Field trip to Los Angeles' historic Olvera Street

Welcome to Bsombin' & thanks for checking out the blog! This past Friday I had the pleasure of going on a field trip with my lil' princess, & her class, to Los Angeles' historic Olvera Street. Olvera is the home of several historic landmarks, including the oldest house in Los Angeles (which was built in 1818), as well as a variety of stands, shops, & restaurants that celebrate the city's latin heritage. To make the trip even more exciting, we took the kids for a ride on the Metro's subway train to get to Olvera Street. We met up at the school, in the morning, so that all the parents who were driving could figure out directions, contact info, & who they were taking with them. Once everybody was in their groups, we all drove out to the Universal City Metro station. We all met up in front of the Universal City station, train passes were handed out, & we were on our way to Los Angeles Union station.

Once we arrived at Union station, & surfaced, we crossed Alameda & headed over to Olvera Street. We took a short snack break, then headed to the restrooms, before starting our tour of Olvera Street. We broke up into 2 large groups & went to meet our tour guides. Our guide took us around the stage at the start of Olvera & talked to us about the cities founders, & the settlers who started the city of angles, while pointing out the statues places around the circle. Our guide then walked us over to a mural showing "the Blessing of the Animals", before leading us down Olvera street to Avila Adobo (the oldest house in Los Angeles).

After a short walk down Olvera Street, we came to the entrance to Avila Adobo. The guide lead us into the courtyard & talked to us some more about the settlers. She told us more about their way of life & explained some of the differences between how things were for the settlers compared to how things are now. As she lead us through the house, she told us more about what it was like to live in the early days of Los Angeles.

Once we finished the tour, we broke up into smaller groups & got to explore Olvera without our guide. Each parent that drove took the kids they drove & we got to check out some more of Olvera street's sights, do some shopping, & try the food! I had my princess, & 2 other lil' princesses, who couldn't wait to get to shopping. So, after getting a few pics of the doors to the church, we got to spending! We worked our way down on one side of Olvera, back up on the other, & stopped at Cielito Lindo, to get some yummy taquitos & horchata, along the way. After shopping, we had jewelry, candy, clothes, toys, & churros! ...everything a little girls could ask for!

Once we got all our shopping & eating done, we got all the kids together & started making our way back to Union station, to catch our train home. The train ride back to Universal was one of the best parts of the trip. ...A guy with a guitar got on and started to play for everyone. Before we knew it, a bunch of the lil' girls in our group were singing Adele's "Rolling In The Deep" while the guy with the guitar strummed along with them. As I looked around, everyone on the train was either smiling, laughing, or singing along. It was priceless & precious. The lil' girls had the guy with the guitar feelin' like a rock star!

The trip was a great time spent with my little princess & her friends. We got to share a great day full of fun new experiences, we learned all kinds of new things together, we shopped & ate good food, & we got some great pictures to share with you all. We got back from the trip before the end of the school day, so my princess had to go back to class for a little bit. When I picked her up, my princess told me that all her friends told her that they thought I was cool & fun. ...That was the icing on the cake, for me! After a fun & exciting day spent on our feet, my lil' princess was quick to kick her shoes off & cuddle up with the four-legged princess on the couch for a long nap, as soon as we walked in the door. I was just a few steps behind in following her lead, too.

Thanks again for checking out Bsombin'. Come again, for more pics, music, art, & more!