I was recently invited by my friend and her family to join them on an LA adventure. Read on to see how we traveled from Egypt to China to Los Angeles and Hollywood.

To start out our day, we traveled to the California Science Center to see the 100th anniversary of the discovery of King Tut’s tomb. This exhibit was sooo cool. I was so fascinated by the discoveries archaeologist Howard Carter found. A fact that especially interested me was learning that his extensive, detailed note-taking of the excavation of each item in King Tut’s tomb set a precedent for current archeological excavations. It makes me wish I had taken an archeological methods course at my university (they offered the course the year right after I graduated).

It was also awe-inspiring seeing the archaeological finds in person. A lot of these were items that were here on display for the first time out of Egypt. Don’t worry, they will return to Egypt after the exhibit leaves. Here’s a handful of them:

It was just so amazing to learn more about the findings of King Tut’s tomb and what the findings tell us about Egyptian life and culture. One other interesting fact was learning in detail about the religion of Ancient Egypt, and how certain beliefs translated into rituals and ceremonies. Here are some more pictures:

After visiting the exhibit, we ate at the cafe found at the Science Center. We had boxed water. And paper straws. It was very LA.

Also here’s a pen I saw at the King Tut gift shop.  A lot of the products there seemed to commodify a culture and religion, which kind of irked me.  Some books and products seemed pretty cool, but an emoji  wearing the hat of a pharaoh…?  I don’t know.  I wonder if the profits go back to any type of research or fund.

We also saw a movie at the Center.  It was about pandas, specifically a panda in China named Chen Chen.  Chen Chen was born in a science facility, but got training from a scientist to be ready to survive in the wild in efforts to save the panda population.  After years of training, Chen Chen was released into the wild.  She unfortunately did not survive more than a few months on her own, and had to be returned to the facility to get better.  Hopefully scientists can think of other solutions to help the panda population from going extinct.

After our day at the Center, we still had lots of time before our tickets to the Nightmare Before Christmas Live in Concert event at the Hollywood Bowl.  We then decided to visit the Hollywood Walk of Fame and the Ghirardelli Soda Fountain & Chocolate Shop.  I have visited the Hollywood WoF before, but it was many years ago and I don’t quite remember it.  As someone who now lives in SoCal, I felt this visit was a must.

On our way over to Hollywood Blvd, we passed by the University of Southern California campus, which is right next to the CA Science Center.  This campus is so pretty and nice.  It is also really big.  I’d love to return there just to tour the campus.  Also, I wonder what graduate programs do they offer…?

I was so surprised by how many lights, sounds, and sights I saw.  There were so many people dressed as characters (yes, I avoided eye contact with some of the creepy looking ones— like Freddy and Edward Scissorhands) and so many food vendors outside. 

I was also surprised by how short the walk was to the Soda Fountain shop.  Maybe we just parked really close to it.  This is a store I have always wanted to visit because it sells exclusive Disney pins.  Also, it’s a piece of Disney outside of Anaheim, which is always a welcomed sight.  It’s also right next to the historic El Capitan Theater.  I didn’t get a chance to go inside, but this is another good reason to make the trip out to LA another time!

After looking around the store, we treated ourselves to ice cream. I chose a non-dairy option, of course. It raspberry sorbet with 70% dark chocolate, which was incredibly dark and almost didn’t have a flavor (science, please explain!). The sorbet was delicious, and I had another item crossed off the bucket list!

After enjoying our ice creams, we walked around Hollywood Blvd to see more of the Hollywood Walk of Fame. We saw a lot of familiar names, and a lot of people I didn’t even realize had stars. After walking, we returned to the car to drive to the Hollywood Bowl.

My mom loves Tom Hanks so I had to take a picture of his foot and hand prints.

I have never been to the Hollywood Bowl before, but my chaperones for the day have. We found parking quickly and walked to the concert hall. I wasn’t too sure what to expect, just a cool concert of the music from the movie.

When we arrived, about an hour or so before the concert started, there was already a huge crowd of people. Lots of people were dressed up for the occasion, Disney-bounding (dressing in the same colors of a Disney character, but not in costume or cosplay) as characters from the movie. Some little kids were in costume, while others wore fancy dresses and suits. I decided to wear comfy jeans and a Spirit Jersey.

We immediately lined up to take a picture in one of their photo ops.  We then found the first of many candy booths and got an entire bag (the size of a regular brown paper bag) of candy.  This isn’t Hollywood, it’s Halloween.

After visiting a couple of candy booths and photo op stations, we went to sit down before the concert.  I never asked where we were sitting beforehand, but I assumed it would be in the middle somewhere.  Boy, was I wrong.  We had third-row seats.  We were so close to… everything on stage.

*Quick interlude to thank Eric, Jennifer, and Bailey!!! This day was so much fun and the seats were AMAZING! Thanks for inviting me!!

Okay, now back to our scheduled blog post.

Because we sat so close, I was able to see the original cast of the movie up close, including Catherine O’Hara, Paul Reubens (Pee-wee Herman!!), and Danny Elfman!

I don’t know how to add videos to this blog, but I have some great footage of the three of them singing along to songs from the movie.  Once I figure it out, I’ll update this post or create a new post.

So, for those who might not know what exactly the NBC Live in Concert event was (it’s okay, I didn’t know beforehand, too), it’s basically an event where they show the movie and an orchestra plays the music live.  They included many of the original voice and singing actors of the movie, including the ones listed above.  It was such an awesome experience, and one I definitely recommend others to attend, if they can.  I think the Hollywood Bowl often has live concerts of other Disney movies.

And that was my day! It was overall such a fun, exciting day filled with new experiences.  I was so tired by the end that I slept really well, but it was a great way to bring in the Halloween season.  Thanks again Eric, Jennifer, and Bailey!  Love you guys!