Glad I'm not the only one! When I visited the tar pits, I didn't know what I was in for. I didn't realize I would leave feeling so sad. Actually, as fascinating as it all was as a window into a lost world, I couldn't bring myself to stay very long.

I remember similar experiences at Pompeii and on the Greek island of Santorini, where volcanic eruptions thousands of years ago killed people and froze them in hardened ash.

The sites are important and beyond fascinating, but when visiting them, I could not detach myself from the pain and terror those people were frozen in.

I'm glad experts are studying the tar pits and similar sites in order to understand the past, and I'm glad I can learn from them.

But I think in future, I won't be so quick to visit.