2007 Capital One Bowl

31 Dec 2006 - This year, our Badgers wen 11-1 and ended up with a Capital One bowl berth. This year, Nick and I made plans to fly down with Cassie and Braden and stay with Mom & Dad at a hotel. we (Nick & I) drove from Madison to Milwaukee at 9 am, driving through rain the entire way. We met Cass & Braden in the parking lot, then spent the next few hours waiting for our direct flight to Orlando. Nothing special about the flight - just your typical annoyances and attempts to sleep through them. We flew in at 5 local time, and got our rental car. We finally made it to the 3-bdrm villa the folks rented around 6:30 pm. we relaxed for a while here before all heading out for dinner. Mom & Dad found an English Pub earlier in the week, so we went there for dinner. I got a yummy chicken curry, a Strongbow, and several coasters to add to my new-found collection. It was a very English pub - cricket, football and rugby on the telly, lots of British accents. Overal, pretty small and nice. From there, we drove to the Orlando Ale House to watch some football (American, this time). The last Packer game of the season (and perhaps Brett Favre's last game) was on, and the Pack defeated the Bears. we had a few beers and nachos. I was the DD for the kids, so I didn't drink too much. We headed back to the villa to count down to the new year. Had a little wine, played some Catchphrase, pretty nice way to quietly ring in the new year.

1 Jan 2007 - We got up around 8, and we were on the road to the stadium around 9. It was nice having done this last year, because we knew our way around this year. We parked pretty close to the stadium and set to work making a poster for nick. We wanted to wear his cow costume and hold up a sign reading "EAT MOR BAKIN", parodying Chick-fil-A ads, since we were playing the Arkansas Razorbacks. It was overcast and cool in the morning, but gradually warmed. Game time was 1 pm, so we had plenty of time to chill prior to it. People started coming over to get their pictures taken with Nick. We found out seats eventually and the game began. In between some minor sprinkles, we played a pretty good first half, leading 17-7 at halftime. The Hogs shut us down in the second half, but at least our defense held them to one touchdown. It was a nerve-wracking final six minutes, but we hung on for the win. We stuck around for 5th Quarter, and then many people in our section stopped by for a photo-op with Nick. Tailgated a bit afterward to let traffic clear, then promptly ran into a lot of it on I-4 as we made our way to the Ale House for dinner and to watch the second half of the Rose Bowl. We finally got there and ordered dinner (delicious blackened mahi-mahi over pasta for me). Michigan blew the game big time, and USC won. After dinner, we all headed back to the villa to chill. Watched more football, drank more beer.

Me, Nick, Braden, Cassie, Mom, Dad

2 Jan - We slept in a bit this morning, then decided what we were going to do for the day. We decided on Disney's Magic Kingdom. We got there around 10:30, paid $71 each to get in, and promptly began our hatred of strollers and inconsiderate people. We pretty much spent the day getting rained on (without ponchos, mind), standing in line for a ride and drying off, and then starting the process over again. We rode (in order) Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, Haunted Mansion, Pirates of the Caribbean (now with Capt Jack Sparrow, Capt Barbossa and Davy Jones' characters), Space Mountain, Stitch's Great Escape, and Big Thunder Mountain Railroad one last time before we went back to the villa. For most of the rides, we waited over a half hour, so that took up a big portion of the day. It was nice to get a pair of dry pants and socks on after that. A quick stop at Wal-Mart to pick up some frozen pizza and wine {and a copy of the Daily Mail, apparently}, and then it was back for a nice, relaxing evening.

Found in my travel journal

{transcribed 1/27/2020}