Spring Break: Screw Mexico!! Go Metro??

Is it already spring break? Once out of college, we have no concept of that weeklong holiday. Truly unfortunate.

Today, Metro is encouraging those spring breakers (most notably the little ones) to use their $3 day passes for self-tourism in our own city. They list off a number of things to do along the Red, Gold and the 720 down Wilshire (the new Purple in XXX many years). However, it struck us odd that their own partner website dedicated to public transit and cultural destinations - ExperienceLA.com - is not mentioned at all.

Shame on you Metro, shame on you. Nevertheless, Metro's ideas and tips are after the jump.

GO METRO ON SPRING BREAK AND TEACH YOUR CHILDREN WELL

Travel downtown via Metro Rail and see if you can spot the cool new security cameras in every station that are so finely tuned, they can read the grades on a report card. Get off the Metro Red Line at Civic Center Station or the Metro Gold Line at Union Station and visit the Children's Museum, the Japanese American National Museum, the Museum of Contemporary Art or the Geffen Contemporary at MOCA. All are within a 10-minute walk of the stations. (And don't forget that the Metro Gold Line starts in Pasadena, which is home to the world-famous Norton Simon Museum and the Huntington Library, Art Collections and Botanical Gardens.)

Or hop on Metro Rapid Line 720 for a bus ride down Wilshire Boulevard. Explain to the children that the world-famous Metro Rapids travel 25 percent faster than other buses because someone right here in Los Angeles invented the technology to make it happen. While you are traveling, look down at the street and see the loop antennas that send signals to make the lights stay green so the buses can pass through.

Check out the Page Museum and La Brea Tar Pits (5801 Wilshire Boulevard), the adjacent Los Angeles County Museum of Art and its Boone Children's Gallery, one block west, or the Peterson Automotive Museum (6060 Wilshire). That same Metro Rapid Line 720 will take you to the Hammer Museum and its pretty paintings (10899 Wilshire) in Westwood.

Sure, there are plenty of other learning experiences in Los Angeles. Perfect for vacationing kids, the J. Paul Getty Museum (Metro Rapid Line 761) has programs just for children, the California Science Center at Exposition Boulevard and Figueroa (Metro Line 381) likewise, has special programs for kids and even an IMAX theater. The nearby Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County is home to all sorts for dinosaur bones, which, of course, are fuel for all imaginations under 10.

Maybe on the way home you can stop at the Los Angeles Central Public Library (Metro Red Line Pershing Square Station) or at any of the other 60 plus branch locations and pick up a book to learn something more about the topic just explored.