Thursday, June 12, 2008

A Day with DAD

All pictures can be clicked on to enlarge.

With my dad at the Griffith Park Observatory

It's near the Hollywood sign. (You will notice California is experiencing a drought.)

The observatory was built on the top of a hill in 1935 and has been a beloved icon of Los Angeles. Admission is free...because Mr. Griffith wanted everyone to be able to glimpse into the heavens. (Dad, Mom and I standing in front.)

We're lining up to go into a 300 seat Planetarium theater. It was an awesome show. We learned about our universe and tracked the planets through the skies. That's Los Angeles in the background.


Hills flowing into the city of Los Angeles.

Los Angeles is hazy today. (click to enlarge)

Who's car is this? The keys were left in it! Dad gave me a run down on how to drive a car like this...describing all the pedals.

We got to the zoo about an hour before closing. When we asked about the giraffes we were sent clear to the back of the zoo which was up a hill. We finally made it! I took 22 pictures of giraffes for my dad! Hooves, faces, tails...


This lion is sound asleep with his foot up in the air. There's another lion next to him if you look carefully.

Here are some giraffes. (My dad is building a very large giraffe in his garage).

That's a real giraffe there--looking at me.

We had a great day!

The reason I haven't posted for awhile is because I've been busy writing an article for Chicken Soup for the Soul. The deadline is tomorrow. They are collecting stories from the elementary school years. I've never been published in Chicken Soup...but if this story flies it will be $200. Tomorrow is my monthly writers critique group...so I'll take the story for an edit.

Have a good weekend!

9 comments:

Dawn said...

What a great day with your folks! I love the lion picture - what a great shot you caught.

Giraffes are my favorites - did you read the post where I told about seeing one born??

I hope that's haze, not fog, over LA.

What a wonderful opportunity to write for Chicken Soup for the Soul. I hope they publish you!

Jan Parrish said...

How fun that would be if you came to CCWC. It's always in May and it's very reasonable compared to all the other conferences. You could come out early and stay with your brother to acclimatize.

What wonderful pictures. I'd love to visit LA. I haven't been there since I was 13.

Oh, good luck on your Chicken Soup story.

Dawn said...

Ruth has a lot of rose bushes in other areas of her large yard, as well as peonies and others that I imagine have not come out yet. They live on 10 acres and have a marvelous view of the mountains. It is a lovely place, but usually quite windy because it's on a rise. But we had a perfect day for this event.

I saw the comment after mine and agree heartily that you should come for the writer's conference in Estes Park next year - we can meet - I am directly on the road that leads up there!

Dawn said...

I forgot I was going to tell you that Ruth also has a fabulous sun room on her house absolutely full of plants - she definitely has a green thumb. Then she has shelves full of African violets in their bedroom. An altogether lovely place to be.

Sharon Lynne said...

Ruth's place sounds beautiful.

I hope I can go to Estes Writing Conference!

Praise and Coffee said...

Awesome Sharon. I have never been to CA but would love to go!!

PS: Check out the other blog on my profile!

Becky Wolfe said...

Great photos! Looks like you had a fun day! I love the giraffes of course. I was at the observatory once. I think I was 19 and we were on a mission trip to Mexico & spent part of it doing missions in LA (the part I liked the most) and we went up to the observatory at night to pray. I remember thinking it was beautiful!
Good luck with Chicken Soup - I have queried to them before but never have gotten any responses (good or bad)Funny enough, I actually dreamt I was writing again lastnight. But this 'baby brain' has made it pretty hard for me to think of anything else - I hope it gets better once I give birth & get used to things. Or will I forever be in a state of 'attention deficit' :)
HUGS

Vanessa Cole said...

Hi There!

What wonderful pictures which show us such a wonderful time.

Just want to say HELLO! I have not been posting too much, but I'm working on that. :-) Please stop in if you get a chance.

Vanessa

Susan Skitt said...

Thanks for the tour :) What a nice trip with your parents. How neat that is that the observatory is open to all at no cost!

I hope your story does well. I have a chicken soup one I'm tweaking but the deadline isn't until December.

Take care and happy Tuesday (smile).