Spend an enjoyable and educational afternoon exploring the National History Museum of Los Angeles County. Discover more than 300 fossils, marvel at 20 complete skeletons, and virtually excavate specimens in the Dinosaur Hall. Here, you can also view the world’s only Tyrannosaurus rex growth series and get a behind-the-scenes look at paleontologists in the Dino Lab. Journey through an epic evolutionary story that spans 65 million years and includes 240 specimens — such as mastodon and whale skeletons — as well as animal dioramas from North America and Africa. Continue on to the Gem and Mineral Hall, which features more than 2,000 individual specimens and a vault containing diamonds, rubies, sapphires, and gold. Find out how LA went from a pueblo to a sprawling metropolis in the Becoming Los Angeles exhibit, and take a stroll past native plant species in the Nature Gardens. Before leaving, don’t forget to scope out L.A. creatures scurrying about the Nature Lab.