Trip Report 2018-2019 A Year in the Land (Disneyland)...a multi-trip report

Hello and welcome to my trip report for my year as an annual passholder to Disneyland. Me (Amy) and my husband (Brad) have been passholders of both Disneyland and Walt Disney World but this year we decided to be exclusive to just the Land. It was a little painful to give up going to WDW this year, we consider it our home park but we also enjoy Disneyland too. I think I have a little more fondness to it than Brad, but anyway.... So why are we passholders for DL exclusively this year instead of WDW or both parks. Well financially it didn't necessarily make sense. Brad is a big Star Wars fan and I'm a big Disney nerd so with Galaxy's Edge opening in the Land earlier than WDW that was a draw. And the D23 Expo is in Anaheim again this year so it checked boxes for both of us.

So I'm going to begin this report a little in the past, 2018, that's right so long ago! :) We traveled to Disneyland over Thanksgiving 2018 and bought our annual passes so that is where we will start the trip report.

Upcoming trips:
A. late March 2019
B. possibly (most likely) a solo trip for me over Easter 2019 (Why solo?...well Brad is a pastor and the congregation kind of expects him to be there over Easter. I'm a teacher and have a nice little break over Easter and the hubs is too busy over Holy week and Easter so he won't really notice I'm gone.)
C. Late June 2019 to celebrate our anniversary and birthdays all in June and in the same week. This trip will include Los Angeles, Sequoia National Park, Death Valley National Park, Joshua Tree National Park & Palm Springs as well as Disneyland (and perhaps if rumors are true our first entrance into Galaxy's Edge)
D. our last trip late August for Disneyland and D23 Expo

By the way...if any of you are in Disneyland when our paths cross it would be cool to have any meet ups or say hi. I've met a few awesome WDWMagic members in Walt Disney World and it has been so cool. Don't be afraid to say hi if you see us walking around too!:):cool:

So let's start the first leg of the trip report: November 20-25 2018

Tuesday November 20
Brad and I both had a full day at work. My day should have been full of students but since it is Deer Hunting week (or at least the big gun hunting week) in Wisconsin and Thanksgiving week, our district gives the kids the week off and teachers report for two days of inservice. So it wasn't a hectic day for me. However there was a little kerfuffle in the plan for today. It involved our beloved and spoiled minature schnauzer Kapono.
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My boss said that we could leave at 3pm instead of 3:30pm so hubby picked me up on the way to drop off Kapono at the kennel. Kapono has only spent 2 days ever in this kennel (good experience) usually she stays with my sister but she was unable to care for her this time. So it was the first time Kapono was going to be spending an extended time in a kennel. So we arrived at the kennel and no one is there, even though it is check-in time and the main building for the kennel is unlocked. So we go inside and wait thinking that maybe the owner is just busy at the house and will be out soon. After 5 minutes no one came even though dogs were barking in her house and in the kennel. So hubs gives her a call. And in the mean time I'm concerned that she left the kennel unlocked! Anyway, the lady was surprised we were calling and had lost track of time and was an hour away from the kennel. But more importantly she was surprised that we were there because she hadn't written down our reservation!!!! Hubs had the email confirmation though. Luckily she had one run left. She said it was luckily for us, but really it was lucky for her!!!! I don't know what we would have done if that run wouldn't have been available though. Although hubs said one of our church members would have pitched in for us. So I took Kapono out into the fenced in yard area and when I let her in she happily ran into the open caged run. I was glad she seemed happy to be there but a little concerned now at the professionalism of the kennel owner. Fast forward to the end of our trip when we picked her up...Kapono had been a good girl there and was safe (and clean). So it all worked out and this over-protective dog mom was happy, and the kennel owner apologized a few times.


So anyway, after we dropped Kapono off we drove up to Minneapolis to the airport for our flight. We ended up being pretty early for our flight but we'd rather wait safely at the airport than be stressed out in traffic. Check in and security took less than 15 minutes so we had a decent meal and drinks at the Minnesota Wild (our favorite hockey team) teamed restaurant). We hadn't planned on eating here but I guess it was fate since we were wearing our Disney Minnesota Wild themed shirts.

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The seats we were in used to be 1st class but now the company is going more the Spirit route and these seats were $45 more to the base ticket price. So for that we thought it was a deal to have slightly bigger seats and more foot space for the flight.
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Adios Minnesota!
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We flew into LAX and took an Uber to Anaheim. The traffic was a little heavy in the arrival/departure area so it took our Uber driver a little while about 10-15 minutes to get to us, but it didn't seem too bad. We made it to Anaheim in about 40 minutes (our driver was a speed demon) but that was okay with us. We checked into our hotel the Best Western Park Place Inn, literally across the street from the entrance as seen below. We went to the ticket booth and purchased/cashed in 4 day park hoppers for our annual passes with Max pass and gleefully entered Disneyland with about 40 minutes until park close!

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Rista1313

Well-Known Member
I saw the Smithsonian ones too. There is a Judy Garland museum in Minnesota and they have their pair back now too. The pair had been stolen awhile ago and were recently found and returned to the museum. I think the museum is in her hometown. Maybe you'll have to check it out next time you are in the state for your knitting convention.

I did read about that! (The theft and return) There is also some kind of fundraiser that was going on to restore a pair... I think that was the smithsonian pair... which I thought was weird they would need a fundraiser for that.
 

ajrwdwgirl

Premium Member
Original Poster
I did read about that! There is also some kind of fundraiser that was going on to restore a pair... I think that was the smithsonian pair... which I thought was weird they would need a fundraiser for that.

Yeah I think I read about that fundraiser too and thought it was a bit odd. But I guess budgets for these museums can only go so far.
 

ajrwdwgirl

Premium Member
Original Poster
Tuesday June 18, 2019

We started on our drive to Mullholland Drive and passed the Hollywood Heritage Museum which is in a barn that was used as Cecil B Demille's first studio. It might have been interesting to go to the museum but we didn't have time to fit it in this trip.
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Starting the drive on Mullholland, it was very curvy.
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And we got our close up view of the Hollywood sign. You can see how foggy it was but at least we got to see it.
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On the road
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And a couple homes. I don't remember who the celebs were or had been. I should have taken notes. Sorry for my bad memory on the celeb homes.
Oh I remember that this was used in some action movie where it gets blown up. It was an action movie that was popular but I had never seen, that's probably why I don't remember which one. I do remember that the guide said that in the movie this house was used for most of the shots and when it was time for the house to blow up they actually blew up a house. The house that was blown up was located in a near by location and scheduled to be demolished. So the studio built a facade of the one shown in my picture, put it around the other house and then blew it up for the movie. Again I'm sorry I can't remember the movie. Perhaps it was something with Bruce Willis?
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Since this picture had an address I looked it up on the interwebs and it seems this belongs(ed) to an actor named Vinnie Jones. This is a brief synopsis from Wikipedia: Vincent Peter Jones is a British actor and former professional footballer who played as a midfielder from 1984 to 1999, notably for Wimbledon, Leeds United, Sheffield United, Chelsea, Queens Park Rangers and Wales.
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Then we got our view of the Valley and saw Universal Studios (tall building) and the theme park around it. We could also see Warner Brothers too from this spot. We had driven past both a few times on our own so we could spot them easily.
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I think this might have been Jenifer Lopez's old house. I remember it was a home of a few celeb that had been divorced. Again, sorry for the poor memory.
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I do remember that this was the entry gate for John Stamos' neighborhood. I do love me some Uncle Jesse so I remembered this one. I was also hoping to see the big "D" from his Disneyland sign, but I didn't.
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This one reminds me of the house in Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, and maybe it was I vaguely remember the guide maybe mentioning something about that show.
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I guess I'm not really selling this tour with my vast amounts of information. But it was really jammed packed and very interesting at the time. I would recommend it, but now I guess I'd also recommend taking a couple notes about what you see.
 

Darstarr

Well-Known Member
In the Parks
No
A couple things:

Yes, Hollywood blvd is sketchy. It wasnt always that bad. It is a victim of politics at the moment. When I was in HS my friends who were into the punk scene spent a lot of (safe) time there.

“Princess Vivian!”

I am sorry to tell you this, but the bus tours, for the most part, are scams. Not real. ☹️Sorry

Not fog-June gloom is the correct term.

Lastly. My brother’s GF sent me a text today about that beer place near the port of LA you were talking about last trip or the trip before.
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I will let you know what she says.

Loving the TR. Feeling homesick and not, both at the same time.
 

ajrwdwgirl

Premium Member
Original Poster
A couple things:

Yes, Hollywood blvd is sketchy. It wasnt always that bad. It is a victim of politics at the moment. When I was in HS my friends who were into the punk scene spent a lot of (safe) time there.

“Princess Vivian!”

I am sorry to tell you this, but the bus tours, for the most part, are scams. Not real. ☹Sorry

Not fog-June gloom is the correct term.

Lastly. My brother’s GF sent me a text today about that beer place near the port of LA you were talking about last trip or the trip before.
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I will let you know what she says.

Loving the TR. Feeling homesick and not, both at the same time.

I'm glad you are liking the trip report and I am curious as to what your brother's girlfriend though of the beers.

June Gloom is a term we heard a lot on the weather reports. Looks like with that there are a lot of clouds, mist, and fog, which we experienced.

I'm wondering why you say the bus tours are a scam? It didn't seem like a scam to me, the company (Starline) we booked with has been in business since 1935. Maybe had we just bought from someone on the the street it might have been more of a scam. The tour delivered on what it promised we got to see a lot of the area. Whether or not the homes we saw were celeb homes, well maybe that might be the scam? But the guide seemed to always say if they were former homes or not and as for current celebs it was interesting to see where they might have lived but I was more thrilled at seeing the area where Dean Martin, James Stewart, and Lucille Ball had lived than were supposedly Bruno Mars lived. I know that I liked seeing some of the landmarks and areas where movies and shows had been filmed, in general to get some context of the area as tourists. We viewed it more as a sight seeing tour of an area that we aren't familiar with and it was nice for my husband to have a chance to relax and look around without having to worry about driving. We didn't feel that we were ripped off or given misleading or inaccurate information and if I didn't really see Drew Carey's real home well that's fine. It was just a fun jaunt.
 

ajrwdwgirl

Premium Member
Original Poster
Tuesday June 18, 2019

Continuing on the Starline tour. We passed the Beverly Hills Hotel, which some of you might remember from the movie "Saving Mr. Banks".
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I don't remember who's house this was supposed to be but the gate was really fancy. That was one of the cool things about this tour, the homes in these areas were just gorgeous. It didn't really matter who lived in them they were just beautiful to look at. One thing our guide pointed out was that the people who owned these homes often liked to put their own stamp on the property and some would even tear down a perfectly good home and build another, sometimes they just wanted the property not the house. Which I suppose happens in any area. This would be the flip side of what we would be told in Palm Springs.
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This isn't really of an significance, just a random street in Beverly Hills. I took it because I loved the purple trees blooming. They are jacaranda trees in bloom. We had seen some in Disneyland and in the area we were staying too but I just though they were pretty.
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This tree was interesting too. The guide pointed it out because of the unusual "blooms" on it. It looked like big balls of cotton, and doing a quick search on the internet they might be called silk cotton trees.
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And we did a drive by of Rodeo Dr. We could have booked a tour that would have had a stop and walk on this street. I have done it before and Brad didn't care if he walked down the street at all. I guess he didn't want to recreate that scene from Pretty Woman! So a drive by was fine.
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I guess this was an area that had been used in a few movies/tv shows. I can't remember now but it did look familiar.
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Another movie sight, from a cop film. I want to say Beverly Hills Cop, but I never saw that movie so maybe it looks familiar to one of you.
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We turned onto Sunset on our way back to Hollywood Blv and drove past the famous Viper Room club.
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ajrwdwgirl

Premium Member
Original Poster
June 18, 2019

And to finish up the tour. This had been the school Michael Jackson had attended until he got too big to attend anymore.
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This was the synagogue that Elizabeth Taylor married one of her husband's in. I thought the building looked pretty from the outside so it was probably very nice on the inside.
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I pulled this one from Brad's pictures, so a little out of order. I guess this is Beyonce's and Jay-Z's new house. I love all the tall trees lined up on the edge. They have them in the esplanade at Disneyland too and I just love them. I think they are tall and elegant which impressed me more than the house.
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Hollywood High School I think? It had been used in some films too.
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Brad took a picture of the Dolby Theater.
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And with that the tour was over. We enjoyed seeing the sights and we were ready to leaved the Hollywood area.
 

MinnieM123

Premium Member
I'd take that bus tour in a heartbeat!! That looked like so much fun seeing all the sights and homes of the stars. Not sure if some bus tours/companies are better than others (I've never been out there, so haven't a clue), but I will say that I thoroughly enjoyed all your photos above!! :joyfull:
 

ajrwdwgirl

Premium Member
Original Poster
Tuesday June 18, 2019

After we were dropped off for our tour we headed into a larger souvenir store called La La Land it was across the street from the Chinese Theater, we did not want to buy any souvenirs but the guide on our tour said there was a public restroom in the store. He also gave us a coupon to use in there but there wasn't anything we wanted in there besides to use the restroom. The restroom had a security guard allowing people in and out of the bathrooms, probably to protect against theft. So in case any of you ever find yourselves in need on Hollywood Blvd go to La La Land!

After that we headed back to the Hollywood and Highland shopping center where we had parked but by now the Disney Store next to the El Captain Theater was open so of course we had to check it out. On the way we passed a camera crew near where Jimmy Kimmel films his show. As we got closer a guy came up to us and we both assumed he was a solicitor of sorts so we tried to brushed him off. Turns out he was part of the crew for Jimmy Kimmel's show and asked us if we wanted to be interviewed for something on camera for the show. I didn't want to and I thought Brad would say yes but he said no, he said he would probably sound stupid. It might have been interesting but neither of us watch the show so it was okay.

Here are some pictures of the Disney store. There is a Ghiradelli ice cream counter in there too and while it smelled good we by passed it. Mostly because we don't really care for their ice cream or sundae's.
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A last look down Hollywood Blvd as we waited to cross the street to the shopping center.
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As we entered the shopping area I noticed a lot of people were gathered at the viewing area of the Hollywood sign so we decided to go up and take a look. And yep, the fog from the June Gloom had burned off enough that it was visible.
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So we hopped into the car and headed to our lunch destination, the LA Farmer's Market. Lots of good food vendors there. I was worried about parking but we found some easily and close by.
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Ice Cream! I'd be back for you later!
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We decided on the same place and the whole market was very busy so after we ordered and paid I went to secure a table. Here's a view from the table.
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ajrwdwgirl

Premium Member
Original Poster
Tuesday June 18, 2019

We ordered from Magee's, apparently it was original to the Market back in the 30's. I was jonesing for something Mexican and their enchiladas looked good but they also were known for their corned beef. What to choose. I went for one chicken enchilada and a corned beef sandwich on light rye. I'm glad I only got the one enchilada because it wasn't very good, there wasn't much spice or flavor to it. I had taken a bite of that enchilada first so I was now hesitant for the corned beef, well there was no need to worry the sandwich was very good. And it was very filling, I only ended up eating one half of it. I took the rest with me.
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B got the same sandwich but got a side of corn. He also ate my pickle, which I hate, he enjoyed them and said they were freshly made.
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After lunch we took about a 10 minute walk and went over to the La Brea Tar Pits. For some reason, maybe the science teacher in me, really wanted to see this. A lot can be seen from outside walking through the park including the main pit but we also wanted to see the museum so we paid the admission and we were pleased with the museum. So even though I was really into going to the tar pits, Brad was reluctant. I don't know why he likes science stuff, but he went along with it.
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The whole tar pit experience didn't really start off with a bang, this was the first pit we saw and we were but a little underwhelmed. It was kind of cool but not exactly fascinating. I got a look from Brad that told me he really hoped things got better. And they did.
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We got to the main pit and this was really cool. The tar pit defintely had the asphalt smell but the cool part was how big it was and to watch it bubble! It reminded both of us of some of the mud pots we'd seen in Yellowstone a few years ago. The sculptures in the pit were interesting a slightly disturbing as well.
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ajrwdwgirl

Premium Member
Original Poster
Tuesday June 18, 2019

More from the La Brea Tar Pits.
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The museum is a working research facility too so it was interesting to watch the scientists work on the samples from the pits.
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This mural was supposed to show the evolution of life on Earth, it was interesting in many ways.
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A shirt I found funny in the gift shop and no I didn't buy it.
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MinnieM123

Premium Member
Tuesday June 18, 2019

More from the La Brea Tar Pits.
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The museum is a working research facility too so it was interesting to watch the scientists work on the samples from the pits.
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This mural was supposed to show the evolution of life on Earth, it was interesting in many ways.
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A shirt I found funny in the gift shop and no I didn't buy it.
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It may not be a number one tourist destination out there (with so many different experiences to choose from), but I gotta say, the La Brea Tar Pits really appeal to the geek in me!! Your photos looked so interesting. I like places where you "learn" about things. (I take after my father in that respect. Oddly enough, when I was a kid, I thought he was weird when he'd want to go to places like that. Somewhere between childhood and adulthood, my tastes changed to reflect his! :happy: )
 

93boomer

Premium Member
Monday June 17, 2019

Just a look around while we waited to get into the Cantina. We only had about a 10 minute wait until we got to go inside the Cantina. We had a stand up table with a good view of the whole bar and DJ Rex.
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The card we were issued to get into the Cantina. Everyone had to have one in order to get in.
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Entering the Cantina
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The atmosphere inside was really fun and DJ Rex was awesome. Both of us want to get a clean copy of the music in there.
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The Skyhopper (kiwi) and the White Wampa ale.
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Bezpin Fizz and the Fuzzy Ton Ton (the ton ton foam makes your mouth numb I suggest asking for a straw so you can taste the drink too)
Nothing like drinking multiple alcoholic drinks before 8:30 am!
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Loving those SW shirts you two!!!
 

ajrwdwgirl

Premium Member
Original Poster
It may not be a number one tourist destination out there (with so many different experiences to choose from), but I gotta say, the La Brea Tar Pits really appeal to the geek in me!! Your photos looked so interesting. I like places where you "learn" about things. (I take after my father in that respect. Oddly enough, when I was a kid, I thought he was weird when he'd want to go to places like that. Somewhere between childhood and adulthood, my tastes changed to reflect his! :happy: )

I know what you mean, as a kid/teen I wouldn't have been interested in the tar pits or some other stuff I like to do now. As a kid I wanted more action and didn't like just relaxing (unless I was reading). I remember how my mom had to drag me into the Tiki Room at the Magic Kingdom, I found it so boring and now it is one of my favorites! :)
 

ajrwdwgirl

Premium Member
Original Poster
Loving those SW shirts you two!!!

Thanks! I wore the SW shirt because I figured it suited the first time in the land. Although every time Brad asked me if I was going to wear a Star Wars shirt I kept telling him no, because he would get all riled up and say I should. I found it funny to rile him up! So when we left for Disneyland that day and I was wearing a a SW shirt he was surprised but happy that I had "seen the light!"
 

ajrwdwgirl

Premium Member
Original Poster
Tuesday June 18, 2019

After the museum at the Tar Pits we made our way back to the Farmer's Market but on the walk back we passed by some more of the pits. There was an area that had crates full of stuff that they had excavated but hadn't been researched yet and there were scientists working in the area. It was interesting to see.

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I took this picture so I could remember that 27 mammoths had fit in the pit but now I can't remember the answer to the question so don't ask me! I guess I should have taken a picture of the whole sign!
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I zoomed in on them working on the fossil. My science curriculum is changing this year and we will be talking more about fossils so I am planning to show the kids some of these pictures.
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Another pit.
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I thought this cutout in the sign with the pit in the background made a neat picture.
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On our walk back we saw this building being build, it looked very cool. We didn't see a sign to tell us what it was going to be but it would be nice to see the finished product.
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