Downtown Los Angeles 2010

Our last summer adventure, a visit to Downtown Los Angeles. Since my brother doesn't live there anymore, I didn't think we'd be going to LA for a long time but they came to visit and were staying there for a couple weeks, so we planned a get-together.

Gotta love the carpool lane. Haven't seen this sign before though. For a newbie like me, thought it was a little dangerous to have to read all this and figure it out while driving.
Dodger Stadium happened to only be a mile away from where we were going so we squeezed in a quick visit. Luckily one of the gates were open and we got to check it out from the inside.

Sage's Dodger penny from one of them penny souvenier machines.

Olvera St. The middle school Spanish class has a field trip to this "street" (more like an alley...) so Emi's been wanting to see it.

We parked near Chinatown and just walked everywhere. Walking allows you to stop and see more things, like this cool sign post of Los Angeles' sister cities.

...and this bike rack (?)

Disney Concert Hall.

The outside garden had a large mosaic rose. We were taking a self-guided audio tour so we had these "phones" to listen to.

Close up of the rose. This thing must of taken a long time to create.

Cool spheres at the gift shop.

Chinatown.

Dim Sum... Mayumi knew of a good, inexpensive place. Must of been years since we've last had dim sum. It was good.

I must admit, I was surprised Emi posed for me all on her own. This is an inside joke picture.

Later we see this sign...oops! ^_^

Lots of cute knick-knacky stuff.

The ginseng bulk bins. Never knew there were so many varieties.

I think these are illegal? Maybe that's why the workers started approaching us as we were taking pictures.

Dried abalone from Japan, on SALE $1274.25/lb. Crazy...

I wonder if they eat this like jerky...

Little Tokyo was next. More cute shops.

Visited the Japanese American National Museum. A lot of stuff from their imprisonment in US concentration camps after WWII.
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I think we ended up staying for about nine hours, with lots and lots of walking. But we had a good time, and it was a nice little getaway before school starts Monday.