember from The Flintstones or a few other images, we didn’t get to play in the tar itself.  But it really does bubble.  It’s like a hot spring, but more disgusting.  The smell makes it pretty clear that it’s tar – thought it also looks like Korean Black Bean Sauce – but that would be mean to point out.  The lake pit itself was a little touristy – with fake mastodons portrayed.  The real cool thing was seeing the fossils that they dug out – sabertoothed cats, pre-ice age horses and other such critters.
2. Lunchtime took us to Roscoe’s Chicken and Waffles – legitimate tourism!  To be fair, I think we went to a less sexy location (West Pico St?) – service was quick and it sure looked like no celebrities were there.  I had never had chicken and waffles and … let’s put it this way, after the food showed up (I had 2 pieces of dark meat smothered in gravy on two waffles) there was a solid 10 minutes of silence – just eating.  This was amazing.  The chicken was perfectly cooked and seasoned, the waffles were solid, the syrup was warm and in little glasses – I might die from a coronary during this post, but it was worth it.
3. Afternoon spent at the Los Angeles County Museum or art – LACMA.  This was lauded as a great place to go – and certainly it was pretty enormous.  I am still not used to having to (gasp!) pay for admission to a museum, but the $15 does offer a lot.  The most memorable parts was being able to see a couple of Pollocks – and yeah, in real life it feels more skilled than it would seem – and all the pop art at the modern art portion of the museum.  LACMA also offers a nice view of the Hills, and the Hollywood sign.
4. Dinner took us to Jitlada, a Southern Thai place in, well, Thai Town, that was featured on Food Network.  This was reinforced by the dining table with various news articles about the restaurant on it – especially the joker-like visage of Rachael Ray (eeeek!).  The menu is gigantic, and has an authentic menu with warnings on the spice.  I had the jungle noodles which were sort of like a ramen with a spicy tangy sauce.  It is not as sweet as the Thai we know, but a very good flavor.  The jungle curry though was spicy – in the pork spare ribs one of the table got, it was truly hot – one of the hottest things I have had recently.  However, the flavor was good, the meat was all very tender and juicy.  It was really good, but more a case for admiration than love.  Roscoe’s that was love!

Tar! The bubbling was kinda cool though.

Fossils ... marked by the flags - obviously a little hard to see

The signs shows all

Tastes as good as it looks

the view from the top of LACMA