The Everyday Adventures of A & J: Will Rogers State Historic Park

Yesterday, J and I went to check out the nearby Will Rogers State Historic Park. As the name implies, it is a historic park which was once the home of cowboy philosopher/film start Will Rogers - more on him later. (Travel Note: Since this was a State Park, there was a fee for parking on site $12. There are other places to park below, if you don't mind walking the rest of the way, but J and I don't mind paying - supporting our State Parks is a good cause)
We arrived a bit later than originally planned, and we discovered that we had missed the first tour through the home, so we decided we'd go hiking about the park and then return for a later tour. So, we headed up above the house to the main hiking trail: Inspiration trail. At first I wasn't too impressed. The trail is very dusty, and there are a lot of bikers/runners also using these trails, so it's not as secluded as I like. I also have to note that, in part thanks to the heat, and in part thanks to the kick-up of dust, the general path area is a lovely shade of brown. But, after climbing up for a couple hundred feet, we reached a nice vista point. From here, you can see all the way from Westwood on the left to the Santa Monica mountains on the right.

We continued climbing upwards, and split off onto the Betty Rogers trail, which cuts back towards the park and around Inspiration Point. Just a little up the path, you'll come across a small overgrown trail to the left. I was a bit worried that J may have issues with all the low-hanging branches, being as tall as he is, but he was game, so up we climbed!

From Inspiration Point, we basically had a 360degree view of the entire area. We could actually see Downtown LA (it was pretty amazing considering how hazy it typically is) and all the way out the the Palos Verdes peninsula in the distance and the ocean on the horizon. As we sat for a while, rehydrating, a group on horseback came up the trail from the opposite side. I couldn't resist catching a few photos of them as well!

We followed the line of horses down the wider path to the Inspiration Trail. We came to a crossroads with a map that showed how the park connected with several other parks with numerous other multi-mile treks that we'd have to save for another day. The way back down to the main park area was mostly downhill, and the nicest part, in my opinion, as it was shaded by rows and rows of Eucalyptus trees.

Clearly, this tree had been thirsty, and some nice person had brought it a nice cup o'joe.
J, being the responsible guy that he is (and seeing that the tree had finished its coffee),
removed the cup and threw it away.

Back at the ranch house, we found that we had just missed the tour again. So, with a bit of spare time on our hands, we sprawled out on the lawn and had a drink. While waiting, a rather hilarious scene unfolded across the lawn. It was clearly this little boy's birthday, and his dad had gotten him a Spiderman piñata. But, of course, it would be too simple to just let the little guy take a few whacks at the thing, so his father proceeded to run away with it, causing the little boy to chase after him with his miniature bat raised high. I have to say, watching that boy running around with a bat and chasing his father around was one of the funniest things I've seen in quite a while!

While we were waiting, we also took the time to read through the pamphlet they gave us at the gate, which had a lot of information about the ranch and about Will Rogers. The only thing I really knew about him prior to this trip was that he was in in movies, westerns to be exact. The pamphlet went on to explain that he was not only a movie star, but a cowboy and professional roper - considered to be the best of all time (we got to watch some video of this, and it was amazing!). He also wrote a newspaper column that was read all across the country, hosted his own radio show, and most notably in our minds, a very funny, humble, and generous guy. "The more I read about him, the more I like him"- J kept saying over the course of the hour. He was one of the most famous and highest paid actors in the 20's and 30's, and despite all of this success, his main goal seemed to be completely focused on helping others, and he gave a lot of his wealth away. For more information about Will Rogers and the State Historic Park, you can check out the park's website -> http://www.parks.ca.gov/

Finally, it was time for the tour. Unfortunately, we weren't able to take any photographs inside the ranch house, but I was able to sneak one through a window outside.

It's a bit blurry and difficult to see, but as you can probably see, it is very American Western style. From the Native American throws - a tribute to his Native American heritage - to the animal heads and saddles and drawings/paintings/sculptures of ranch animals. My favorite thing in the house were the lighting fixtures. The one at the very top of the screen is made of an Ox Yoke, the second much smaller light is a collection of horseshoes set around a Texas star, and the third chandelier is an old wagon wheel. Another unique feature that I love, is due to the expansion of the house. When he decided to raise the roof of the house to accommodate more guests, he only raised half of the house. The other half remains as it was originally, so it gives it the feeling of being a house inside a house. It's difficult to explain, but I thought it was really interesting. He also had an enviable collection of books - many of them, first editions.

The last stop of the day was the stables. Will Rogers was an avid polo player, and would often have people over to visit and to play matches. For that reason, he had a LOT of horses, and thus needed a large structure in which to house them. Images of the exterior can be found on the parks website, but most of the photos I snapped were in the interior.