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.