Best California Catch-Up Pt. II

So, last Tuesday was my last day in LA and the whole family went to the Huntington Library because it's three blocks from Grandma's house and that's what you do when you go to Grandma's, you visit the Huntington Library.

When we got there I signed the guestbook.



If you can't tell, I wrote "My family has been making me come here all my life."



It's occurring to me that a proper post about the Huntington Library would explain the history and purpose of the place, but this isn't a proper post, so let me just say that the Huntington Library is what remains of an era when money really meant something.



(they used the outside of the main mansion as the setting of the final party in the Staskey and Hutch movie)

There are statues and stuff everywhere



On this part of the grounds they've filmed lots of movie weddings.



We posed for a family photo. I'm afraid this is my only picture from the whole weekend with Grandma Taylor in it.



Like I said, statues everywhere





This is Dad with Father Time



This is Father Time. He doesn't look so great.



Like I said, statues everywhere!



Dog statues, too.



We visited one of the art galleries and looked at statues and paintings and stuff.





Pinkie and the Blue Boy are the Huntington's most famous paintings



All through Egypt my Mom asked me to pose like statues, and even though I rarely did it, I had Mom pose like the Blue Boy here . . . or maybe it was her idea?



I was born to love volcanoes.



"Yes sir, I understand what you would like . . . but you need to know that I'm not very good at painting horses."



Paintings of people. Good looking paintings. Decent looking people.







Then we were off to the Japanese Garden which are the main attraction but will soon lose out to the new Chinese Garden that are going to be opening.



Now, see, the thing you do when you go to the Japanese Garden is put your hand in the lion's mouth like this because Destro put his hand into the mouth of a statue of a snake to enter into the Cobra Temple in the original GI Joe miniseries which was what I was watching as a kid when I was forced to go to the Huntington Library one time.



In the good old days you could slam a log into this bell. In the good old days. Now you have to lean over the fence and hit it with your fist. But it's pretty much the same noise.



That's the moon bridge, and there's turtles in that pond.



Up above the garden there's a Japanese house.



This would be my niece, Rachel.



There's paths everywhere.



Over at the rock garden Blake was throwing rocks in a very not-Zen way.



Despite what it looks like, my Dad wasn't yelling at the Bonsai expert guy.



Bonsai trees!



But as soon as we get into the bamboo forest portion of the garden I kind of knock it off with my complaining about being at the Huntington.



Know what I mean?



Ahem. Statues everywhere.



That evening we went to Twohey's. Rachel got her foot up on the table. Sometimes I worry about this happening to me.