Living in Grand Cayman

As my longtime readers will know, January is time for my annual visit to Los Angeles.

This year the list of things done is quite exceptional, so here we go.

First: A hockey game.  But not any game.  There was an outdoor game at Dodger stadium, part of the NHL’s “Stadium series games”.  It was nice and warn in LA, so was not sure how they would pull it off ; but they did.

Here is the ice rink in the middle of Dodger Stadium.

A better perspective with the upper deck seats.

Of course this being LA, saw some celebs.  Here is the creepy guy from “Desperate Housewives”

Wayne Gretzky & wife Janet.

Here is a funny one with Cuba Gooding Jr. The girl is a friend of my buddy who I went to the game with. I essentially “Crashed” her once in a lifetime picture with her favorite actor.  haha

So that is it for the hockey game!  It was a lot of fun.  Of course very different from any hockey game I had ever seen before. Total attendance was over 55,000 people. It was a sold out event.

That made the Los Angeles Lakes basketball game not as amazing.  It was certainly fun and entertaining, but not as awesome as an outdoor hockey game.

Next up … I had to go see Endeavor! The space shuttle was moved here in 2012.  What was amazing is how big it is. I did not realize how huge the shuttles are. Since I see a lot of planes with my travel, I estimate that the fuselage size is similar to a Boeing 747 in width & height. (shorter though)  I any case, I was awe struck by its size.  Very impressive and worth the visit. Endeavor is located at the “California Science Center” that is close to downtown Los Angeles. What was amazing is that entry is free!  In fact it is donation based, so a few dollars is more accurate.  🙂

Here is the actual “transfer” document.  Note the estimated price tag ; almost 2-Billion dollars.

So those were some of my evenings in LA.  Lots to do as you can see.

On my one full day off I did a road trip.   Nothing super spectacular, just a long and nice drive. Starting and finishing in Los Angeles, I headed out early Sunday AM,  north towards Bakersfield. Then across all the way to Barstow and then back to LA.  Just under 400 miles of lovely roads and some cool stops along the way, like a visit of the Borax mine in Boron and some other sites.  For US travel geeks, note the deviation between Barstow & Victorville on the right hand side of the map.   I took a secondary road for this part.  That secondary road is part of the old “Route 66”.  Route 66 is one of the original US highways and linked Chicago to Los Angeles.  Route 66 no longer exists (at least not formally)

Of course, having this brand new rental (a 2014 BMW 335) helped a bit with the driving enjoyment 🙂

That’s it!  Now I realize why I was tired when I left Los Angeles.  It’s certainly not my favorite place, but it certainly is a place where there are plenty of things to see and do.