This will be the second trip to L.A. that NFD has seen (see more here) all to see this lovely lady pictured below. My sister is sort of the trope that so sitcoms start out with- she's a small town girl trying to make it in the Big City! More seriously, she's also an incredibly talented freelance graphic designer, photo editor and archivist; and social media guru. So.... if you are looking for any of that, look no further!

So, here is the trip through the eye of my phone camera...

This trip took place over my school's spring break. We packed in SO MUCH during our short stay! In addition to getting to see my sister and meet her current beau, we did, among other things, have a day at the beach. We even swam. Californians may have felt cold, but we were elated to have some sun! I lounged and built the world's most epic (okay, sort of epic) sandcastle because I'm secretly eight at heart.


We also saw a ridiculous amount of films- even for staying in Hollywood! High on my list  of must-sees was getting to see a classic film in theaters. Luck for us, a Gregory Peck Tribute was showing at the Aero Theatre.We also saw Zootopia in an old movie palace- The El Capitan! They had a live show before the film, gave out treats to the kids and you got free candy! The other film we saw was Batman v. Superman in 4D, which was quite a unique experience. The chairs moved to relay the action on the screen and little bits of water would squirt out. They even would change the air conditioning to reflect the weather in the film! We also took in some film history by checking out of movies' most famous sites, including Paramount's iconic gate entrances (their studio tours are fun, though our guide kept trying to show us things on her iPad screen and that was.... less than successful),  and Griffith's Observatory from Rebel Without a Cause. Though that film trying to make us believe this site is ever not-bustling and busy seems to push the limits of believability. We arrived for a stunning sunset and a packed crowd!


For a more unique LA experience, we even attended the LA Comicon, called Wondercon. We're a bit of geeks at heart, and we grew up on comics, so it was fun. But even if you didn't know a thing about comics, I think it would still be enjoyable. So many people dressed up in the most amazing costumes! You can see I caught two Flashes and a Black Canary on camera. We saw Batman's (dead) parents, several gorgeous Ursalas, any caped crusader you could think of, all sorts of Disney Princesses and Star Wars characters galore. My very favorite though, was someone who dressed as Thumblina and her Fairy Prince! I was impressed by the stamina some of these people must have to be photographed and pointed at for hours on end, but people pointing to you and squeeing seems inevitable at Wondercon. It even happened to me as someone recognized the Pin Up Girl skirt I was wearing!


We tried to balance the crazy and silly with more cultured too.  Last time we were in L.A. we'd visited the Getty Center, but did you know there are actually two separate Getty museums in the LA area?Both free too! For this trip, we headed out to the coast to see the Getty Villa, and, like the Getty Center, this museum truly works to control your experience. You drive up steep hills to find a place of serenity hidden  behind lush trees. It felt like we'd stepped out of time and back to Roman times. In fact, the villa is an exact replica of one of the homes buried in Mt.Vesuvius ashes.  With its view of the sea and carefully planned garden's it truly feels like you are looking of the Italian coast rather than the southern Californian one.  Equally impressive was the collection, which is made up entirely of art from the antiquities. I'm not normally one for Greek or Roman statuary, but this collection! So many items were ones you'd see pictures of in history books, except these ideas are real! They were truly stunning.

Remember how I was saying I was secretly eight at heart? Well, we also spent a day at the Happiest Place on Earth, as we did before. The castle was decked out for the park's diamond jubilee, and  Star Wars was everywhere. This time, we arrived later in order to stay for fireworks. Sadly wind kept that from happening but we definitely liked that schedule much more than getting there early. We also spent more time at some of Disney's classic rides.  I fell in love with the charm of "Its a Small World" this time around. I'll have to add the cool slow motion video of it at some point!