A Brief Visit to Los Angeles

Ray and Traci pondered an adventure to Yellowstone National Park, but the cold weather in October made Los Angeles are more inviting destination. Both have previously lived in the Southland but it has been many years since either had visited LA.


An uneventful flight from Seattle on Sunday afternoon brought Ray and Traci to LAX, where they rented a car from Hertz and drove 35 minutes to their hotel, the Hilton at Universal Studios. Once checked in, the Seattle Seahawk fans spent their first few hours in LA watching the Sunday night broadcast of the Seahawks vs Cardinals game, which ended up in a 6-6 tie. Emotionally drained from the frustrating battle, they decided to stay close to the hotel and had a late dinner at Wolfgang Puck at the Universal CityWalk where Ray feasted on seafood linguine and Traci enjoyed a kale and spinach salad with grilled chicken. After a brief exploration of the CityWalk, they returned to the Hilton for the night.

On Monday, Ray and Traci started with a continental breakfast that was included in their room package and then headed to Universal Studios. The weather was perfect during their short stay in LA – sunny with temperatures in the 70s. According to web based crowd calendars, the week before Halloween was a “ghost town” at Universal Studios. While plenty of tourists were found at the park, it was clear by wait times that the place was pretty empty – the longest line was 25 minutes making “front of the line passes” and VIP packages unnecessary. Ray thought it was remarkable that 90% of the visitors to the park that day were adults, many in large tour groups from Asia. Ray previously purchased annual passes to Universal Studios on the Costco.com web site – the price for the annual passes was about the same as a regular single day admission at the gate, and holders could return to the park on any non-peak day. This turned out to be a good investment, as Ray did return to the park on Tuesday and Wednesday mornings. Once in the park, Ray and Traci went down the main escalators to the lower park where they enjoyed the Transformers 3D ride, the Revenge of the Mummy indoor coaster, and the Jurassic Park water ride.  They did not encounter any waits during their time in the lower area, and returned to the upper section somewhat soaked from the Jurassic Park ride. Over the next few hours, they saw three featured shows – Animal Actors Show, Waterworld, and the Special Effects show. The visit to the AMC Walking Dead attraction was unique with actors playing zombies appearing as visitors walked through familiar scenes from the series. Ray and Traci did have to wait about 25 minutes to get on the 45 minute long Backlot studio tour and then finished the day in Harry Potter Land with the 3D virtual ride, Forbidden Journey, and the family friendly outdoor rollercoaster Flight of the Hippogriff.

The shows and studio tour were quite interesting but people expecting thrilling roller coasters will be disappointed. Ray and Traci only rode 2 of the “virtual” coasters – Transformers and Harry Potter, leaving the Simpsons and Despicable Me experiences for another time. The virtual rides, which make up more than half the attractions, made Ray and Traci more motion sick than the real ones. While their day at Universal was enjoyable, Ray and Traci did wonder how they
would feel if they had to wait in the typical long lines on busier days – perhaps making front of the line passes a good investment. Ray and Traci walked the 1/3 mile from the park to their hotel and searched Yelp for a good place to eat. They ended up finding a Japanese restaurant two miles from their hotel called Daichan. A short drive later, Ray and Traci enjoyed a variety of tasty Japanese food in the small and cozy restaurant. The food was inexpensive but well prepared and the menu was quite extensive. 


On Tuesday, Ray and Traci went to one of LA’s great cultural experiences – the Getty Museum. A 45 minute drive from Studio City during mid-day traffic, Ray and Traci parked in the garage and took the tram up the hill to the beautiful campus. The architecture and views of the Getty were amazing! The museum is organized into 4 main buildings each with 2 floors of exhibits and the flow from gallery to gallery was very good.

The art included portraits, sketches, photos and sculptures. The collection was not as comprehensive as the Louvre in Paris or The Met in New York, but was still impressive. A beautiful garden/fountain area sat below the main campus.

Ray and Traci returned to the Hilton before driving to Brentwood later in the evening where they met Traci’s brother Kevin. The trio ate at a steakhouse called Baltaire. Ray enjoyed a bone-in rib eye steak, Traci had Chilean sea bass, and Kevin had pork chops. Dinner was quite good, and the diners finished off their meals with pumpkin cheesecake and an order of beignets complete with three dipping sauces. After the hearty meal, Ray and Traci returned to the Hilton for their final night.

Before checking out on Wednesday, Ray went back to Universal Studios using his annual pass and checked out the Simpsons virtual coaster after getting his picture taken with Homer Simpson.

Ray enjoyed the videos and decorations in the waiting area more than the actual virtual coaster which made him sick. Afterwards, Ray stopped at the Shrek 4-D movie theater before rejoining Traci at the Hilton to check out. After leaving the Hilton, the travelers drove to the Griffith Observatory. It was surprising how many people were there on a weekday afternoon. The Observatory was created to bring the stars (ones in outer space) to the public – the area includes a planetarium, a theatre, two floors of exhibits about all things outer space, and of course, telescopes for viewing at night.

Unfortunately, Ray and Traci visited in the middle of the day so weren’t able to use the telescopes but they still were very impressed by the educational experience.


Ray and Traci left the observatory, returned their rental car at BurbankAirport, and had a one hour delayed flight back to rainy Seattle.

Navigating New England

After many West Coast voyages mainly to Alaska, Ray and Traci decided to take a cruise on the Eastern Coast of the US and Canada on the NCL Gem, one of Norwegian’s Jewel Class ships. After sailings on the NCL Jewel, NCL Jade and NCL Pearl, Ray and Traci were excited to experience the NCL Gem.

Before embarking on any vacation, it is important to set expectations at a reasonable level. While places like Halifax and Portland (Maine) have a rich history and a seasonal beauty, the attractions couldn’t be expected to match some of Ray and Traci’s other cruise highlights such as touring ancient Rome, shopping at Istanbul’s Grand Bazaar, visiting the Summer Palace at St. Petersburg, or walking on the Great Wall of China.

The travelers left Seattle and flew to Newark before arriving at the Midtown Hilton in New York City. NYC was a toasty 90 degrees. On their pre-cruise day, Ray and Traci visited the Cloisters Museum followed by a return visit to the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

The Cloisters boasts an impressive collection of medieval art and artifacts housed in a Gothic style building on the Hudson River operated by the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Ray and Traci decided to have lunch at the Urbanspace Vanderbilt, a food hall located near Grand Central Station where Ray and Traci had lobster macaroni and cheese. Due to the very hot temperatures, Ray and Traci decided to take shelter in the air conditioned Metropolitan Museum of Art - the Met is a very large and well known art collection covering all ages and cultures. Like visiting Paris’ Louvre, a single visit to the Met only provides a glimpse into the rich history inside.

On Saturday, the voyage began at the NYC Cruise Terminal. After an uneventful embarkation process, Ray and Traci enjoyed lunch and unpacked in their stateroom on the 14th deck.

While the Gem offered a very similar experience to sailings on the Jade, Pearl and Jewel, a few observations were made. The ship is well maintained and the crew among the friendliest the travelers have encountered. Dining, as with most ships, is hit or miss – highlights included Ray’s Rib Eye steak and Traci’s Sea Bass dinner at the Cagney’s steakhouse and a turkey dinner in the main dining room. The buffet had a rich variety of foods for all meals including custom stations for omelets, pasta, and crepes. Both hand scooped and soft serve ice cream was available along with some tasty desserts (something NCL has improved in over the years).

NCL offered a variety of high quality headliner shows including two musicals put on by their own production cast, as well as the Chicago comedy troop Second City. The ship’s production cast performed a show “Get Down Tonite” with a variety of 70s music and TV themes which brought passengers back to the past. Ray also found their guest hypnotist quite intriguing as the well traveled hypnosis queen almost managed to start a fistfight between two hypnotized audience members arguing over an imaginary sand castle. The final show featured the “Ineffable Two” Stefanie and Maksym put on a very appealing adagio act highlighting their artistic dance as well as their pure athletic ability on stage and in the air. Other ship entertainment (especially music) did seem to target an older audience which may have been intentional given the profile of passengers on these New England cruises occurring during the school year (i.e. many septua- and octo-generians). The cruise had about 2,300 passengers, with full double occupancy being about 2,400 although none of the complimentary dining venues were especially busy including the buffet. Certainly the gym and running track were underused during this sailing as most passengers seemed to have spent their time eating in the buffet rather than exercising.

Sailaway from New York was spectacular given the sunny weather and the great views of the new Freedom Tower at Ground Zero and the Statue of Liberty.

After a sea day, the first stop was at Halifax, Nova Scotia. Ray and Traci opted to forgo an organized tour (many of which visited a lighthouse over an hour away from the ship) and wandered around town. They first visited the Halifax Public Library which the travelers thought was the nicest public library they ever visited. After using some free wi-fi on a balcony that overlooked the city, Ray and Traci walked to the Halifax Public Garden which was a beautiful park free to the public with some amazing and beautiful displays.

Fall colors mixed with colorful flora to highlight nature. From the gardens, Ray and Traci walked up to the Citadel which was a Canadian fort first built in the American Revolutionary War days, and now a tourist attraction similar to England’s Tower of London.

While the Citadel has had many military purposes over the years including housing World War I prisoners, it was never attacked but serves as a fine museum for the Canadian military.

From Halifax, the NCL Gem sailed to Saint John in New Brunswick. Famous highlights included the natural Reversing Rapids created with the flow reversal of the St. John River caused by the tides of the Bay of Fundy along with the fishing village of St. Martins. Ray and Traci decided to forgo an organized tour given the length of the bus ride to the fishing village, and just wander around Saint John. They encountered a sculpture festival along the waterfront where artists from around the world have been working for weeks to create granite art pieces.

Ray and Traci also visited the Old City Market with its collection of shops owned by local residents.

The next stop was Portland, Maine. After an onboard immigration check, Ray and Traci boarded a bus which toured the authentic New England town. The tour stopped at the historic Portland Head Light, the oldest commissioned lighthouse in the US and one of America’s most photographed.

After being dropped back at the Port, the travelers wandered along the waterfront and enjoyed a potato based donut at the Holy Donut. Before getting back on the NCL Gem, Ray and Traci enjoyed a cup of Maine Lobster Stew.

Newport, Rhode Island (full name State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantation) was the NCL Gem’s final stop – it actually did not dock and all passengers had to get on the lifeboats which were used to tender (or shuttle) people to shore. Ray and Traci took an early excursion to the Cliff Walk which is the coastline inhabited by giant mansions built during America’s “Guided Age.” Many of these homes with opulence rivaling the palaces found in Europe, fell into disrepair as heirs to great fortunes balked at funding these ultimate money pits.

One such mansion was the Breakers, a summer home built by the Vanderbilt family and now turned over to a charitable organization set up to preserve their historical value. Tours are now conducted at several famous homes including the Breakers – which was part of Ray and Traci’s excursion.

Disembarkation in NYC was smooth - Ray started the day with a steak and eggs farewell breakfast and then both cruisers left the ship, picked up their luggage, and took a taxi to a nearby Hertz Car Rental.

Their next stop was Ground Zero where the 9/11 museum remembers the 2001 tragedy. Over the years, the sacred ground was developed with North America’s tallest skyscraper, twin fountains resting in the footprint of the twin towers and most recently, the 9/11 Museum. This memorial for the incredible terrorist attack artfully expresses the horror and violence of the criminal act, celebrates the American heroes, and remembers the many lives lost.

Certainly one of the finest museums Ray and Traci have ever visited. Ray and Traci appreciated the excellent guided tour provided by their docent who brought inspirational stories and perspective to one of America’s darkest days.

After the visit to New York's sacred grounds, Ray and Traci drove to Newark, New Jersey and returned to Seattle after their New England Adventure.