"Animating Life - The Art and Science of Laika" at the Portland Art Museum (Spring 2018)

We didn't have to walk to far from St. Honore Boulangerie; get to the Portland Art Museum...

The familiar figures for Laika's four movies greeted us in the distance...

Sierra Sacramento Valley Medical History Museum

Located in the eastern section of Sacramento,

was a nondescript building that you wouldn't think twice to look at...

Spring Break Trip 2017 - Day 7 Highlights

This was the building we saw peeking behind our hotel's courtyard...

Today happened to be as, what the teens would call it, "Windy af" (yes, click on those letters to be enlightened)...

The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles (MoCA Grand)

TC's choice of venue for the day was the MoCA LA (Museum of Contemporary Art)....

To the left of the MoCA is the Broad, which has long ass lines to get in. Tickets are hard to come by (you have to obtain them a month in advance and only if the dates aren't blocked off) and rather than wait hours (literally) to get in, opted ahead of time to check out the MoCA...

El Presidio de Santa Barbara State Historic Park + a bit of Filipino American history at the Chapel

Across the street from Handlebar Coffee Roasters and Three Pickles Deli is a notable historic landmark..

known as El Presidio de Santa Barbara.

This is separate from the Mission and located in what used to be the old Chinatown of Santa Barbara...

"Hello! Exploring the Supercute World of Hello Kitty" @ the JANM in LA

Our French dip sandwiches from Cole's were quite filling and proved to be the right sustenance to get through the next phase of the day..

which was visiting Little Tokyo's Japanese American National Museum

Return to Chi Chocolate and the Women's Museum of San Diego

Before going to our next museum outing, we passed by Chi Chocolat...

where Bert and I picked up a couple of pieces of chocolate...

San Diego Comic Gallery - Inaugural Exhibit: Kevin Eastman

Last month during our last free Friday of vacation went to check out the newly opened San Diego Comic Art Gallery...

The gallery is the first of its kind in San Diego to focus on the comic book as an art form.

Located in Barracks 3, the gallery's inaugural exhibit featured the work of Kevin Eastman, the creator of the famous Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles...

Martial Arts History Museum

While we were still up in the L.A. area, we thought it would be cool to finally see a museum we wanted to see three years ago...

Bert remembered seeing it on W. Magnolia Blvd, one of Burbank's main drags...It wasn't open at the time since it was after hours and we vowed to see it one day during a return visit and that day had come...

Hop on in! The Bunny Museum

Bert, TC and I have a tradition of going to quirky places wherever we visit, such as these gems in Portland, Oregon: the Kidd's Toy Museum, the FreakybutTrue Peculiarium,  and the now defunct Velveteria Museum of Black Velvet Paintings, along with the Mustard Museum in Mount Horeb, Wisconsin (which has since relocated to Middleton), the Pez Museum  (which has since been renamed the Museum of Pez Memorabilia) in Burlingame, CA, and the Bata Shoe Museum in Toronto to name just a few.

This recent mini vacation was no exception. When researching what was interesting or quirky about Pasadena, one place kept popping up...

Women's Museum of California - "Wonder Women: On Paper and Off"

Finally, the last stop from our day of exhibits and good desserts...

Our last stop was the Women's Museum of California in Liberty Station for yet another comic related art exhibit...

California Center for the Arts - "Art Illustrated: Celebrating Comic Arts" exhibit

Our next stop was the California Center for the Arts...

which is a huge complex designed to showcase dance, art, and music as well as offer cultural enrichment through museums and various educational programs...

The exhibit we wanted to see precedes Comic Con by about a month or so. I'm a sucker for these kinds of exhibits so off we went to learn more about Comic Art...

Trolley Adventure 2 - Old Town

It's nearly summer and I'm still trying to finish posts from Spring Break!

Do I even remember what happened? Let me search the cobwebs in my mind and see...

Columbia Gorge Interpretive Center Museum

With the Bridge of the Gods behind us, we made our way to the museum...

Trees, trees everywhere! Not a palm tree in sight!

Return to the Chula Vista Heritage Museum

[The museum was damaged two years ago, as of 2016 and torn down]

]The days I went with KD and the 2 C's, we also checked out this place...

The Chula Vista Heritage Museum is just a few steps from the sign in downtown Chula Vista, near Fred Rohr's drop anvil. We were interested in seeing their new exhibit about the history of Japanese Americans and their contributions in the Chula Vista farming community...

LACMA - Tim Burton

Of course we experienced a bit of crappy traffic while en route from Royal/T to the LACMA. Our route led us to Wilshire Blvd in downtown L.A.

Mission San Rafael

Before heading back to Berkeley, we thought we'd fit in a quick visit to the Mission San Rafael. A few years ago, when TC was in 4th grade, we visited several missions during our road trips (Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo)...Learning about the missions is part of the th grade curriculum. Early last year, we visited the Mission de Alcala (but I still haven't posted it yet) in Mission Valley.

Pretty freeway underpass!

The Bay Model Visitor Center

We got lost trying to find this place but obviously, we found it after spying some signs along one of the main roads. During our meandering through the hills and narrow streets of Sausalito, we saw some fantastic views of this cute town (but not seen here, sorry!)...

The Bay Model was also listed in that same book I referred to in my previous post. We were curious about this place because it was a huge hydraulic model of the Bay and was built by research scientists in the 1950's to learn about how water affects the region...

Ojibwe Cultural Foundation

After our quick pitstop in Mindemoya, we drove a little further so we could check out this place:
Turned out that museum admission was free, so yay!

Located in the town of M'Chigeeng,:
"The Ojibwe Cultural Foundation strives to be the identity center of the Anishnaabe people and remains committed to the revitalization and growth of the language, culture, arts, spirituality and traditions of the Anishnaabe People of the First Nations of the Robinson Huron Treaty area. We dedicate ourselves to the expression of Anishnaabe culture in all forms, so our art, language, stories, songs and teachings flourish now and remain strong for generations to come." (info from offical website)

Below are Wampum Belts. Wampum are traditional sacred shell beads that were often used as currency between the European colonists and the Native North Americans



Like the white colonists did to the Native American tribes in the U.S., the same atrocities were also done to the First Nations tribes in Canada. Their children were taken away from them to learn more "civilized" ways, their language and way of life denigrated and suppressed and the people themselves died of diseases brought over by the colonists.

A placard about the different foods eaten by the Anishnaabe tribe...

One of the impressive art pieces in the museum was this hide with paintings...

This was the furnace in the healing lodge:

The fire pit...

Intricate carvings (I forget if this is bone or another tpe of material):



When we left, it started to sprinkle...

One last look...

By this time, the sprinkles had become heavier rain...and just my luck, I was wearing flip flops. My feet were so cold and wet!

But TC didn't seem to mind the rain...

Man, when am I ever going to finish these Manitoulin posts? C, are you reading this??? Ha ha. I still have to do the Kicking Mule Ranch, Foodland, all the wierd Canadian candy and snacks and so on! My brain is going to explode!

Chula Vista Heritage Museum

[The museum was damaged two years ago as of 2016 and subsequently torn down]

Talk about an oldy moldy post. This one's from a few months ago (from when we went to the Chula Vista Lemon Festival) and it got lost in the queue. I believe I posted on the food already.

This was the first time we'd been to the Chula Vista Heritage Museum even though we drive by it everytime we're in downtown CV. Admission is free, so yay. This on on Third Avenue in the historic downtown area, near Memorial Park and down the street from La Bella Pizza Garden.

The ongoing exhibit was farming in the South County.



Funk's Hybrid Corn?

Farming implements...

The area near us, Otay Ranch used to be a huuuge cattle/sheep ranch and until recently, you could still see the cows grazing there. No more. Just a ton of homes now. Foreclosed ones. Wut????

Vegetable labels on display and photos from the past.

There used to be a farm at the foot of Main Street in Chula Vista (right before you reach Palm Avenue). The junk yard used to be there too. Now it's a strip mall with Kohl's, Baby's R Us and Petsmart.

I love these vegetable label with their vivid color scheme and bold graphics.


Next up, Fred Rohr's Anvil Drop!