It was finally time for my brother Kyle to graduate from UCLA with his masters! There were two trips that were sort of combined into one. The first one was for his master’s recital, and then second trip, two weeks later, was for his actual graduation. Of course I decided to explore Los Angeles and the surrounding areas while I was in town.
Keep on reading for my day-by-day adventures!
Day 1, May 24: Arrival Day
Nothing exciting happened on our arrival day. I think I had decided to fly into Las Vegas and then drive out to LA. It was cheaper, but I’m not sure it was the smartest thing to do as that 4/5 hour drive in the desert was miserable!
Day 2, May 25: Disneyland
Disneyland was so much fun. I had read about how to maximize the experience in Disneyland travel guides and books and I think I did a good job of seeing the whole park. It’s based in Anaheim, California and has been open since 1955. I did most of the rides including Alice in Wonderland, Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, Indiana Jones (very fun roller coaster), Pirates of teh Caribbean, Sleeping Beauty’s Castle, Star Wars, Winnie the Pooh and so many more. I tried a Dole Whip, which is a pineapple flavored ice cream drink, as well as some Mickey Mouse shaped beignets. At the end of the night, I saw the Disney street parade where they light up different floats full of Disney designs.
Day 3, May 26: Recital and Beaches
Kyle’s master recital was finally here. In the morning before the recital, I walked Santa Monica Pier. It was way different than when I walked Santa Monica Pier in the evening. But before I get into what happened in the evening, I want to say that Kyle did an amazing job on his recital pieces. Afterwards, my parents got some food (sandwiches and cookies and drinks) for those who attended his recital. That evening, Kyle took us back to Santa Monica beach and Venice beach. They were both very different beaches but still fun to go and see. According to online websites, Venice beach is very “free-spirited.” I guess that’s one word that could be used to describe the beach. It was a little “sketch” in my honest opinion. After the beaches, we got some Korean BBQ! It was delicious, but it took forever to cook all the meats. I was super hungry, and I just wanted to eat. It would be a great idea for socializing, but I was hungry!
Day 4, May 27: Joshua Tree, Salton Sea, Bombay and Slab City
Today was a busy day for sight-seeing! The first stop was Joshua Tree National Park! The park encompasses two ecosystems, the Mojave Desert and the Colorado Desert. Summer days are HOT, over 100 degrees. I wasn’t even using my phone, but my phone shut off because the air was too hot for it. Anyways, the Joshua trees were fun to see. We don’t get to see these types of trees in the mid-west so it was a fun outing to visit this national park. We then decided to drive to the Salton Sea, now a California State Park. Before getting to the park, we visited the banana museum which was on the way to the Salton Sea. It wasn’t really a museum, but just a collection of banana-related items in one large room. Apparently, it did set a record in the Guinness World Records as the largest museum dedicated to a single fruit in 1999. So the Salton Sea. It’s California’s largest lake and has a surface area of 381 square miles. It was created when flooding caused the Colorado River to break a canal and flow into the Salton Sea. In the 1950’s, the Salton Sea was a resort destination. Communities like Bombay beach were home to hotels, yacht clubs, homes and resorts. However, since there is no outlet to this lake, water evaporated and left behind large amounts of dissolved salts. It’s about 25% higher in salinity than ocean water. Now, dead fish and bones make up the beach instead of sand. Driving around Bombay was driving through a deserted town. It looked like people just up and left their homes and all the tourist sights. One sight I saw was a drive in movie theatre with cars still parked in the lot. We also drove through Slab city, an off the grid community of people who want to live outside of society. It mainly looked like a bunch of small structures and lots of art painted around the town. We also drove by these mud volcanoes. The Davis-Schrimpf Seep Field is home to multiple mud volcanoes, many of which are still active. You can only see these from the road, but I may have jumped the fence to get a closer view of them. On the way home, I drove through the San Bernardino Forest to get back to the airbnb.
Day 5, May 28: Lavender Fields and Anza Borrego
Lavender Farms!? Of course I wanted to go see a lavender farm. I drove separately from my parents and brother, who did not enjoy the ride up these tall windy and skinny mountain roads. But once there, it was pretty! It was 40 minutes outside of San Diego and had over a dozen varieties of lavender on its 8.5 acres of land. We were even able to see how they made the lavender into extracts! There were so many cute photo ops, a labyrinth for meditation, a gift shop and a tea shop. It was so serene being at the fields. After the lavender farm, the family wanted to go home and rest. But I wanted to keep exploring. So I drove over to Anza-Borrego Desert State Park. It’s California’s largest state park and about 2 hours from San Diego. The fun part of the desert is that it is full of metal sculptures created by Ricardo Breceda. They are huge and there were almost 150 of them! My favorites were the insects and this dragon whose back came out of the ground in multiple spots. By the time I got home, I was exhausted and ready for bed. But we still had one more day left before we left town for the first time.
Day 6, May 29: Hollywood
I don’t know if any trip to Los Angeles would be complete without heading over to Hollywood. I thought it was a little busy, crowded, expensive and just not my place where I’d want to live (or even visit again). But since I was out here, I had to check it out. The first thing my family and I did was check out the Hollywood Sign! It was busy, but people moved quick. You find the sign, take a picture, and then go about your day. We ventured into Hollywood to see the Walk of Fame and the TCL Theatre. We visited the wax museum (which was fun to pose with all the actors/actresses!), Guinness World Records and Ripley’s Believe it or Not Museums. While this concluded the first trip to LA, Kyle’s graduation was coming up in two weeks and I would be back to explore more of California!
Day 1, June 15: Universal Studios
First day, first stop: Universal Studios HOLLYWOOD! There were so many themed areas including Despicable Me, the Simpsons, the Wizarding World of Harry Potter, Jurassic Park, The Mummy and special effect shows. It was a full and tiring day but full of fun sites to see and rides to ride. I was also able to see some sets of some movies during one of the tours that I did.
Day 2, June 16: Kyle’s Graduation
YAY! Kyle officially graduated from the Herb Alpert School of Music at UCLA with his masters!
Day 3, June 17: La Jolla and San Diego
We all drove down to San Diego, but first stopped at La Jolla. La Jolla is a small seaside neighborhood surrounded on 3 sides by the ocean. La Jolla is home to the Pacific harbor seals and California sea lions and one can see them all over the place just by walking down the neighborhood of La Jolla. I drove out to Seal Rock/Children’s Pool Beach but it was fun to see the animals on the rock and walk out into the water on a pathway. I also made a quick stop at the Spruce Street Suspension Bridge and got some coffee at a cat café. I’ve never been to a cat café, but the basic concept is order a cup of coffee and then go hang out in a room full of cats while drinking said coffee. And the cats in the room are all adoptable, but not for me. Simba would not be happy if he had to share his home with yet another animal.
Day 4, June 18: Sequoias and King’s Canyon
While the parents said they were too tired to go, the rest of us headed over to see the sequoias and King’s Canyon. Sequoia National park is known for it’s giant sequoia trees, including the General Sherman Tree… the largest tree on earth (in terms of volume)! It was really pretty to see the massive trees and explore the area trails. The next stop was King’s Canyon national park which is south of Sequoia National Park. That was also pretty to see. I remember seeing rivers running through the area which made for stunning views.
Day 5, June 19: San Diego Zoo
And we are off to San Diego again. Of course, no visit to San Diego would be complete without a stop to the San Diego Zoo. I saw so many bears! Panda bears, polar bears, and koala bears (which aren’t really bears, but they have the word bear in it…) We walked around the whole zoo and after a long hot day in San Diego, we still had to drive back to Los Angeles for the night.
Day 6, June 20: La Brea Tar Pits
The last day of our official California visit was the La Brea Tar Pits. The tar in the area preserved the bones of animals including saber-toothed cats, cayotes, bison, wolves, horses, and even sloths. They even had a museum that talked about the history of the tar pits and how scientists excavate them. In addition to the museum, there are the actual tar pits themselves that visitors are able to walk by. After seeing the Tar Pits, it was time to head back home.
All good trips have an end, and my two California trips were at a close. I was excited to be back in the quiet(er) city of St. Louis. At least we had 2 weeks in between to recuperate. The beaches were pretty, the deserts were hot, and the different sites were interesting in and of themselves. While I don’t like to revisit states, California is so large that I may need to check out more of the state some other time in my life!