Today was meant to be a bit more restful with less walking to do.....and it was.....but it was still very long......and very hot. I know, I know, day 3 and we're complaining about the heat!!! Today felt like a scorcher, we began by catching the train back to Hollywood Boulevard to visit the Hollywood museum, find some more stars, see the sign, whatever but that all changed when we arrived. We did visit more stars on the walk of fame but when we discovered the museum was closed plan B was put into action and we hopped on a bus to see the La Brea Tar Pits. The tar pits are exactly that - holes in the ground filled with gloopy, black, sludgy tar. In the museum we learnt a bit about the animal bones which have been discovered in the pits which they are still currently excavating in a few places. There have been thousands of animals recovered so far and 1 human. The animals found include wolves, mountain lions, birds, insects, horses, bison and mammoths, many of which are now extinct. We tried to pull special sticks from the tar and while a thinner one can be removed with a small effort the fatter ones take considerable strength which is why the animals can't get out once they stray into the tar.

When walking around the tar pits which are all fenced you can see people working on getting more bones from them and the signs show how many animals came from each section, hundreds in very small areas. There are also places where tar has spontaneously begun to seep through the grass, most are fenced but it made me wonder if the area was safe to be walking around on!!!

While wandering through the park we saw our first squirrel and Talari almost hand fed it with a chip. Later we came back and the chip was still there but Talari tells us that she touched it and the squirrel had definitely licked it!!!! Gross!! Chips over here relate to crisps. Many meals come with 'chips' and you get your hotdog and a bag of crisps!! We now always remember to ask for fries.

After La Brea we hopped on another bus and headed down to Santa Monica Pier. I glimpsed Rodeo Drive as we drove past which was good enough for me. The Santa Monica beach is absolutely huge. You almost need a packed lunch to get from the path to the water. We didn't swim, although we planned to, the attractions on the pier kept us busy and when we decided to maybe head to the water the sea breezes were freezing. The pier is covered in eateries and a small amusement park. We brought ride tickets and the girls ran from ride to ride for a few hours having great fun and getting braver as time went on until the roller coaster was a walk in the park. Sienna won a squid hat on a game where you had to land a ball in a coloured cup (she won twice and Talari also won) and she danced around on the pier and in the streets wearing her bright orange squid hat. Someone even stopped to ask us where she got it from!!

After a very long and very late bus ride home we fell into bed, totally exhausted after what was supposed to be a rest day......will we make it through Disneyland????