I'm still amazed by the "Free Fourth Grade Pass"
I learned a few weeks ago that there's apparently a special pass which exempts you from the vehicle parking fees at 54 specific California State Parks. This pass is only for fourth graders. If you have a fourth grader, you can skip paying the day use fees - which are, like, six to ten dollars or so - at random parks all over the state.
Not fifth graders... not third graders... fourth graders only!
So if you really want to save, like, seven bucks, you can get started immediately, and in 3561 days you will have a fourth grader and you will be able to cash in these incredible savings for one school year.
The funny thing about this is that if you mention this to anyone who grew up in CA, there's a good chance they'll exclaim "Oh! I get it!" Fourth graders in CA do a unit on state history, and this pass is, I guess, an inducement for their parents to drive them to see a lot of super low-stakes historical locations.
I browsed the list and was surprised to see the mix of places you can go. A lot of these spots are places I'd never travel to visit... but there's a few outdoor locations, like beaches and reservoirs and forests, that I would genuinely someday like to attend. It's a truly wild mixed bag of spots and many of them don't have an obvious strong connection to state history. Nice that they offer it, though!!
I've been on the hunt recently for new things I can do for free in LA so that I can entertain myself and touch grass without spending any money. I'm trying to go beyond the typical source for free things in LA by flogging the last bit of value out of modern search engines. That's how I learned about the secret fourth-grader situation, actually. It came up in some mile-long search I made full of minus signs and plus signs and quote marks.
The main discovery I've made is that institutions are extraordinarily bad at explaining themselves or making themselves discoverable online, and that every possible way of searching for museums or events or whatever really only captures a portion of them. You can get all sorts of weird things to do for free at weird times or on specific days, and these don't often turn up in listicles. Did you know that you can get into LACMA or the Natural History Museum any weekday for free, so long as you go after 3 pm?? It's crazy how much free shit there is to do in this city, and it's crazy how bad places are at telling you about it.
Anyway, if you really want to save on parking, get busy immediately. You need that fourth grader. You gotta cash in on that golden year and visit the redwoods and stuff!!