2011 Badger Rose Bowl

31 Dec 2010 - The day dawned extremely foggy. We had a flight from Madison to Chicago that was to be the first leg of our journey; we found out that the same flight was canceled several times yesterday because of similar weather conditions. That was worrisome, but we packed up Felix's stuff and drove to Fond du Lac, where we met Vicky and Cindy. Steve and Vicky are watching Felix while we are in California. It was hard to see him go, because we've never been away from him longer than a workday. {Felix was nearly 18 months old.} On the way back, it seemed less likely that our flight would be on time, if at all. We borrowed an I-pass from Cassie and hit the road for Chicago almost as soon as we got home. The fog cleared as we went south, but turned into heavy rain around Chicago. At least flights were going in and out. We tired to switch to an earlier flight, but apparently they don't let you fly standby anymore. We went through security (ugh), then decided to have a nice early dinner at the Macaroni Grill restaurant in our concourse. Nick got pizza and I got chicken and pasta. While we waited, we played Dominion, called to say hi to Felix, and tried to relax a bit before our 6:45 flight. Mom and Dad flew out on the 29th and will pick us up at the airport when we land. We left at 7 pm and flew in at 10 pm (CT). We met up with Mom & Dad, when went to the hotel (Anaheim Hilton). Quickly discussed our plans for tomorrow, then called it a night at 12:30 am CT, after 16 hours of travel.

1 Jan 2011 - I slept so soundly last night I didn't hear the fireworks at Disney at midnight. We got up at 5:15, then meet the folks at 6. We drove up to Pasadena as the sun rose, slowed only by the odd slaloming police car on the interstate. We parked at the stadium, then followed the mass of humanity toward the Rose Parade route. We found a place to stand at an intersection near one of Jay Macias's aunts (very friendly lady). We also saw Matt Bernstein walking around. we were near a good group of Badger fans, who joined Dad in cheering for the manure scoopers. ["Scoop! Scoop!] We left the parade after seeing both the Badger and TCU floats and bands. We made our way back to the car to tailgate. The day is beautiful - only contrails marring the blue sky and with temps in the low 50s. we had our bloody marys, sat on upturned plastic buckets on a red-flowered tablecloth. Ah, lovely. There seems to be many more Badger fans than our purple-clad rivals. Jim, Jess and Jess's family stopped by to say hi shortly before we went in to the stadium. About an hour before game time, we found our seats. As for the game itself, I'd rather not comment too much. Suffice it to say we did not look like ourselves; missed opportunities and a missed 2-point conversion left us short 19-21. Damn. We stuck around afterward for 5th Quarter and for the parking lots to clear. When we got back to Anaheim, we went to a sports bar called Clancy's for dinner. That was nice, but we all felt beat. we shared a quick drink with the folks before we called it a disappointing day.

At the Rose Parade

Emulating a statue

Ws!

2 Jan - We woke up around 6:30 and gave a call to see how Felix was doing. Great, apparently. Nick and I relaxed in the room for a while, then got ready. Around 9:30, we went up to Mom & Dad's room for some snacks. We checked out and went for a drive over to the Disneyland Hotel and Downtown Disney. It's been a long time since I was there and it's totally changed. We walked around the shopping area, then decided to go to the Jazz Kitchen restaurant for brunch. I got crab cakes, while everyone else got something with a similar creole style. After that, we drove up to Santa Monica in the rain to find a bar to watch the Packers-Bears game. The first we tried was packed with no parking, so we went to a hole-in-the-wall near UCLA. A few other tables of Packers fans joined us while we were there. The Packers won 10-3, putting them in the playoffs! Sweet! After the game, Mom & Dad dropped us off at our hotel near LAX {Hacienda at Sepulveda @ Mariposa}. It was raining, dreary, ucky. We said good-bye to them (they're driving to Las Vegas right now), then made our way via stairs (elevator broken) to our less-than-stellar room. (TV with no green, broken light bulb), but at least it's clean and there's a shuttle that will take us to the airport on Tuesday. We were still feeling pretty tired, so it's good we got food from the folks so we didn't have to go out. We may be more adventurous tomorrow, although we don't have a car.

Packer fans in UCLA-ville

3 Jan - It was still rainy and cold this morning, so we abandoned the plan of going to Knott's Berry Farm in favor of a trip downtown. We got a free breakfast, then relaxed in the room until about 9:30. Then, we walked to the nearest rail line and took that to our transfer stop. It took a while to figure out where we were supposed to be for the next leg of our journey, but we found it and it wasn't raining anymore. We took the bus downtown to Little Tokyo. Our first stop was for lunch at ZenCu. We got spicy tuna rolls, Philly rolls and crab rolls (all yum!) along with chicken teriyaki for Nick and Soba noodles for me. That was the first time I had them and they didn't do much for me. Oh well. We walked through the small Japanese Village Plaza, purchasing sake sets for Natalie and us. From there, I wanted to talk to the Flower Market. Not a bright idea, I must admit. The route took us through a very unsavory area, and to top it off, the flower markets were closed. Damn. Nick wasn't thrilled about either and I don't blame him. we walked on toward the bus stop that would take us back to the hotel, through the gorgeous historic district. We decided we needed to use a restroom, but instead of a gas station, I suggested we stop at a sukiyaki restaurant for sake and dessert. We shared a large sake, ordered mochi ice cream balls, and watched The Food Network on TV. Very pleasant. After we finished, we caught the transit back to the hotel, arriving around 3:30. We relaxed in the room and called to check on Felix. We read a little, then decided to get dinner. We walked to the strip mall kitty-corner from our hotel and got takeout from a Mexican restaurant. I got a veggie burrito and Nick got nachos. We watched an MST3K movie (Soultaker) on Netflix on Nick's laptop. Called it an early night.

4 Jan - We woke at 4:10 am PT, got ready, and were on our way to the airport around 5. Our flight was at 7, so we got some Starbucks for breakfast. Our seats were near the front of the plan, so we were among the last on. The flight was uneventful (caught a glimpse of the edge of the Grand Canyon) and landed in Chicago at 12:40 ct. We stood in line at the check-in counter to get our receipt for the flight we weren't taking, then got to the car and were on the road by 1:40. We can't wait to get home to see our little man!

{transcribed 1/29/2020}