My Solo Trip To California Part 1
February 16, 2020
Exactly last weekend I hopped on a plane, leaving my husband and kids in Maryland and flew all the way across the country, some 2000+ miles, to California. Why California? Did I just say I need a break and decide to leave the family for a little bit and fly more than 5 hours away? Kind of. The reason I flew to Cali was partly that I needed to get away from the daily day to day, also that I'm 33 and I figured why not? See I am still apart of many influencer programs and beta testing groups and the community PEOPLE Insiders, for PEOPLE magazine, sent an email back in December about being invited to an Oscar's Viewing Party, the "biggest of the year", or so they said.
Here's the exact email I received:
I got excited and instantly clicked RSVP. Now I'm sure everyone who is apart of the community got the email and after clicking the link, it went to an Eventbrite page where I saw it was a first-come, first-serve event and that it was free. I still clicked RSVP, I thought it was an online event since everything that I order and do nowadays is online. It wasn't until I looked back at the email and saw the event was in Los Angeles! I thought "Oh well, look at that!" Of course, I didn't have to go, it was free and all the way in L.A. but I saw the dates and we are doing better financially and I thought, I might not get a chance to do something like this again, so I made it work.
I RSVP'ed for myself too. We could bring guests but I already knew L.A. was expensive and I thought I would only go for the weekend and come back on Monday. And that is what I did. I booked my hotel near the airport and a flight to L.A. and back to Baltimore. The furthest I have flown out west was Seattle, Washington for a conference for school, but never to Cali and never by myself. The last time I have flown too was over 10 years ago.
I spent much of the time before the trip, mapping out places I wanted to go and walking distances using Google Maps. Google Maps was so helpful! Los Angeles is a big city and being there I saw it. I did get to see many of the museums and landmarks I wanted to see for the time I was there. I used Google Maps when I was walking in L.A. too. I used Lyft services while I was in L.A. and all of the drivers were very nice and kind.
I have to say that I met some really nice genuine people during my journey. I met people at the airports and on the plane and during the Lyft rides and at the event. I got names and numbers and I still talk to some of the people I met there. I found it was so funny too that many of the Lyft drivers had ties to the East Coast and Maryland and Virginia. It was like I didn't even really leave.
OK now onto the places I went to on the trip. I thought I would be held up more at getting my room at the hotel since I was checking in early but I lost most of my time at LAX trying to find the free shuttle to the hotel! I spent a good 20 minutes there and I was in the general location but still a couple of feet away. It wasn't until I could finally find someone to ask for help and an escalator magically appeared, that I went to the second level and was on my way to the hotel on the free shuttle. From there checking in was a breeze. I stayed at the Sheraton Gateway Hotel. It was very nice.
I took a Lyft to the California Science Museum and I got to see many of the exhibits and sights. I wanted to go to the National History Museum and the California African American Museum since they all around the same area but I lost much of my time in the airport and I had tickets for admission to the Space Shuttle Endeavour at 1 pm PST. Seeing the Space Shuttle was amazing! Here are some pictures of the California Science Museum, the complex and the Space Shuttle Endeavour:
The Califonia African American Museum
A tasty treat of watermelon, mango, bay power, and lemon juice.
The Space Shuttle Endeavor.
I had to be at The Broad museum at 3 pm PST for a timed entry there. So I left the Science center and headed in a Lyft to the Grammy Museum. By this time my phone was about to die and I had to charge it a bit while I was there. I like the Grammy's and all types of music. I also took a 3-minute walk from the Grammy Museum to the Staples Center. Here's a couple of pictures from the Grammy Museum and around the Staples Center:
Michael Jackson's red jacket.
Michelle Obama's outfit for the Grammys 2019.
Shelia E's drum set.
R.I.P. Kobe!
After the Staples Center, I walked, yes WALKED to the Broad Museum. Using Google Maps on my phone of course, what should have been about 26 minutes, turned to 43 minutes and I went up a hill too. I looked at the walkway too and was not too happy about walking down some of the path, so I stayed on the main walkway. I put a pep in my step and I was able to get to the Broad at 3 pm and my timed entry was recognized. I really wanted to see the Infinity Mirror Room by Yaymoi Kusama. Unfortunately, when I got there the actual exhibit was fully booked and the notice said to wait until space became available but I didn't know how long that would have been and I wanted to see more of L.A. I went saw a few exhibits in the museum, here they are:
The Broad Museum.
I didn't stay long at the museum but it was funny because as I was leaving the museum in the stairwell, I heard "Hey where you at BWI this morning?" I saw a man and a woman, I presumed to be his girlfriend, and I said "Yes" and then he said, "I thought I recognized you!" I was absolutely floored that someone from the same flight that morning was at the same museum some 5+ hours later. It really is a small world. After the museum, I got a Lyft back to the hotel because I wanted to go to the Griffth Observatory and see L.A. at night.
I wanted to see the Hollywood sign in the daylight but I needed to rest and the traffic going back the other way was really getting backed up. I charged my phone, called Rex and the kids and in the night, I went out into the night. I first stopped at the Museum of Dreamspace, which was like a knock off version of the Infinity Room Exhibit. Here are my pictures from there:
The staff helped take pictures of me. From there I went to Lake Hollywood Park, which I saw from watching videos on Youtube, which is one of the closest places you can get to the Hollywood sign, without an unobstructed view. Gosh was that road to the park wavy and it was dark but I was like I'm going to that sign anyway. My Lyft driver was so sweet and drove me a little closer to the sign, hiking to it takes about 1+ hours. Where we where the sign was obstructed so he drove back down to the lake and offered to take pictures of me in front of the sign.
Yay!
The obstructed view but closer.
From there, my Lyft driver and I went to the Griffith Observatory. I just changed the location for the driver. He was so nice. Gosh, I have always wanted to go the Griffith Observatory and not because it was featured in LA LA Land but because of the SCIENCE!!!!
The sky was so clear too and the stars were so bright. The view of downtown L.A. was absolutely breathtaking as well. Here are my pics:
Downtown L.A.!!!!
A really blurry picture of the Hollywood Sign from the Griffth Observatory.
The Griffith! *drooling*
Yasss!!!
*Love*
Inside the Observatory.
My phone was about to die again so after the observatory, I went back to the hotel. I was so thankful I was able to do so much. It was only Saturday! It was "go, go, go" since I landed that morning and it was alright. I did a lot of walking and I was happy. I was excited about the next days' events for the viewing party and that I'll discuss in Part 2.
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