I was fortunate enough to have the opportunity to travel with my family over the holidays to a place that I had never been before. California, in my mind, was a foreign state where everything was completely different than what I considered “normal," and for the most part I was right about that. We had the most amazing time on our trip and it will definitely be a place I won’t forget.

The purpose of our trip to LA was to go to the Rose Bowl to watch the Georgia Bulldogs play against Oklahoma. That game was a wild ride in and of itself with the Dawgs narrowly gaining us a victory and a trip to the National Championship. Thankfully, with that win we had a great time throughout the entire trip.

I honestly wasn’t too sure what I wanted to do or see there, mainly because I didn’t know what exactly there was to do except for the Hollywood tourist things. But thankfully we had my cousins who lived there and they were able to show us around and take us to some truly incredible places.

The first place we went to that was absolutely beautiful was to the Griffith Observatory that overlooked all of Los Angeles and you could see the Hollywood sign. Even though there was a decent amount of fog and marine layer in the air, we could still see for miles and it was increadibly beautiful. We took quite a number of photos there for sure.

After that we took a surprise turn and went to the La Brea Tar Pits. I was really excited when I found out we were going here because I had learned about them recently in Geology class and just the massive size of the (still active!) tar pits was incredible. The museum was fascinating and the tar pits were a crazy site.

From there, we saw Huntington Beach, the Santa Monica Pier, Beverly Hills, Rodeo Drive, and the Pacific Coast Highway. Each place we went to was absolutely gorgeous and the sights were breathtaking. The food was always great wherever we went and the hospitality was wonderful too.

I’m not sure if or when I’ll go back to California, but it sure was an amazing trip for myself and my family and I am so thankful that we had the opportunity to travel there, be with family, and watch the Bulldogs beat Oklahoma in double overtime at the very historic Rose Bowl.