2020 Badger Rose Bowl

30 Dec 2019 - When the Badgers lost to Ohio State in the Big Ten Championship game earlier this December, we really didn't think we would be getting a trip to the Rose Bowl as a result. Lo and behold, we got the selection. Because it had been so long since Nick & I went to a bowl game, and because it WASN'T Florida, we made plans to go. My parents had already started their own plans and included us in their ticket order. That's how we found ourselves waking at 4:30 am in Green bay this morning. We drove up to Green Bay yesterday (Sunday) morning, and did Christmas with Nick's parents after watching the Packers-Lions game. We were up and ready by 5:15 am. Steve drove us to the airport as it rained. West of GB, the area was under a winter storm warning (Rapids was projected to get 6-8"). No issues in the airport, getting through security quickly. We were on a tiny plane, and were buffeted heading over the storm to Minneapolis. We actually landed a bit early and waited for my parents (who had driven over the night before) to arrive. We had to go from one side of the airport to the other, but we had at least 3 hours to kill. We decided to kill some of that time getting breakfast at the Stone Arch restaurant. We ordered a round of Bloody Marys to celebrate the trip and kick it off in style. These bloodys were garnished with huge fried chicken wings. :) After eating (I got the eggs benedict w/lox and arugula), we joined the throng at the gate. Lots of Badger fans on our flight. Since my folks checked bags, we gate-checked our carry-ons, too. Our flight remained on-time at the gate, so we got on it ~11 am. The wind was howling, snow blowing, visibility poor. Ideal flight conditions, right? It took about an hour to get the plane deiced and finally off the ground. It was nerve-wracking for sure. But it was uneventful once we were airborne. I spent most of the flight trying to sleep. We got so little sleep the night before (thoughts, uncomfortable bed, Steve snoring) and had to get up so early. My system didn't care too much for me trying to sleep and also drinking coffee. We had some nice views over Kansas, Colorado, Arizona, Nevada, California. We landed ~2 PST. It was nice to see palm trees & feel 60° temps. We waited for our bags, got on the shuttle to the rental car place and eventually made it out of the LAX area. My folks rented a Jeep with room for all of us. We got to experience the fabled LA traffic as it took us an hour to go ~17 miles. We were on the 405 and the 101 heading to our places in Burbank. I caught a beautiful sunset as we arrived at our Airbnb at 1402 W Victory Blvd. We were dropped off ~5, relaxing and showering before we were picked up again ~5:45. We drove to Pasadena, where we had been invited to a Badger party for player's families and friends. An acquaintance of ours invited us, as she is the aunt of a player. She was the first person we saw when we arrived at the Brookside County Club. We talked with her, met her sister and got a picture with her nephew. Nice food, expensive beer. Spent ~2 hrs there talking, eating, watching old and current bowl games. Maybe 100 people there? Feeling beat, we headed back to Burbank and to Walmart for some provisions. Despite being after 8, it was so busy! Waited a long time to check out, then for the one manager who could scan our beer purchases. So frustrating, but eventually that trial was over and we headed back. Stayed up just long enough to get ready for bed.

30 December

31 Dec - We slept in until 7, woken by the sunrise and gusty winds. We fixed ourselves eggs, toast and coffee, then the folks picked us op ~8:30. We showed them our apartment and we decided on our first destination for the day: Hollywood. It was nice, so we drove down there and found a place to park. None of us had been down there, so we spent some time taking in the classic sights and looking at all the Hollywood Walk of Fame stars. Some areas were super busy, which got old quickly. We managed to kill over an hour down there before we'd had enough (we also ran into a guy who told us he'd lived in Rapids for 4 years. Small world). We headed back to the car and got ourselves on Mulholland Dr (Nick's idea). He seemed to enjoy all the switchbacks. The rest of us were glad we didn't get sick. There were some overlooks and we stopped at one looking north. Pretty clear day for LA. Also a guy smoking weed there. We finished that drive heading to Ventura Ave for lunch. We left my parents at one restaurant while we walked across the street to get delicious Poke bowls. Mmm. We washed those down the a beer by Mom & Dad. We decided to try our luck at a place listed as a Badger bar in Santa Monica. The Brü Haus wasn't very Badgery and the German beers were pricey. We didn't stay long there. It was ~3, so we headed to Pasadena, which took ~1 hr. Found a place to park, then took a walk up Fair Oaks to Colorado Blvd. There was a carnival atmosphere with people camping out for the Rose Parade, people in classic cars cruising, and people like us walking around. Mom wanted to show us a place called Barney's Beanery. We walked in and saw an empty table... between 3 tables of Ducks fans. We sat and admired the decor (so many license plates on the ceiling!). I got a NA beer, since I wasn't feeling another and I would be driving us home. People from all those three tables chatted with us. I took a picture of "Ben" and Dad. I got a picture with "Jed", who showed us a 2015 Rose Bowl Championship ring he had. They were fun and nice. When we finished our beverages, we walked to Beer & Claw, where I had made reservations. We had a drink at the bar and were joined by Natalie and their aunt Joanne and uncle Clarence. We had a good time talking with them, Nick especially. We sat down to eat at 6, ordering huge platters of Cajun shellfish. The food was excellent. I was concerned about traffic getting out of Pasadena and got irritated at Nick.We said goodbye and left ~8. I managed to drive us out, no problem. It was a mostly silent ride back. Back at our place, Nick and I got into a heated argument about stupid stuff. That, plus sleeping in a strange room with a snoring man and a wonky belly and fireworks randomly going off has me up and writing this at 11:30 pm when I should be sleeping since we need to get up early... {Got freaked out 10 minutes later when our host's cat sitter came by unexpectedly. She did not know our host had guests...}

31 December

1 Jan 2020 - I learned that shooting off fireworks to mark the New Year is a thing they do here, since I was till awake then. Fell asleep sometime after, only to have the alarm wake me at 5:45. We got ready and had some breakfast. Mom & Dad got here ~6:30, then we headed to the Rose Bowl beneath a beautiful sunrise. We easily got into a lot. It was a bit nippy, so we threw on some extra layers and walked up to the Rose Parade route. Nick and I talked through our argument last night and came to a place of understanding. That greatly eased the tension under which we had been operating. Beautiful day, so the over 2 mile hike wasn't awful. Found an alley (Big Bang Theory Way) that wasn't very crowded. I hoisted myself up on an enormous planter box set back from Colorado Blvd that gave me a good sight line. We watched ~20 floats/bands/equestrian units to see the Badger float and band. After that, we turned around and walked back to the country clubhouse. We had signed up for this morning's Badger parents/family/friends tailgate, too. Many more people than on Monday. Had some food & coffee ~10:30. Found a nice spot on the patio to sit, so we stayed there for a while. We smuggled in our won beers (the car was close) and played some 4-handed sheepshead. Decided to make one last trip to the car before heading into the stadium. We joined the masses only to realize we were better off going in near where we were parked. Once back there, got right in with no problems. We found our way to our seats - 18 row A 113-116... Three freakin' rows from the field. Great for ambiance, but terrible for actually watching the game. There was a stealth bomber fly-over. About the game... well, we lost 27-28 against Oregon. It was a close, back-and-forth, exciting game, but turnovers hurt us in the end. Good things - lots of energy in the stands (through I was exhausted), beautiful sunset, our band's much better, and it wasn't too cold by the end. {Also, courtesy of Nick's cousin's wife, we found we had been on TV. :D} Alas, we lost, so we didn't stick around the stadium long. Nick and Dad bought hot dogs off vendors outside the stadium. I nibbled back at the car. We listed to post-game radio and had a beer as the lost struggled to clear. After about an hour, we were able to get out of there without much difficulty. Got back to our apartment around 7:30. Did a load of laundry, reheated leftovers, caught up on the day. It'll be an early night for me.

1 January

2 Jan - Finally got a decent night of sleep. Woke up ~6:35 to another beautiful sunrise. Had plenty of time to pack up and eat some breakfast. The folks picked us up at 8 and we checked out of the apartment. We had a Warner Bros Studio tour at 9. We found parking and got in line. Didn't take us too long to get on a tram. Our tour guide was Miranda W and she did a great job. There was also a group from Florida with 5 moderately annoying 15 or 16 year-old boys. We saw costumes from Aquaman, Wonder Woman and Harry Potter. We drove through "jungle" sets and set-making departments. We saw batmobiles and oodles of props (so many chandeliers!). We got to walk into a set from Shameless and sat in Conan's audience's seats. Last, we got to see some recreated sets from Friends and The Big Bang Theory. Still an interesting tour, through we didn't really watch the shows they highlighted. After the tour, Nick drove us toward the Griffith Observatory. It was very crowded, with parking far away. If we hadn't walked over 5 miles yesterday, we might have considered the hike, since the weather was nice. Instead, we just drove the switchbacks before deciding to head to the Miracle Mile area for lunch. I found a taco place that looked good on Wilshire Blve (El Cartel). Quick, inexpensive (considering...) lunch. We snuck a couple of beers to drink while we dined al fresco. Our next stop was supposed to be the La Brea tar pits (Mom's idea), but the lot was marked as full. As we tried to drive around and find a different place to park, we spied the Peterson Automotive Museum (not that it was hard to miss with that red and silver facade), and decided to go there instead. We spent 1.5 hours looking at the collection of classic roadsters, prototypes, and vehicles from TV/movies. That was interesting for all of us. Dad like the Porsches, Nick & I liked the 1st Shelby Cobra. From there, we walked up to a pub called Molly Malone's. Despite the good ratings, it was rather lackluster. There was one other patron there when we arrived. The bartender wasn't very welcoming, so we departed after finishing our pints. We decided to head toward the ocean. We ended up parking close to the Santa Monica Pier. We moseyed down the Pier, took in the views of the waves, beaches and distant mountains in the late afternoon sun. There were a lot of people doing the same thing. We parked ourselves at the restaurant at the end of the Pier (Maria Sol). We each got a tropical drink (delicious pina colada in my case). Mom & I darted in and out several times to capture a gorgeous sunset. We decided to stay there for dinner. I got shrimp ceviche tostadas that were excellent. It was busy and the restaurant understaffed, so it took a while, but our waiter Juan was friendly. We also called the kids from the Pier to say hi. We picked up personalized license plate keychains for the kids and a magnet for ourselves. It was dark by the time we left. It was so nice to sit outside with a musician playing and the waves crashing and the heaters heating. Once back in our vehicle, we departed and headed to LAX. We got there a little before 8, saying goodbye to Mom & Dad. Security was very quick, through my carry-on did get flagged (again for snacks...). We made our way to the noisy, multi-gated mess in Terminal 3 and hunkered down for a wait. Our flight leaves at 11:40 pm and we fly this first leg to Detroit.

2 January

3 Jan - We boarded our plane and departed on time. I put on my noise-canceling headphones in an attempt to sleep. That was made difficult by the unhappy toddler in our row shrieking and crying every 10 minutes or so it felt like. Also a fair amount of jolting from turbulence. But I must have slept a bit because the flight overall felt short. (It was also unnerving to be warned about "significant rough air" but that didn't really happen.) We got into Detroit ~6:30 am EST. After deplaning, we walked the quiet concourses to our next gate. We got some coffee and joined the two other passengers already there. We were both still tired, so we took about an hour nap, walking as the sky brightened (cloudy, so no sunrise) and the general airport noise increased. We boarded our 9:55 am flight on time and got going. Had the most turbulence on the trip on this leg, but only in a few sports. In about an hour, we touched down in Green Bay. We left Steve know we'd arrived as soon as we could. Since we were in row 5, it didn't take long to get off the plane. Steve picked us up and we headed back to their house. The kids were as happy to see us as we were them. We chatted and had a light lunch before packing up and leaving. Kind of depressing to have to put our winter coats back on. It was gray and in the 30s the entire way home. I know I struggled to stay alert on the drive back, so it was better Nick was driving. We got home around 1, unloaded and greeted our three kitties: Roary, Amy & Robin.

Plates: 35 states, 2 Canadian provinces, 5 Mexican states.
Total trip cost: $4,252.12
{transcribed 2/3/2020}