All in the Name of Education

This past week was a very educational week for me in the area of earthquake preparedness. We have not experienced one first hand (praise God!), but I was briefed by many adults who have been through their share of earthquakes.  There were some who claimed the small earthquakes are fun, really, like roller coaster rides.  There were some who lived through the 1994 Northridge earthquake and who are still affected by the trauma that inflicted.  You remember, the big one where the bridge collapsed?  It was just right up the road.  Been on that road.  I digress. . .

One very helpful tidbit gleaned from these conversations was to take my kids to the California Science Museum where we can experience first hand what an earthquake feels like in their earthquake simulator.  Since I have yet to prepare my kids for the natural disaster of earthquakes in California (Calleigh was rattled enough by the thought of rattlesnakes - no pun intended!), I jumped at this opportunity to educate my kids.  But this also meant that I had to drive into downtown LA by myself for the first time.  I've heard stories about that, too.  

I load up the kids, get the movie playing in the car because this is going to be a long ride, set up the GPS system, and set my mapquest directions & LA map out on the seat in front of me.  One can never be too prepared, right?  Well, apparently  I was not all that prepared.  The roads in CA are confusing to this native Texan.  Some exits are on the right, some are on the left.  There is little signage for what is coming up next.  There are no service roads where you can easily just make a u-turn and go the other way.  And the traffic - oh, the traffic.  I've never driven to downtown LA, but I can now say that I am a semi-professional.  I managed to miss our exit on the way and end up in Chinatown.  No big deal.  Just a few minutes at the gas station to read the map and then we were on our merry way again.  As we left the museum, we could not exit where we entered, so I had to take another road that led us into the hood.  No big deal.  We made a very illegal u-turn, and found our way back to the highway.  I would rather risk a ticket than getting lost any further there.  My kids had no clue that mommy was getting us lost either time.  They were merrily singing God Rocks Bible tunes in the back seat.  I am 100% positive the scriptures quoted through song out of my kid's mouths is what guided us back to the right roads.  God heard our prayers.

The museum was very nice.  The earthquake simulator was cool.  Their whole section about structures and how things are built in Southern California to withstand earthquakes was great.  It was so helpful for me to educate myself and my kids at the same time.  Carson loved the simulator and wanted to go through it twice!  Now, as I tuck my kids in bed, I can rest assured that they now know what an earthquake is, that we have them in SoCal, and what to do when we experience the real thing.