USC, La Brea and the Dodgers

Josh's post is below...here are some pictures to show for it.

The USC campus was spectacular, and we had a beautiful day for it too. The walking tour lasted an hour and showed most of the highlights, especially the part of the campus dedicated to freshmen...classrooms, housing, and their own quad with wireless Internet access so they can work out in the sun. We did some exploring of our own too, and took a drive over to see the Los Angeles Coliseum which is right next door.

Here's Josh in front of Tommy Trojan [a statue of one of the school mascots]:



The Doheny Library is the oldest on campus and in addition to housing books, contains an extensive film library:



And the inside is beautiful too. Here's the main reading room on the first floor:



Very impressive place. Got a shirt at the bookstore and had lunch at The Commons, which is really a huge three-level food court with everything from Mexican to Wolfgang Puck to sushi...ate at an outside table. There are miniature Starbucks and Jamba Juices around campus too.

After USC we had a few hours to kill before the Dodger game, so we headed to the La Brea Tar Pit, which was interesting for oh, about 20 minutes. Here's some methane gas bubbling up through the tar and oil slick on top of the main pond:



We got to Dodger Stadium early enough to see all of batting practice, but it wasn't until right before the game that some players were willing to sign autographs. Here's Josh's notepad being signed by Nomar Garciaparra, the back of Josh's head is right in front of him, red t-shirt.



Beautiful place to watch a ballgame, you wouldn't know it was built in 1962. It's true what they say about the fans, though...they don't really show up until the 3rd inning, and try to leave by the 7th, although people seemed to stay longer tonight because the Dodgers were going for their 12th straight win and it was a close game.



There were some fun things going on besides the game too. First was the wackiest vendor I've ever seen at a ballgame...this peanut guy would walk around, spread his arms in the air, and scream "NUTS!!" Then would start throwing bags of peanuts. If you answered back to him his reply was, "Shut up and eat!" It was all a shtick, and it was very funny.



Then there was Cheryl Tiegs, who threw out the first pitch and did a Saturn promotion in between one of the innings...she walked right past us twice, and the second time Josh took this fuzzy picture. She paused a couple of times to take pictures with fans, and in one of those rare moments where I would actually try to impose on a celebrity, I thought it would be fun to catch up with her...but I wasn't fast enough. She looks great for 59. She would have looked great for 39. Eva Longoria was also at the game, as was LL Cool J, but we weren't anywhere near them.



So instead we made friends with the girls sitting right in front of us, who had mad skills in getting themselves upon the JumboTron, which they accomplished three times during the course of the evening. I took a picture each time they were up and promised to email those to them. Here's one:



Back to the hotel, pretty tired after another day of sun with the convertible top down. Probably not going to Zuma Beach in Malibu tomorrow, maybe will get an extra hour of sleep and spend some time in the pool before we head to UCLA in the early afternoon.