Blogmas day 22 One more bucket list item and more Los Angeles fun

Hello, my bucket list, friends! I’m happy to say that I crossed off three bucket list items during my trip to La. In my previous post, I talked about two of the items that I crossed off. Before I tell you about the item I crossed off, let me tell you about my first adventure of the day. There are so many interesting museums in LA, and there was one museum I had been wanting to visit. It was not a bucket list item, but I was still excited to visit it. The museum that I visited that day was LACMA ( Los Angeles County Museum of Art ) . I started my LACMA adventure by taking a bunch of pictures at the outdoor exhibit known as Urban Lights. This outdoor art exhibit is free to visit, so even if you don’t want to pay to visit LACMA, you can still get some amazing pictures at this outdoor exhibit. I highly recommend checking it out if you have time on your next trip to LA. After my photoshoot outside, I went into the museum. There was so much to see! I took pictures of some of my favorite art pieces. As with most art museums, it would be easy to spend a long time here. Next time I visit an art museum I may bring a sketch book with me. After spending some time at LACMA,I went to a nearby Starbucks to rest and charge my phone, and then it was time to cross off my third bucket list item of the trip. I decided to cross off number 287. Go on a vegan picnic! I went to the veggie grill to get food for my picnic. I got the harvest bowl with tofu on top. I walked around the Grove ( an outdoor mall) for a while before I walked over to a nearby park. At the park , I sat at a picnic table, and I enjoyed the very good vegan food from veggie grill. I didn’t finish the whole bowl in one sitting, but I was full, and I was excited that I would get to finish it for dinner. After crossing this item off my bucket list, I walked back to the Grove. While I was at the grove I went to Barnes and Noble where I got two books. I got a Barbie book and a very cute book about Los Angeles. I also visited the farmers market that is by the Grove. I didn’t want any more food, but I did want to visit the sticker store there that is called Sticker World. I got some fun stickers there, including some Christian themed stickers and some horse stickers. Before I left the farmer’s market, I used the pressed penny so that I would have a fun souvenir from the farmer’s market. After all that adventure, I decided to go to Hollywood Boulevard before I left Los Angeles the next day. I walked around Hollywood Boulevard for a while before going to Walgreens, where I got three souvenir keychains, snacks, and water. Then it was time to go back to the hotel. I decided to use the bathtub at my hotel room since it was one of my last chances to do so. I had brought a lot of bath bombs from home, and I used a bunch of them in this one bath. It was another fun and exciting day of vacation.

Thanks for reading about my vacation.

Rock On – Christina Epperly

Blogmas day 21, two bucket list adventures, and a fun day in Los Angeles!

Hello, my bucket list, friends! I’m here with a post that I’m excited to write! On December 20th, I crossed two more items off my bucket list, plus I enjoyed a day in Los Angeles. Let’s start by talking about the first item I crossed off my bucket list that day. I started my day in Los Angeles by crossing off bucket list number 275. Go on a tour of Warner Brothers Studios. There is something really fun about seeing where TV shows and movies are made. I really enjoyed crossing this item off my list. There was so much to see on the tour, and the guide did a wonderful job of providing us with many interesting facts about many of the things we saw on the tour.There were also many great photo opportunities. I love the photo of me on the couch in front of the Friends fountain. I also enjoyed the display of Christmas items they had. I love the selfie I took with Jack Frost. There was also a gift shop, of course, where I got a few fun items, including a hat that says writer on it. After the tour and the gift shop, I spent some time in the Starbucks that was located in the lobby where the tours started. It was a fun item to cross off my bucket list, and I had one more item to cross off that day. After my tour, I went to Hollywood to cross number 244 go to a blow dry bar off my bucket list. I had made an appointment online, and I was ready for a little relaxion after an already busy day. I really did enjoy having my hair washed and styled. I decided to get curls, and I really liked that way I looked. With another item off my list and a super cute hairstyle, I decided to go to an attraction called the giant’s house. This attraction is just like a selfie museum. There were so many fun props to take photos with. Some of my favorites were the giant high heel, the ball pit, the piece of cake, and the coffee cup. I love the photos that I took there. Oh, the giant lipstick was pretty great, too. After my visit to the Giant’s house, I decided to walk to one of my favorite souvenire stores. On the way to the store, I came across some guys carrying some absolutely beautiful snakes. I fell in love with the yellow snake, and I just had to have a picture of me holding it. The snake’s name was lemonade, and that was a perfect name for this snake because he is a yellow snake. After holding the snake for pictures, I made it to the souvenir store where I found some fun items to add to my collection, including a snow globe. I had one last stop before I went back to my hotel for the day. I accidently left my toothpaste at home, so I needed to get some more. I went to CVS, and I got the toothpaste plus some more souvenirs. It was a great first day of vacation. Thanks for reading about this part of my adventure in Los Angeles.

Rock On- Christina Epperly

Los Angeles summer 2021 Adventure part three

Hello,my bucket list friends! It’s time for part three of my Los Angeles adventure! My last full day in Los Angeles started out with a trip to the LA zoo. When we first got there I saw a big line outside. However, it moved pretty quickly. We went to the gift shop first to avoid the crowds that would probably be there later in the day. Since the zoo is very large we decided to pay to ride the tram around. It was nice to be able to get off at different places and see the animals in that area. Some of my favorite animals that I got to see were a tapir,elephants, flamingos,a tiger and a tortoise. I also got to ride the carousel! There were a lot of cool animals to choose from on the carousel. I road on an ostrich and my mom road on a horse. I hope I can ride on that carousel again sometime. I want to ride the unicorn. After the zoo we went to the Grove. The Grove is a popular outdoor shopping center. I mainly wanted to go see the American Girl store. I just have to say the store was simply amazing. The displays that were around the store were so much fun to look at and even interact with. They had a working pacman arcade game that went a long with Courtney the newest historical doll. While I was there I bought Courtney’s second book. I had already read the first one and I liked it a lot. I also got a travel journal, a matching hair bow set, and a blind bag with doll sized plastic food items. After that we went to eat at the Original farmers market. We found a place there that had healthy food. I had a really good sandwich there. The last activity that we had planned was to ride the swan boats at Echo park. We made reservations for a certain time. We spent some time walking around the park before we got in line for the boats. I have to say the boats are super cute. It was hard to peddle the boats at times but it was so much fun. I highly recommend this activity if you are in the area.

Thanks for reading ! Rock on – Christina Epperly

Los Angeles summer adventure 2021 part two

Hello, my bucket list friends! I’m back with part two of my Los Angeles Adventure! This day started off with a tour of the TCL Chinese theater. This historic place is one to add to your list if you are ever in Hollywood. The whole place including the ceiling is a true work of art. We got to sit in the theater and watch a video about it’s history. I loved the comfortable red chairs. After the theater, we went on a another bus tour. This wasn’t originally the plan. We had a two day ticket for Big Bus so we were planning on doing that tour again but getting off at a different stop. While waiting for the Big Bus we took a walk on Hollywood boulevard. We met a guy who was selling tickets for another tour bus company. This bus was smaller and went up to the neighborhoods where the celebrities live. Since we had already done Big Bus we decided to do this tour. I had a lot of fun on this tour. The guide was informative and entertaining. My favorite part was driving through Beverly Hills. If I could live anywhere in the in world it would be Beverly Hills. There are a lot of interesting houses on this tour After the amazing bus tour we took an Uber to the Griffith Observatory. This attraction is free to go to and it offers wonderful view and interesting exhibits. However,it was very crowded when I was there. It was hard to see all the exhibits but my favorite was moon exhibit. I got some really great pictures and yes, there is a gift shop. It is definitely worth a visit. That night it was back to Hollywood boulevard for dinner. I really loved being able to walk to Hollywood boulevard from the hotel.

Thank you for reading this part of my Los Angeles/ Hollywood adventure!

Rock on – Christina Epperly

Los Angeles summer 2021 adventure part one

Hello,my bucket list friends. Recently I went on an amazing road trip to my favorite city. My mom and I started our road trip by driving to Paso Robles.We spent the night there before continuing on to Los Angeles the next morning. However we did have time to go to the Five Below before we checked into our Paso Robles hotel. I’ve only been to a Five Below one time before this. It was at the Mall of America in Minnesota. I have been wanting to go back to one of these stores ever since. I was so happy that I got the chance to go while on this road trip. At five below I got some really fun things including some eraser shaped like shoes,a My Little pony t-shirt,and a birdhouse craft kit. I wish a Five Below would open by me. After spending the night in Paso Robles we started off to Los Angeles. When we go to Los Angeles,we went to the Getty center before going to our hotel. We didn’t have a lot of time at the Getty center but we did get to see a lot of amazing art. I also enjoyed the views and a fountain that we took a pictures in front of. There was this really cool photography exhibit called the photo flux that I really enjoyed looking at. There were a lot of interesting things to see here but we didn’t have enough time to see it all. I also enjoyed the tram ride to and from the parking garage. At the gift shop I got this cup that has a curly straw and a picture of the tram on it. After checking in to our hotel, we walked down to Hollywood boulevard. I’ve been on Hollywood boulevard before and I really liked it. The first thing I did was go to souvenir shop that I like. At the souvenir shop I had no problem finding souvenirs that I wanted to take home. After senior shopping we explored Hollywood boulevard. After walking around a while and taking in the sights including the outside of the TCL Chinese theater.We discovered this place called museum of Dream Space. It’s One of those places where there is a bunch of cool things set up for you to take photos with. Museum of Dream Space has a lot of cool light effects.My favorite one was the light bulb room. I really like how the pictures we took in that room turned out. The other rooms offered some great photos opportunities as well. If you’re into photography I recommend giving this place a visit. The next day we went down to Hollywood boulevard and got on a tour bus from the Big Bus company. I’ve been on Big Bus tours before in San Francisco and New York and I like that they are hop on hop off. We took the tour bus to the La Brea tar pits. I really enjoyed this attraction. Seeing a big pool of tar in the middle of a city is a very interesting thing to see. After taking a look at the Tar Pit and taking pictures of course. We made our way into the museum. The museum has exhibits about mammoths and other extinct animals. I enjoyed taking pictures with some of the displays they had there. They also had a nice outdoor garden area. After we explored the museum we walked to nearby Starbucks and got some cool drinks. Then we waited for the bus to come. After ridding the bus back to Hollywood boulevard. We went to this $5 souvenir shop. After that we went back to the hotel and got our car. We drove to Lake Hollywood Park. I had been to Lake Hollywood Park before and it is a great place to get a good view and good pictures of the Hollywood sign. This park is also dog friendly so you get to see some cute dogs as you walk around. The drive to get to the park was an adventure in itself as the roads that lead up to it are narrow and curvy After all that adventure we headed back to Hollywood boulevard for some dinner. We went to California Pizza kitchen where I got a very yummy veggie pizza. I look forward to telling you more about my Los Angeles Adventure in the next blog post. Thank you for reading.

Rock On – Christina Epperly

Pictures from Los Angeles July 2021

Hello,my bucket list friends! As I write this I’m on my way back from Los Angeles. I had an amazing time in my favorite city. Some of the places I went to were the La Brea tar pits, the LA and the Griffith Observatory. I will do more blog posts about my adventure. However for now I wanted to share some photos of my adventures. I hope you enjoy them!

Rock On – Christina Epperly

Los Angeles Photography

Hello , my bucket list friends ! I want to thank you all so much for all the love that you gave on my last post !  I hope you enjoyed looking at the photos that I took with my phone but I thought it would be fun to show you some of the pictures that I took with my DSLR camera. As some of you already know I really enjoy Photography so I just had to take my fancy camera to Los Angeles with me . I got some pretty cool pictures and here they are.

 

This is one of my shots of the Hollywood sign . I really love everything about this picture, The blue sky and the hills are beautiful .

 

 

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Beautiful Santa Monica

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Venice beach art

 

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Beautiful view of the Santa Monica pier

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post card perfect .

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Also post card perfect !  I love all the creative art !

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Venice beach art closer up . I love how I got the sand in this picture .

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A beach sunset is one of the most beautiful things you can take a picture of

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Blurry but I love it , almost looks like a painting

 

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I loved my hotel room and this picture perfectly captures it

 

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beach view !

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love this picture !

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I hope you enjoyed looking at these pictures as much as I enjoyed taking them . I have a few more blog posts to write before 2018 comes . I look forward to sharing more with you !  Rock on – Christina Epperly

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The great Los Angeles bucket list adventure #57, #137, #140, #197, #139

Hello bucket, list friends! This is one post that I’m very excited to write, I went on a bucket list trip to Hollywood / Los Angeles all by myself. During my trip I crossed five things off my list! This trip was so much fun and full of adventure. I can’t wait to tell you all about it, so let get going!

Day one #137

Day one started at home with me running around the house trying to get everything ready before my evening flight. I was both excited and nervous at the same time. This was my first time going on a trip alone. after spending most of the day cleaning, packing and planning my cousin came to take me to the airport.  I got to the airport with plenty of time before my flight, I got a Jamba Juice and then I was ready to cross off my first item of the trip #137 Fly first class. Siting in first class was amazing I had my own big seat with lots of leg room and there was a bottle of water waiting for me on my seat. My seat was very comfortable, and I felt like a rock star flying first class to LAX. Oh, and when it came time for snacks they came around with a tray and you got to pick what you wanted. I would love to fly first class again sometime.  After my flight I took Uber to my hotel I was very happy with the hotel I chose. The Only thing I forgot to do was bring my own food since it was late I ended up having a sugar packet for dinner, but I got a great night’s sleep and I was ready to cross of more list items when I woke up.

 

 

 

Day two #140 and #57

After eating breakfast, I set out to cross take a picture with the Hollywood sign off my List. I got an Uber to Lake Hollywood park and I started walking along the trail I was not really sure where I was going but after walking a little bit I could get a pretty good view of the sign after doing my best to take pictures of me with the sign in the background, I started walking back to the beginning of the trail. One the way back I met a woman named Hannah she was on a road trip with family and they were going to take pictures with the sign too I asked them If I could walk back with them, so we could take pictures of each other. They agreed, and we walked down together When we got to the part of the trial where there was a good view we took pictures of each other the pictures they took for me came out great. When we got back to the entrance of the trail we went our separate ways they went back to their car and I went to see if I could find another view of the sign that I had read about. After a little bit of a walk though a nice neighborhood I found the grass area next to a playground with the view of the sign that I had heard about online. I took a few pictures and then decided to head back. As I was walking trying to figure out where to get an Uber from, when I came across Hannah and her group again .We took pictures together and got contact information. I had a hard time getting back to my hotel from the park. Bad cell service and confusing pick up points made it very difficult to get out of the park, so I just began walking and I walked for a very long time. While I was Walking I met a guy named Hector and his younger sister they were walking to go take a TV studio tour, so they also had a long walk ahead of them. Long story short we ended up getting an Uber together after walking for a very long time. I was very happy to get back to my hotel after all that walking but I was not done with my adventures for the day. After getting some rest and charging my phone, I took an Uber to the Hard Rock Café because I knew from my trip to Hollywood back in 2015 that there was a big souvenir shop across the street. I had a great time shopping for souvenirs. I also walked around the walk of fame and I found Alice Cooper’s star I remembered the area it was in from when I crossed that Item off in 2015. I also went to the Disney / chocolate store that was along the walk of fame. After shopping I walked around and I saw an Alice Cooper shirt in a store that caught my eye. I quickly realized that it was a tattoo shop and that I need to go get some food before crossing the next item off my list. After having a veggie burrito at Baja Fresh I walked back to the tattoo shop. The tattoo artist was not busy, so he was able to take a walk in. I told him I wanted to get the copyright symbol with 1990 after it. He drew it up then it was time to get tattooed. The tattoo did not take long at all and I was very happy with the way it turned out. I was excited to cross #57 (get a tattoo of something random) off my list. A copyright symbol is a pretty random thing to get a tattoo of, but it has meaning to me. I’m an original made by God and I love being me. Before calling it a night I walked over to the CVS to get aftercare supplies for my new tattoo. After shopping at CVS, I now had several shopping bags. I tried to get an Uber from in front of CVS, but I was having trouble finding the pickup point, so I decided to find a place that did not have a red curb. On my way to find a pick-up spot I passed this one part of the walk of farm that has a lot of people who dress up in costumes and take pictures with people for money. I was not interested in taking pictures with most of the people but then I saw a guy holding a large snake. He said he let people hold her for five dollars. I couldn’t get my money out fast enough. I love snakes and I had never got to hold one that was that big before. The snake (Electra) was very sweet and I love the pictures of me holding her. After some more walking I found a good pick up spot and I went back to my hotel. It was a wonderful day full of adventure, but it was time to get some sleep because I had another day full of adventure ahead of me tomorrow.

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Day 3 #139

On my last day of my solo trip I had one goal in mine go beach hopping! The weather was really beautiful, and LA has some awesome beaches, so I knew it would be a great place to cross #139 off my list.  Before I could get to the beach I had to stop by target because I had forgotten to get unscented soap the night before. Since it is next to impossible for me to just get one thing at Target I ended up with a pretty good haul. after my shopping spree I got an Uber to the Santa Monica pier I had been there two years ago, but I did not go on the beach so that’s what I did first. After my first beach walk of the day I spent some time on the pier I bought some post cards, won a stuffed animal from a claw machine and had some ice cream before going to find a pick-up spot. My next stop was Venice beach. There was some really cool graffiti art at Venice beach plus it was low tide some there were lots of seashells to look at. After my 2nd beach walk of the day I walked along the Venice boardwalk taking in all the sights before walking a very long time to find a good pick-up spot and just Like an oasis in the dessert I found a Starbucks. After getting a coffee, some food and charging my phone I was ready to go to my third and final beach of the day. For my last beach I chose a beach I found off Google called Playa del Rey, it turned out to be a really amazing local beach I got there at sunset it was breath taking. I was thanking God for all the beauty and I got some great pictures too before walking to a nearby restaurant to get picked up to go back to my hotel.  I was very happy that I had crossed five things off my bucket list. (Don’t worry I’ll talk about the fifth one in a minute) I spent the night packing up and getting ready for my next adventure that I will talk about in my next blog post .

 

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#197 travel alone

This LA trip was my very first solo trip, but I hope it is not my last. I learned so much from this trip.  I learned just how resourceful I am. I also learned that when you are alone you are more likely to reach out to other people and make new friends. This was an overall great trip and I met some really nice people including my Uber drivers. This trip was a big step for me, It really helped to boost my  confidence.  I would be more then willing to do another solo trip sometime!  Rock on –

Christina Epperly