Museums Think We Are Idiots

Yesterday, Ranger Rick (name has been changed to protect the privacy of my husband) and I decided it was time to check off some things we have been wanting to do since coming to LA. (Okay, this is more my list that I have forced upon Ranger Rick, but I think he's really catching the spirit of it...the spirit of coolness. I debated about keeping that in. It might be one of those that sounds cooler in my head.)

Anyway, yesterday we traveled to the La Brea Tar Pits and to the Grove. (I know major sites of LA.) The Grove was basically a crammed version of our 3rd Street Promenade. (Yes, you did read "our." I've been here 3 1/2 years - it's time to start taking some ownership.) The Tar Pits, however, were awesome. What was so awesome? Well, not to spoil the attraction, but let me discuss the following picture:Behind me is a depiction of a mother elephant getting caught in the tar, which will ultimately lead her to an unfortunate death and final resting spot in a museum. On the edge of this death trap is future dumbo crying out for its mother, and a rather uninterested, if I say so myself, mate looking on. (I really think they could have worked on the mate. I sense no remorse in this guy at all. Has he seen this before? Was he a serial killer, who led all his mates to get some fancy "black water" and then watched them die? Where's the creepy guy from Dateline to narrate this unsolved mystery?)

In short, I found all of this disturbing. I mean seriously, I am perfectly capable of reading a sign that says, "During the Ice Age large animals got caught in tar and died." I don't need to see life size re-enactments to drive the point home. What's next, we go to a Civil War Museum and they actually show us a man getting his neck pierced with a bayonet so we understand that a war and some combat took place? Come on museums - we aren't idiots.