The following day we had a girls’ day out and the four of us began the long drive in the morning to get to the Getty Center for noon. Traffic was horrendous as usual, but thankfully my cousin expertly guided us to the Getty on time. After leaving the parking lot, we had to line up to get our vaccine cards checked, then we waited for the tram to take us up to the museum. 

The Getty Center is built on top of a hill with breathtaking views of LA. Not only is the surrounding area beautiful, the layout of the buildings and the gardens are equally gorgeous. We spent about an hour and a half going through all the galleries inside, then made our way to the gardens. I really liked their cactus garden and their central garden. There’s also sculptures placed throughout the museum, so there was something to see at every turn.

I was actually most interested in seeing their collection of Impressionist art, but the West Pavillion was closed for renovations. Luckily some of their highlight pieces were on display inside their Exhibition Pavilion, which was our last stop before leaving the museum.

Since it was way past lunch by the time we left, our next stop was over to Sawtelle Boulevard, which is known as Japantown or Little Osaka. While we didn’t end up at a Japanese restaurant, we did stop at Bar Hermanito for tacos. Even though we ordered from their off-hours menu, everything was so good, especially their baja shrimp tacos and their veggie tacos. 

By the time we finished eating it was getting late in the afternoon and we had wanted to make it to the beach for sunset. Initially we were heading over to Manhattan Beach, but since we were already driving off the coastline, we decided to stop by Dockweiler Beach as it was closer. 

I don’t think there’s words to describe how beautiful it was seeing the ocean up close at sunset. I haven’t seen the ocean in years and it really reminds you of how big the world is when you see it stretched out in front of you for miles.