LA Trip

16 Aug

Mike, Michaela and I took a quick getaway to Los Angeles a week or so ago, and it’s one of the most fun trips we’ve had.

We drove up on a Sunday and stayed at a really fun, kinda funky hotel in Hollywood. It had a popsicle hotline by the pool (pick up the phone and someone comes out to deliver popsicles to everyone at the pool), all-you-can-eat snacks of the sweet and savory varieties, a Coke Freestyle machine in the lobby, and 24/7 fro yo. Pretty much a kid’s dream. And mine.

We spent Sunday evening playing in the pool and walking a little of Hollywood Blvd., which was only a block from the hotel. The next morning we slept in before taking advantage of the hotel’s free breakfast (and morning table side magic show!) and then hamming it up at the Hollywood Wax Museum. You haven’t lived until you’ve gone to a wax museum with a kid who doesn’t know anything about celebrities or pop culture! She didn’t know who most of the people were, but the museum is super interactive, so she loved getting to put on themed costume pieces and pose with the statues.

We went to a movie at the famous (and beautiful) El Capitan Theatre. Disney owns it, so it shows Disney-related movies. That week it was “The Lion King,” which Michaela had never seen. They bring out a character before and after the movie and there are confetti blasts to boot. It was really hot outside, so I enjoyed sitting in the air conditioned theater, even if I did have to do a bunch of work calls and emails during the middle of the movie (Don’t worry– I walked out into the lobby so I wouldn’t disturb other people.)

Then it was time for the pool again before dinner, when we we walked to Roscoe’s Chicken and Waffles for, well, chicken and waffles.

After dinner, we hit the Guinness World Records Museum. See, the whole point of the trip was that Michaela is obsessed with world records and Ripley’s Believe It Or not, so we wanted to take her to those museums. The Guinness Museum was way better than I expected. Fun interactive stuff, interesting displays, and a good mix of stuff for people of all ages.

Would you believe that after that we had more pool time?

Tuesday morning, we had breakfast and played in the pool again. We got one last popsicle for the road (at like 10:30 a.m. It was definitely vacation!) and then packed our stuff so we could leave after visiting the Ripley’s Odditorium. We decided to “save the best for last,” since that was the place Michaela was most excited for. There was some overlap with the Guinness Museum, but not too much, except that they were both fun and interactive. We all thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.

We said goodbye to our hotel and drove to downtown LA, where we had lunch at Grand Central Market. I try to go there whenever I can, because they have so many delicious food options. I got a carnitas torta from a Mexican place and Mike and Michaela got good old American food. We wandered around the market and walked through the Fashion District for a while before heading south.

We had reservations for Pirate’s Dinner Adventure, a pirate-themed dinner show. That description doesn’t quite do it justice. There are acrobats, actors, a dragon, 250,000 gallons of water, and a pirate ship… Plus food and drinks. Again, Michaela was pooped by the end, but it was worth it.

We take a lot of family adventures and go to some pretty cool places. Michaela’s only 7 and she’s been to 15 states and 13 countries. Somehow, though, this trip to a place just a couple of hours away stole our hearts.

It really has been a glorious summer.

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