1999 Rose Bowl

26 December 1998 - We left home at around 2 pm after a morning of pandemonium and running around. We drove as far as Des Moines, IA. Spent the night in a king-sized suite. Cool! It's so cold outside. I hope it's nice on New Years when we got to the Rose Bowl.

27 Dec - Got not very much sleep last night, because there were people making noise in the pool until around 11:30. I had to ask the front desk to make them leave. We got up early to be on the road. We drove through all of Nebraska, stopping at a Wendy's for dinner. We drove as far as Denver, Colorado. We got a room at a Hampton. We ate dinner at a sports bar and grill.

28 Dec - Another long day in the car. we left Denver around 8 local time. As we started driving through the Rockies, it started snowing. It got pretty bad when we were in the valley, so the going was pretty slow. I wasn't feeling all that well. We stopped once, and I felt like I was almost going to black out. That feeling went away after a while. Driving through Colorado and Utah was really pretty. We drove as far as Las Vegas. It was late and everyone was tired, so we didn't bother to go out to eat for dinner. Tomorrow we hope to do a little sight seeing around here and all that.

29 Dec - We spent half the day cruising the strip. We parked the van down by Treasure Island. We walked all the way down to New York, New York. We stopped at the Forum Shops at Caesar's Palace to look at the stores there. My feet were hurting by the time we got as far as NY. I really wanted to drop a quarter in a slot machine to say I gambled in Vegas, but you must be 21. Jeez. I can gamble in Wisconsin, but not in Vegas. I don't get it. We stopped for a drink at the Harley-Davidson Cafe on the way back to the car. After getting back, we drove over by the Sahara and had lunch at Holy Cow!, a little brewery/cafe place. The service was really slow. We walked over to the Sahara after lunch, because they had some kind of racing thing there. It didn't look very exciting, so we left. We drove the rest of the way to Loos Angeles. I slept. We got to our hotel, a little Holiday Inn Express, and watched a bowl game.

30 Dec - Stuck around the hotel this morning for a while. It was a beautiful morning, so while the rest of the family watched a movie, I sat out on the porch in the sun, ate my breakfast and read. We went to a nearby mall to try to get Cassie a replacement pair of contacts. After that, we took a drive to the Rose Bowl Stadium to try and get our bearings. There was a family festival going on, so we parked and walked over. We got some souvenirs. I got a t-shirt and a hat. We walked through a tent to see how the Rose Parade floats are made. Then we went back to the car and drove and drove to find the right way back from the stadium. We got back to the hotel, then went back to the mall to get dinner. We came back and watched Nebraska and Arizona in the Holiday Bowl.

31 Dec - We slept in this morning. Cassie and I tried to use the whirlpool, but it was a little too chilly. We did a few loads of laundry. Then we went over to the mall to pick up Cass's new contacts. I bought a Tom Servo gumball machine head. After that, we all drove to Long Beach. We were going to go the new aquarium, but not if it cost $15 a person. Instead, we walked along the harbor and ate lunch at Tequila Jack's. From there, we walked back to see the Badger Band have a little pep rally by the aquarium. We drove over to Universal Studios where they were having a special Wisconsin New Year's Eve bash at 6:00 pm. We wandered about, taking in all the rides and shows we could. We got especially wet on the Jurassic Park ride. We stayed there until 10 (midnight back home), then left to drive back to the hotel. We went to bed fairly early, because we have to get up at 4:15 am tomorrow morning. Ugh. Happy New Year!

Dad & Car along the Long Beach race route

Cass & Mom polkaing at the pep rally in Long Beach

Cass & Cara at Universal Studios

1 Jan 1999 - We got up at 4:15 as advertised. We drove over to the stadium and got a pretty good parking spot. It was only around 6 am, so I tried to catch a few more winks. The rest of the family had the idea of going up and watching the Rose Parade if we could. We walked up there and found a nice place to stand. Two local girls were friendly and let us occupy the space. We watched about half the parade. It was really interesting to see the floats up close up. You could really see the roses and all the other flowers and seeds they used to decorate them. After that, we went back to the van. I took another nap. After I woke up , I read and then mom and I played some sheepshead. At 1 pm, we went into the stadium. We found ourselves in the midst of many Badger fans. Awesome! The game was a real battle. Both teams played very well. It was a real you-score-one, I-score-one fight. The Badgers managed to hold off the UCLA Bruins just enough to get the upset. There were some really big plays by us and them. Ron Dayne had a career day. In the end, thousands of ecstatic Badger fans celebrated a 38-31 win. We had 5th Quarter and really had fun. My throat hurts from all the screaming I did. Wow. It was just too cool to be there and experience it all. We stuck around the stadium waiting for traffic to clear out, then drove back to the hotel. We ordered pizzas and got sundaes from the McDonald's across the street to feed hungry stomachs and soothe sore throats. Ate our dinner and watched TV before going to bed. A great way to ring in the New Year!

Rose Parade Float

Happy Badgers!

Winners!

2 Jan - We were up and on the road by 8:15 am. We took the southern route this time. We drove all the way to Albuquerque, New Mexico. It was pretty late (9:15 local) when we pulled into a Hampton Inn. Mom and Cassie went to get dinner while Dad and I watched the Orange Bowl.

3 Jan - Another long day on the road. I think everybody's getting a little sick of each other. We drove to Kansas City to overnight. On the way there, we listened to the Packers-49ers wild card playoff game on the radio. The Pack lost the game in the last 3 seconds. Argh! Hopefully, we'll miss the winter storm that went through Wisconsin and Illinois in the last few days.

4 Jan - Drove the last leg home. Since we made good time, we were able to pick Sadie up from the kennel before going home to dig out our driveway. It was a great trip. Who'd have believed that the Badgers would go to the Rose Bowl and win? It sure made my freshman year in college at UW-Madison that much more special. :)

{transcribed 2/6/2020}