Last year when I took a three-week road trip from New York to California for WrestleMania 39, my son and I decided to visit the J. Paul Getty Museum (not to be confused with its sister site, the Getty Villa). He had visited before and wanted me to see it. He also loved The Broad, so we checked that out too.
Now this was an interesting part of my trip because I used a cane to get around. That’s because things can go wrong on a trip and I had an unexpected setback. A few days earlier, I had slept in an RV that my son booked for me through Airbnb. Honestly, that wasn’t the setback because I LOVED sleeping in that RV. But when I slept on this bed my knee hyperextended during the night because the bed was soft and my knee buckled back (can you relate?). I woke up the next day and could feel it. I knew it would take a few days to feel better since it happened to me before. Within the next day I struggled to put pressure on my knee, so to be on the safe side, I brought a cane with me. In case you didn’t know, The Getty Museum is quite large.
Health Tip
So I interrupt this post for a health PSA. If you suffer from any lower body joint issues (back too) and you’re unsure if any of it will act up, buy a foldable cane (if you don’t use one already). You never know when it will come in handy. My knee didn’t feel better the first night of WrestleMania so I brought it to SoFi Stadium too, which in case you didn’t know, is also quite large and it helped when I walked around the stadium. By the second day of WrestleMania, my knee was much better and I didn’t need the cane anymore. But I still pack it if I’m walking any long distance areas (county fairs, amusement parks and especially in New York City).
Money Saving Tip
Besides the fact that my son wanted to visit The Getty Museum again, another good part of visiting this museum is that it has free admission. Look, WrestleMania was expensive! LOL Then add in the cross-country road trip and all of the costs that went with it, including the pricey Ubers in Los Angeles, and we were antsy for something that didn’t cost us an arm and a leg.
This is another great tip for Virgin Travelers on a budget — look for free things to do! The Getty is an impressive art museum to see for free as is the Getty Villa Museum (but you do need to sign up for your time), while other locations have free festivals (you might have to pay for food) or free theater or poetry events. Whatever you’re interested in, do a search with the word free before it. Some venues offer free days of the month. For example, I’m going to see the Dr. Seuss Museum soon in Springfield, Massachusettes and they have a free day of the month for anyone who wants to visit. If music is your thing and you’re visiting Nashville, search for ‘free music in Nashville,’ and see what comes up.
Okay, back to The Getty Museum. Because of my knee, I didn’t really take as many pictures as I wanted to and we left without seeing everything because it was taking it’s toll on me, but below you can see some photos of the artwork I liked. My son and I also took photos of the view because, THE VIEW!
Now, to be honest, I’m not going to give you an art lesson here because that’s not my thing. Each piece of art that I took a photo of spoke to me in a different way. For example, the art on the bottom left was so lifelike it looked like a photograph. I am a firm believer that everyone gets something different out of an art museum. I can walk right by some art, while I stand and admire other artwork for awhile. I’m certain that The Getty is a museum that you will find something you enjoyed looking at. And if not, you walk out of there and you’ve lost nothing but time. I am also a firm believer that we need to keep our museums going, so if you can afford to donate something, please do. Every penny helps keep the doors open to the public.
Travel Tip
Now before you go to any venue, spend some time on the website. I went through the list of exhibitions on The Getty Museum website to make sure I saw the ones I really wanted to see. Some exhibitions rotate so check the calendar and confirm that the ones you are going for are still there. You should also confirm the times that the venue is open because some museums close certain days of the week (The Getty is closed on Mondays and the Getty Villa is closed on Tuesdays) or for special events. Did you know that you could download an app to the museum? I have to admit, that’s pretty cool. I wish I had that when I was growing up and going to museums.
This is a great museum and worth the visit. For more information, visit https://www.getty.edu/. Have you been here? What did you think? Tell me in the comments.
