Getty Museum - January 2015

Believe it or not, my husband has lived in Los Angeles for years and he had not yet visited The Getty Museum. Crazy right? We had a free Sunday in early January, so we took advantage of it by heading on over to the museum.

I had not visited in many years, in fact, I was surprised that they no longer required a parking reservation. We arrived in the early afternoon and it was absolutely jammed. The wait to take the tram to the top was so long, that a helpful volunteer suggested that we walk up the hill. I was wearing heels, but I was game.

At the start of the path up, we encountered sculptures that we likely would have missed, if we hadn't opted to walk.

The walk isn't too bad. It took about fifteen minutes and the hill was a gentle slope. We walked on a wide sidewalk. Unless you have mobility issues, there is no reason to wait in a long queue. We still took in the gorgeous views.

Here we are at the top. All smiles.

Full disclosure, it was too crowded, so we didn't even go inside of the buildings. We just walked around the exteriors and the gardens. Dan took amazing pictures that I wanted to share.

One of my favorite parts of The Getty, is the garden. The landscaping is stunning and it's always shifting with the seasons. I love how you can walk through it on different levels and get a variety of perspectives.

Dan's favorite part was the upper level sculpture garden, where many of the pieces moved with the wind or created interesting shadows with the light.

It was a very short trip to the marvelous Getty, but hopefully we will return soon and enjoy the treasures inside of its many buildings.

Las Vegas Christmas 2014 - CSI: The Experience

When we bought our tickets for Criss Angel: Believe, at the Tix-4-Tonight booth, we saw that the tickets for CSI: The Experience, were really inexpensive. We didn't have too many activities booked up during our four day weekend, so it seemed like a good time to check this attraction off of our Las Vegas bucket list.

Located in the MGM Grand, CSI: The Experience is an interactive crime solving attraction based on the hit television series. Just to make it seem a little more seedy and creepy, the entrance is located at the bottom of a dark escalator.

Neither of us are fans of the show. Fans of the show will probably enjoy the video introduction featuring cast members and also the handful of props that they have on display. I enjoyed looking at a charred body that they had from an episode featuring a factory fire. Creepy!

We had read reviews and we were prepared for the crimes to be fairly easy. There are three crime scenes and we were assigned to the second crime scene, which according to internet reviews, is the best one. We were given a clipboard with paper to make notes and sketches. The page also had questions regarding the crime that we had to answer as we walked through the exhibit.

After watching an introduction video, we were sent to our crime scene. Our scene featured a female body sprawled on the ground near a dumpster behind a hotel. She had tire marks across her back and her purse had spilled open to reveal a headshot picture and a mysterious white powder. We took notes at the crime scene before moving on.

There is no gore, as all of the bodies are dummies without any realistic features. We couldn't get close to the crime scene, as we were behind a plexiglass wall. This actually made it difficult to see some of the details that we were expected to note.

After viewing the crime scene, we walked into several rooms to examine evidence. There is no specific order to the stations, so we walked to the stations that were free. Luckily, we visited the exhibit on a slow day. I imagine that it's a nightmare when it's crowded. We examined various tire tracks, we looked at the victim's last text messages, we viewed lab sampled of flies found on the victim's body and we heard the autopsy report.

Viewing the crime scene and going through the evidence stations took about fifteen minutes. The next step was to sit at a computer station and file an official report. After answering questions, we watched a video to see if we had correctly solved the crime. We had, it was super easy.

Once our report was filed, we could dress up in CSI gear and do a photo session with various backdrops and we could collect our diploma for correctly solving the crime. Of course, all of these cost extra. We could also pay a small fee to go through the exhibit again and do the other crime scenes.

There are several problems with CSI: The Experience. First, it's just too darn easy. Start to finish, we were at the exhibit for less than thirty minutes. Second, even if we had wanted to pay to do another crime scene, it was ruined, because while sitting at the computer monitors, it's impossible to tune out the other computers and you hear the resolutions for the other scenes. Third, all of the nickel and diming left a bad taste in my mouth. Even with our discounted tickets, this exhibit is grossly overpriced. It should have included entry to all three crime scenes ( made harder to solve) and have those crime scenes set in their own rooms, so overhearing info is impossible. If it had been set up like this, I would have left feeling like I received value for money. As it is currently set-up, this attraction is an epic fail.

Las Vegas Christmas 2014 - Red Rock Canyon

Christmas Day in Las Vegas is a strange thing. There are fewer people milling around the casinos and the general vibe is a little subdued. It didn't quite feel like it was Christmas or that it was a Vegas vacation. Something felt off. We thought that it would be best to get out of the Golden Nugget for the afternoon and drive around the city. Our drive took us over to Red Rock Canyon.

Initially, we were going to pay the entrance fee and go on a driving tour of the canyon. However, it seemed like all of the tourist had the same idea as us. It was packed! We don't do crowds, so we made a U-turn out of the entrance gates and drove through the non-tourist section of the canyon. We've done the main entrance tour and it's stunning. Really, it's something not to be missed. However, I would argue that we were able to take in some gorgeous views by driving the opposite direction.

The best and most adorable part of our Christmas was finding a herd of wild burros. We saw signs saying not to feed them ( and we didn't), but they came right up to the fence and they were friendly enough to pet.

The burro herd was our "Christmas Miracle". Later in the trip, we drove back and tried to find them, but they were gone. We enjoyed our Christmas afternoon, away from the casinos and out in nature.