This morning we had to swing by Javits again to order a few things mom forgot about yesterday. We stopped by the Pendleton booth to say hi to Mandy. We then went to TJ Maxx because I always like to hit those up in big cities. I had a $10 rewards card that was going to expire today for the GAP companies, so we popped into Banana Republic and then the GAP before I found some socks to buy with my “free” money. We concluded our time in NYC with a stop at a new “Cake Box” location located in the theater district. I had heard Buddy in an interview say that if he had to have a last meal for dessert he would have a “Lobster Tail”. He then went on to explain it is basically a pastry filled with cream. When I saw one of those left in the case, I knew that’s what I wanted. Mom ordered a cannoli. The cannoli was good but the lobster tail was amazing. With that we were off to the hotel to pick up our stuff and make our way to JFK.
The cab ride out was uneventful which meant it took 45 minutes or so. Check in was easy enough as was the security line. We then went to the United Club where mom gave the check in lady her ticket from SFO to EUG. This made her think we traveling first class on our PS Service, which gave us access to the First Class lounge, which is like the United Club on steroids. The perks are better for those who drink (there is a large top shelf bar) but mom and still enjoyed the ability to easily find a seat and serve ourselves improved food option and easily accessed cans of diet soda.
Our flight to SFO was nice. United’s PS Service is closer to international travel. The business class seats have leg rests which is really nice on a 6+ hour flight. Upon landing in San Francisco I was on a mission. Our layover was roughly an hour long. I had three system-wide upgrades that were going to expire at 12am. I had tried hard to give them away to friends over the last month or two but no one I knew was traveling on an eligible fare. On our outbound flight I tried to give them to some servicemen in Eugene who were going to Thailand but since they were traveling on a government rate, United wouldn’t let me use them. I checked the departure board in the United Club and noted that a flight was leaving for Sydney in roughly an hour. I really wanted to give away the upgrades because like any option, they would be valueless upon expiration at midnight. If I could give away the upgrades, that would be the equivalent of a $6,000 present per person. I decided to make my way out to gate 102 in the international terminal.
I watched the scene at the gate for a bit and then picked the agent I wanted to approach about helping me. To successfully give these away I was going to need an agent willing to look at the fare payed by passengers and find me three eligible travelers. I approached an agent and explained what I wanted. She looked at me like I was crazy. She then passed me on to another guy who she said would be better suited to help me. I again explained to him that I had some system-wide upgrades that were going to expire and that I just wanted to give them away. I told him I would wander around looking for the cutest guy to give them to but that wouldn’t work because I wouldn’t know if his fare was eligible. Instead I thought it would be better if he just picked three people off his computer that he knew were eligible. He agreed. Took the time to call out three people and called them up. It was really entertaining watching the agents. It spread through the four of them quickly what I was doing. This one older lady in particular kept coming by going, “I can’t believe this. In all my time working here, no one has ever done this!” They all seemed genuinely happy about it. Which was a relief to me because I was worried they would be annoyed about having to put forth an effort to do it.
The three people who ended up getting the upgrades were different. The first guy seemed to be 30ish, 5’ 11” American dude. He was clearly the most excited of the three. I asked him if he had ever traveled business class and he said no. “I always just walk by and look longingly at the seats.” He was actually moving to Australia to marry his Australian fiancee. I was happy to get this next chapter in his life off to a good start.
The next passenger was a tiny Japanese lady. Her English wasn’t perfect, so I’m not certain how quickly it hit her how cool of thing she was getting. She was probably 5’ 1” and 98 pounds. I saw her previous ticket and her seat was 61G. She was literally in the LAST row of the plane. Undoubtedly she was about to embark upon an improved experience.
Finally the third guy was one who greatly appreciate the increased size of the seat. He, like the first guy, was an American. However, he fit the fast food stereotype. He was probably 6’1”, 250 pounds. I was as happy for him about his upgrade as I was about it for the people that would have been sitting next to him in coach. He definitely as he commented “will fit much better in a business class seat”.
I managed to get all three expiring SWUs given away by 9:59pm. I now had to hustle back to the domestic terminal, pick up mom and my stuff in the United Club and get to our gate to board at 10:11pm. I made it out there in ten minutes, so I was going to have to hustle.
Mom and I are now nearly back in Eugene. All in it was a fantastic trip highlighted by good business, great food, great friends, and the enjoyment of giving things away.
My next trip is Brazil in three weeks.
Until then,
Katy
Tuesday, January 31, 2012
Monday, January 30, 2012
She Looks Goooooooooood!
This morning we started our day with breakfast at the diner. We then hit up Javits for another five hours of hunting. We then went to a place called Balthazers for lunch. Joyce is a chronic watcher of the Food Network. She saw Bobby Flay at Balthazers and he declared it to have the best fries in NYC. She wanted mom and me to see if we agreed.
I wouldn’t go so far as to say they are the best fries I’ve ever had but they were definitely good. The burger I had was fantastic as was the pavlova (a baked meringue with warm season berries).
After lunch we made our way to 7 West where Epsy, my ornament supplier, has her showroom. We had fun catching up and looking at new things she is making. We also discussed the box problems I keep having with my orders. She has assured me we will be making great strides in that area. We’ll see...
After finishing with Epsy we had to hustle back to the hotel to meet Mandy and her mom, Rhonny, for dinner. Mandy was there working the show for Pendleton and unfortunately we only had a few hours of overlap in the city, so this was our one night to go out.
We met in the lobby and decided to ride the subway down to Little Italy to find an Italian dinner. Mandy and Rhonny hadn’t been to the city in quite a few years, so it was fun to help them get acquainted with their new surroundings.
We had a very nice meal at a place whose name I can’t remember. I was still full from lunch, so most of my dinner came back to the hotel as left overs. After dinner we strolled a bit and then rode the subway back to Times Square. We took in a few of the sounds and lights and then Mandy informed us that she thought we should go to the “Shake Shack”. I was still full but thought this was a good idea being that I’d walked by the place for three days and it always had a long line.
Our Shake Shack experience was awesome. It was fully made by a woman named Sherry. If our visit was a movie, Queen Latifah would play her. Sherry was walking by as we were reading the menu board and I asked her what she would order. She said she would have the black and white shake and that it’s “better than sex”. She said she wouldn’t get the Jelly’s Last Donut because “It’s too sweet. It hurts your teeth.” Needless to say I had the Jelly’s Last Donut. Mandy and Rhonny had a black and white and mom ordered a cinnamon custard.
As we ate our desserts Sherry came up and talked with us some more. She was down right hilarious. She told us about the restaurant. We told her it seemed busy and she said this was nothing. Evidently this location has been open a year. On a good day it does $39,000 of business. It did $8 million dollars in its first year. Her favorite famous customer encounter went like this. She went up to a woman and told her that she looked like a younger version of Martha Stewart. The woman then said, “I am Martha Stewart!” Sherry then told us repeatedly “She looked gooooooooooood.” “That woman can eat. She ate a hot dog in two bites and downed a black and white. But she looked goooooooooood.” Sherry then concluded our time by telling us the woman who just walked out the door was some famous porn star. Mandy then asked Sherry if she also told her that the black and white was better than sex. It was hilarious.
Today was both quite productive and a ton of fun. We wrap up our trip tomorrow with a few morning hours in the city and then we are off to JFK.
Night,
Katy
I wouldn’t go so far as to say they are the best fries I’ve ever had but they were definitely good. The burger I had was fantastic as was the pavlova (a baked meringue with warm season berries).
After lunch we made our way to 7 West where Epsy, my ornament supplier, has her showroom. We had fun catching up and looking at new things she is making. We also discussed the box problems I keep having with my orders. She has assured me we will be making great strides in that area. We’ll see...
After finishing with Epsy we had to hustle back to the hotel to meet Mandy and her mom, Rhonny, for dinner. Mandy was there working the show for Pendleton and unfortunately we only had a few hours of overlap in the city, so this was our one night to go out.
We met in the lobby and decided to ride the subway down to Little Italy to find an Italian dinner. Mandy and Rhonny hadn’t been to the city in quite a few years, so it was fun to help them get acquainted with their new surroundings.
We had a very nice meal at a place whose name I can’t remember. I was still full from lunch, so most of my dinner came back to the hotel as left overs. After dinner we strolled a bit and then rode the subway back to Times Square. We took in a few of the sounds and lights and then Mandy informed us that she thought we should go to the “Shake Shack”. I was still full but thought this was a good idea being that I’d walked by the place for three days and it always had a long line.
Our Shake Shack experience was awesome. It was fully made by a woman named Sherry. If our visit was a movie, Queen Latifah would play her. Sherry was walking by as we were reading the menu board and I asked her what she would order. She said she would have the black and white shake and that it’s “better than sex”. She said she wouldn’t get the Jelly’s Last Donut because “It’s too sweet. It hurts your teeth.” Needless to say I had the Jelly’s Last Donut. Mandy and Rhonny had a black and white and mom ordered a cinnamon custard.
As we ate our desserts Sherry came up and talked with us some more. She was down right hilarious. She told us about the restaurant. We told her it seemed busy and she said this was nothing. Evidently this location has been open a year. On a good day it does $39,000 of business. It did $8 million dollars in its first year. Her favorite famous customer encounter went like this. She went up to a woman and told her that she looked like a younger version of Martha Stewart. The woman then said, “I am Martha Stewart!” Sherry then told us repeatedly “She looked gooooooooooood.” “That woman can eat. She ate a hot dog in two bites and downed a black and white. But she looked goooooooooood.” Sherry then concluded our time by telling us the woman who just walked out the door was some famous porn star. Mandy then asked Sherry if she also told her that the black and white was better than sex. It was hilarious.
Today was both quite productive and a ton of fun. We wrap up our trip tomorrow with a few morning hours in the city and then we are off to JFK.
Night,
Katy
Sunday, January 29, 2012
On A Clear Day You Can See Forever
This morning mom and I hit up our usual diner for breakfast. We then spent all day at Javits, the main convention center and show floor for the NYIGF. We didn’t buy much but had fun looking at literally miles worth of product. We left the convention center around 5pm in time to grab dinner at our deli and change before seeing On A Clear Day You Can See Forever starring Harry Connick Jr.
The show was very entertaining. It’s not in my top shows on Broadway but seeing Harry in person for nearly three hours is always a good use of time. On the way back from the theater mom and I hit up the deli one more time for dessert. The guys laughed at all we bought. We took the desserts back to the hotel. Unfortunately three of the four weren’t very good. However, the fourth, which was a smores something or other was delicious!
Mom is now in a sugar coma and it’s time for bed!
Katy
The show was very entertaining. It’s not in my top shows on Broadway but seeing Harry in person for nearly three hours is always a good use of time. On the way back from the theater mom and I hit up the deli one more time for dessert. The guys laughed at all we bought. We took the desserts back to the hotel. Unfortunately three of the four weren’t very good. However, the fourth, which was a smores something or other was delicious!
Mom is now in a sugar coma and it’s time for bed!
Katy
Saturday, January 28, 2012
The TP is Still Fantastic
Our bags finally showed up around 10:30am. The glass half full part of this is that I got United to give me a $250 travel credit for my inconvenience. I’ll have fun spending that on future travels.
At 2pm mom and I made our way to La Grenouille. This is the fancy pants French restaurant we went to last year. The flowers, food and toilet paper were all still fantastic. We were back to the hotel by 4pm, so we decided to hit up Pier 94 for two hours before it closed. I was impressed that we managed to see pretty much all the booths on the Pier in that two hour window.
Le Poulet au Curry, Chutney à la Mangue
Les Oeufs à la Neige
Next on the agenda was attending the US Open of Track & Field at Madison Square Garden. I’d never been to a big time indoor track meet, so I thought checking this out could be interesting. After dinner at the Stage Door Deli, which wasn’t very good, we made our way to the meet.
US Open of Track & Field at Madison Square Garden
Overall I left the meet feeling a bit disappointed. My sadness was brought on by the fact that in a city of 8 million people only 5,000 seemed to show up to a meet with some of the world’s best athletes. It’s a scary proposition to see a sport I love hurting for fans in our country’s biggest city. Hopefully USATF, which is currently restructuring itself a bit, will be able to reverse the current decline of the sport.
Until tomorrow,
Katy
At 2pm mom and I made our way to La Grenouille. This is the fancy pants French restaurant we went to last year. The flowers, food and toilet paper were all still fantastic. We were back to the hotel by 4pm, so we decided to hit up Pier 94 for two hours before it closed. I was impressed that we managed to see pretty much all the booths on the Pier in that two hour window.
Le Poulet au Curry, Chutney à la Mangue
Les Oeufs à la Neige
Next on the agenda was attending the US Open of Track & Field at Madison Square Garden. I’d never been to a big time indoor track meet, so I thought checking this out could be interesting. After dinner at the Stage Door Deli, which wasn’t very good, we made our way to the meet.
US Open of Track & Field at Madison Square Garden
Overall I left the meet feeling a bit disappointed. My sadness was brought on by the fact that in a city of 8 million people only 5,000 seemed to show up to a meet with some of the world’s best athletes. It’s a scary proposition to see a sport I love hurting for fans in our country’s biggest city. Hopefully USATF, which is currently restructuring itself a bit, will be able to reverse the current decline of the sport.
Until tomorrow,
Katy
Friday, January 27, 2012
Off to the NYIGF
This morning mom and I were up early to head off on our annual pilgrimage to NYIGF. Our trip was fairly uneventful minus the fact that our bags were left behind in Chicago. This was entertaining primarily because our plane from SFO-ORD was the exact same plane we took from ORD-EWR.
We took a cab in from Newark and checked into our hotel. We then went to our favorite deli a few doors down for a bite to eat. We rounded out our evening by doing a little grocery shopping. We were both beat from the travels and decided to call it a relatively early night.
Here’s hoping our bags show up sometime while we are sleeping.
Katy
We took a cab in from Newark and checked into our hotel. We then went to our favorite deli a few doors down for a bite to eat. We rounded out our evening by doing a little grocery shopping. We were both beat from the travels and decided to call it a relatively early night.
Here’s hoping our bags show up sometime while we are sleeping.
Katy
Wednesday, January 4, 2012
A Day of Recovery
Today was a full on recovery day. It took me forever to fall asleep last night. When I finally woke up this morning (I’m using that word loosely) I realized that I had been in California for 48 hours and hadn’t had any In-N-Out. I went to In-N-Out for a late lunch and then did some shopping. I didn’t buy anything but I did have the manager of Cost Plus World Market ask me out.
My flight leaves at 6am tomorrow, so it will be another early morning. My next trip is NYC at the end of January for the gift show.
Until then,
Katy
My flight leaves at 6am tomorrow, so it will be another early morning. My next trip is NYC at the end of January for the gift show.
Until then,
Katy
Monday, January 2, 2012
Rose Bowl Champions
My alarm went off WAY TOO early this morning. For the second straight morning the ringing bells at 4:30am hurt me. I smartly put my phone across the room, so I was forced to actually get out of bed when it went off. I then showered, packed up and made my way to pick up the boys at their hotel.
The three of us were fully anticipating a slow drive based on the feedback we had heard from others about the parade traffic. Evidently we left at close to the perfect time as we didn’t hit any traffic until arriving in downtown Pasadena. We found a garage and were parked by a little after 6am. Matt pulled up the address of the church on his phone and I entered it into my iPhone map. We were parked about six tenths of a mile from the church. The walk was quite enjoyable. Seeing all the people who camped out was thoroughly entertaining. The excitement amongst the crowd for the impending parade was palpable.
Eventually we found the Petal Pushers. We stood around for a bit, unsure if we should march up and say something like “Hey where are our seats?!?” Thankfully one of the ladies from the previous evening eventually saw us and said, “Hey! It’s our Oregon and Wisconsin friends!” At this point Ellie, the woman we primarily spoke with last night, and her husband Lynn came up and started talking with us. We talked with them for a good half hour before Ellie said she would go and find the Presbyterian Minister to see if there were chairs for us. As luck (or the Lord) would have it the minister put out 30 chairs for the Petal Pushers. This year their group had 27 members. Turns out there were exactly three seats for us! We marked the sticky notes on our chairs with our names and then went for a stroll to find some breakfast.
By the time we returned to our seats it was already 7:45am. The parade was set to kick off at 8am but we were told it would take about 30 minutes for it to reach our spot on the parade route. We sat in our chairs, enjoyed our breakfast and spoke with a lovely Indian guy named BJ. He shared his story of growing up poor in India and how he came to know the Lord. He also told us that he was currently working on his third PhD, this time in theology, at Fullerton.
Before we knew it a motorcade of motorcycle cops announced the impending arrival of the parade. The parade was truly fantastic. It takes something special for me to concede that it was worth getting up at 4:30am. In this instance, it was well worth it.
After the parade we made the half-mile plus walk back to the car. Getting out of the parking garage was surprisingly easy, however, the traffic once we hit the street was terrible. It was 11am when we got in the car. At 11:30am we were three blocks from the parking garage. Since traffic was barely moving we decided it might be smart for one of the boys to hop out of the car and pick up some lunch. Needless to say, shortly after Andrew hopped out of the car, the traffic started moving. Matt and I decided to pull over and wait for Andrew to catch up. Before too long we were back on our way to the Rose Bowl.
Two years ago getting into the parking lot of the Rose Bowl was an absolute nightmare. This year our streak of being blessed logistically continued. We took a few back-roads down into the stadium. The line of cars waiting to park was fairly short but even better than that was that we got to park on the baseball field as opposed to the golf course. Our spot was only a short walk into the stadium and our departure was quite smooth as well.
We parked around 12:30pm and made our way to find some of Matt’s friends. We found them with surprising ease. They were gracious hosts and offered us some drinks. We enjoyed a beverage or two and then set off for the game.
On the way to our seats, waiting to go through tunnel five, we ran into Bailey and John. It was convenient timing in that it took a good 15 minutes to get through the tunnel. We finally made it into our seats at roughly 1:45pm, the perfect time to see all of the pre-game festivities without baking in the sun for an excessive amount of time.
I could write a novel about my enjoyment of the game itself. I sat with Andrew, Matt, Han-Mei, Joe and a rotating group of Zehnders and one Smith. Our seats were from the 35 to the 45. The game had everything a true fan could want. Lots of offense, lots of big plays, many lead changes and it literally came down to the last play. Andrew and Matt were great sports about sitting in the Duck section and gracious in defeat. I used to always say I wanted to attend bowl games until I was there for a victory but now that I’ve experienced a victory, I had so dang much fun I might have to keep going.
We hung around to watch the post game celebration and to listen to the Wisconsin band play. Evidently after every game, win or lose, the band plays for nearly an hour. They are supremely talented. The Badgers may have lost the game but they certainly won the battle of the bands.
Once we left the Rose Bowl we went back to downtown Pasadena for dinner. Andrew had gotten a few restaurant recommendations from friends. We settled on an Italian restaurant, Louise’s Trattoria, that turned out to be fantastic. After dinner we were all quite tired from our long day. I took the boys back to their hotel, said my goodbyes and then made my way to my hotel.
I’m now thoroughly exhausted yet I can’t make myself fall asleep. I’m still on a victory high. A replay of the game just came on ESPN, so I might be in for a long night.
Here’s to the Ducks, the 2012 Rose Bowl Champions. Congrats on what is likely the biggest win in school history.
Katy
The three of us were fully anticipating a slow drive based on the feedback we had heard from others about the parade traffic. Evidently we left at close to the perfect time as we didn’t hit any traffic until arriving in downtown Pasadena. We found a garage and were parked by a little after 6am. Matt pulled up the address of the church on his phone and I entered it into my iPhone map. We were parked about six tenths of a mile from the church. The walk was quite enjoyable. Seeing all the people who camped out was thoroughly entertaining. The excitement amongst the crowd for the impending parade was palpable.
Eventually we found the Petal Pushers. We stood around for a bit, unsure if we should march up and say something like “Hey where are our seats?!?” Thankfully one of the ladies from the previous evening eventually saw us and said, “Hey! It’s our Oregon and Wisconsin friends!” At this point Ellie, the woman we primarily spoke with last night, and her husband Lynn came up and started talking with us. We talked with them for a good half hour before Ellie said she would go and find the Presbyterian Minister to see if there were chairs for us. As luck (or the Lord) would have it the minister put out 30 chairs for the Petal Pushers. This year their group had 27 members. Turns out there were exactly three seats for us! We marked the sticky notes on our chairs with our names and then went for a stroll to find some breakfast.
By the time we returned to our seats it was already 7:45am. The parade was set to kick off at 8am but we were told it would take about 30 minutes for it to reach our spot on the parade route. We sat in our chairs, enjoyed our breakfast and spoke with a lovely Indian guy named BJ. He shared his story of growing up poor in India and how he came to know the Lord. He also told us that he was currently working on his third PhD, this time in theology, at Fullerton.
Before we knew it a motorcade of motorcycle cops announced the impending arrival of the parade. The parade was truly fantastic. It takes something special for me to concede that it was worth getting up at 4:30am. In this instance, it was well worth it.
After the parade we made the half-mile plus walk back to the car. Getting out of the parking garage was surprisingly easy, however, the traffic once we hit the street was terrible. It was 11am when we got in the car. At 11:30am we were three blocks from the parking garage. Since traffic was barely moving we decided it might be smart for one of the boys to hop out of the car and pick up some lunch. Needless to say, shortly after Andrew hopped out of the car, the traffic started moving. Matt and I decided to pull over and wait for Andrew to catch up. Before too long we were back on our way to the Rose Bowl.
Two years ago getting into the parking lot of the Rose Bowl was an absolute nightmare. This year our streak of being blessed logistically continued. We took a few back-roads down into the stadium. The line of cars waiting to park was fairly short but even better than that was that we got to park on the baseball field as opposed to the golf course. Our spot was only a short walk into the stadium and our departure was quite smooth as well.
We parked around 12:30pm and made our way to find some of Matt’s friends. We found them with surprising ease. They were gracious hosts and offered us some drinks. We enjoyed a beverage or two and then set off for the game.
On the way to our seats, waiting to go through tunnel five, we ran into Bailey and John. It was convenient timing in that it took a good 15 minutes to get through the tunnel. We finally made it into our seats at roughly 1:45pm, the perfect time to see all of the pre-game festivities without baking in the sun for an excessive amount of time.
I could write a novel about my enjoyment of the game itself. I sat with Andrew, Matt, Han-Mei, Joe and a rotating group of Zehnders and one Smith. Our seats were from the 35 to the 45. The game had everything a true fan could want. Lots of offense, lots of big plays, many lead changes and it literally came down to the last play. Andrew and Matt were great sports about sitting in the Duck section and gracious in defeat. I used to always say I wanted to attend bowl games until I was there for a victory but now that I’ve experienced a victory, I had so dang much fun I might have to keep going.
We hung around to watch the post game celebration and to listen to the Wisconsin band play. Evidently after every game, win or lose, the band plays for nearly an hour. They are supremely talented. The Badgers may have lost the game but they certainly won the battle of the bands.
Once we left the Rose Bowl we went back to downtown Pasadena for dinner. Andrew had gotten a few restaurant recommendations from friends. We settled on an Italian restaurant, Louise’s Trattoria, that turned out to be fantastic. After dinner we were all quite tired from our long day. I took the boys back to their hotel, said my goodbyes and then made my way to my hotel.
I’m now thoroughly exhausted yet I can’t make myself fall asleep. I’m still on a victory high. A replay of the game just came on ESPN, so I might be in for a long night.
Here’s to the Ducks, the 2012 Rose Bowl Champions. Congrats on what is likely the biggest win in school history.
Katy
Sunday, January 1, 2012
A Beautiful New Year's Day in LA
Today I am off to LA for the Rose Bowl. My flight left Eugene at 6am, which means I left my house at 4:30am. The flight from EUG to SFO landed 10 minutes early. Unfortunately when we arrived at our gate it was still occupied. It took 30 minutes for the little Brazilia to load up and tow out. This meant the 30 of us on the flight from Eugene that were on our way to LA had approximately ten minutes to make our connection, which inconveniently was leaving from gate 98 in the international terminal. I made it to the top of the escalators at the gate when the agents were doing their final call. Shortly after boarding the three class 777 I was out in my business-class seat. (Thanks for the free domestic upgrade, United.)
After arriving at LAX I ran into the United Club to grab a yogurt. I then picked up my rental car and attempted to check into my hotel. Unfortunately no rooms were ready, so I had to change in the bathroom and then was off to pick up my friends Andrew and Matt.
Andrew and Matt hadn’t spent much time previously in LA, so they wanted to see the sites. The first order of business was visiting the ocean. We chose to head for Manhattan Beach because it is close to LAX and in my opinion offers a nice taste of what an LA beach is like. Matt wanted to swim in the Pacific in January, so he braved the waters while why Andrew and I watched. When Andrew was sufficiently cold we walked the pier and watched the surfers and paddle boarders. I don’t care for the expense, nor the traffic of LA but having the ability to walk to the beach and enjoy it in the month of January does have its appeal.
Next the boys wanted to see Rodeo Drive, so we made our way to Beverly Hills. We snagged a sweet parking spot and wandered for a half hour or so. I think Andrew and Matt enjoyed the fancy cars as much as the fancy stores. We decided to eat lunch at an outdoor cafe. It turned out to be a total Californian hippie like restaurant. The M Cafe, self described as “Contemporary Macrobiotic Cuisine,” was actually quite good. It also provided the perfect quick Beverly Hills lunch restaurant experience.
After lunch we made our way to Hollywood. We specifically sought out the Hollywood sign and the stars on Hollywood Blvd. From there we went to the Santa Monica Pier in hopes of catching the tail end of the Ducks Pep-Rally. Unfortunately at this point we hit our first taste of LA traffic. It took us north of an hour to go 15 miles. Even though I missed the rally I had a good time at the pier with the guys. The atmosphere was very festive. There were tons of football fans around. The majority were Ducks but there were plenty of Badgers as well.
Matt decided he wanted to check out the arcade on the pier. He saw a few skee ball machines and suggested we place a bet on a game. The terms were the high game wins. The loser has to wear the winner’s team hat during a quarter of the Rose Bowl. I pointed out that this was a two against one scenario and Matt just grinned. After acquiring the necessary quarters Matt rolled a 130. Then Andrew played. He rolled a 110. Finally it was my turn. I rolled a 250 :~) Now my only problem was I didn’t pack a Duck hat, no less two!
Walking back to our car we saw a group of people wearing “Petal Pusher” shirts. The guys had asked me what these meant earlier in the day and I had no idea. They had also expressed an interest in attending the parade but said everyone they had spoken with suggested that they either spend the night on the streets of Pasadena or leave the hotel between 2 and 4am. I hadn’t been to a Rose Parade, so I suggested we ask the people in the Petal Pusher shirts.
I approached one of the older ladies on the corner and asked her about her sweatshirt. She told me a Petal Pusher was someone who donated his or her time to help put together the Rose Parade floats. The person’s job could range from plucking petals from flowers to gluing petals to the actual floats. I asked how many years she had been attending the parade and she said this was something like her 14th year. I figured based on this she would be a good person to ask about what time we should head to the parade if we wanted to see something. She suggested that we leave now. We laughed and said, well let’s say we didn’t want to go until the morning, she then said somewhere between 2am and 4am. I then tried again and said, “What is the latest possible time you think we could leave our hotel by LAX and still see something at the parade?” She then said, “Well... Are there only three of you?” I looked at Andrew and Matt and said, “Yup. It’s just us.” She then went on to tell me how they were from a Lutheran church in Iowa and because of the work they do on the Lutheran float, a Presbyterian church on the parade route puts out some chairs for their group. She said she didn’t know if there would be any chairs for us but that she would be willing to try and snag us a few if we showed up reasonably early the next morning. We thanked them and said we might see them tomorrow.
Our next stop was back up toward Hollywood to Universal Studio’s City Walk. Andrew had an old periodontal friend named Steve he wanted to meet for dinner. It turned out that Steve had seven other people with him including two other older gentleman, one girlfriend and three of their “kids” who were all students at Wisconsin. We ate at Bubba Gump’s. It was a very enjoyable meal. We had wandered the city walk before dinner while waiting for Steve, so at the conclusion of the meal we made our way back to the car and hit the road back to the hotel.
Being that I agreed to pick Andrew and Matt up at 5:08am. I need to hit the hay. Tomorrow is sure to be a fun filled day and hopefully it will include a Duck victory!
Until tomorrow,
Katy
After arriving at LAX I ran into the United Club to grab a yogurt. I then picked up my rental car and attempted to check into my hotel. Unfortunately no rooms were ready, so I had to change in the bathroom and then was off to pick up my friends Andrew and Matt.
Andrew and Matt hadn’t spent much time previously in LA, so they wanted to see the sites. The first order of business was visiting the ocean. We chose to head for Manhattan Beach because it is close to LAX and in my opinion offers a nice taste of what an LA beach is like. Matt wanted to swim in the Pacific in January, so he braved the waters while why Andrew and I watched. When Andrew was sufficiently cold we walked the pier and watched the surfers and paddle boarders. I don’t care for the expense, nor the traffic of LA but having the ability to walk to the beach and enjoy it in the month of January does have its appeal.
Next the boys wanted to see Rodeo Drive, so we made our way to Beverly Hills. We snagged a sweet parking spot and wandered for a half hour or so. I think Andrew and Matt enjoyed the fancy cars as much as the fancy stores. We decided to eat lunch at an outdoor cafe. It turned out to be a total Californian hippie like restaurant. The M Cafe, self described as “Contemporary Macrobiotic Cuisine,” was actually quite good. It also provided the perfect quick Beverly Hills lunch restaurant experience.
After lunch we made our way to Hollywood. We specifically sought out the Hollywood sign and the stars on Hollywood Blvd. From there we went to the Santa Monica Pier in hopes of catching the tail end of the Ducks Pep-Rally. Unfortunately at this point we hit our first taste of LA traffic. It took us north of an hour to go 15 miles. Even though I missed the rally I had a good time at the pier with the guys. The atmosphere was very festive. There were tons of football fans around. The majority were Ducks but there were plenty of Badgers as well.
Matt decided he wanted to check out the arcade on the pier. He saw a few skee ball machines and suggested we place a bet on a game. The terms were the high game wins. The loser has to wear the winner’s team hat during a quarter of the Rose Bowl. I pointed out that this was a two against one scenario and Matt just grinned. After acquiring the necessary quarters Matt rolled a 130. Then Andrew played. He rolled a 110. Finally it was my turn. I rolled a 250 :~) Now my only problem was I didn’t pack a Duck hat, no less two!
Walking back to our car we saw a group of people wearing “Petal Pusher” shirts. The guys had asked me what these meant earlier in the day and I had no idea. They had also expressed an interest in attending the parade but said everyone they had spoken with suggested that they either spend the night on the streets of Pasadena or leave the hotel between 2 and 4am. I hadn’t been to a Rose Parade, so I suggested we ask the people in the Petal Pusher shirts.
I approached one of the older ladies on the corner and asked her about her sweatshirt. She told me a Petal Pusher was someone who donated his or her time to help put together the Rose Parade floats. The person’s job could range from plucking petals from flowers to gluing petals to the actual floats. I asked how many years she had been attending the parade and she said this was something like her 14th year. I figured based on this she would be a good person to ask about what time we should head to the parade if we wanted to see something. She suggested that we leave now. We laughed and said, well let’s say we didn’t want to go until the morning, she then said somewhere between 2am and 4am. I then tried again and said, “What is the latest possible time you think we could leave our hotel by LAX and still see something at the parade?” She then said, “Well... Are there only three of you?” I looked at Andrew and Matt and said, “Yup. It’s just us.” She then went on to tell me how they were from a Lutheran church in Iowa and because of the work they do on the Lutheran float, a Presbyterian church on the parade route puts out some chairs for their group. She said she didn’t know if there would be any chairs for us but that she would be willing to try and snag us a few if we showed up reasonably early the next morning. We thanked them and said we might see them tomorrow.
Our next stop was back up toward Hollywood to Universal Studio’s City Walk. Andrew had an old periodontal friend named Steve he wanted to meet for dinner. It turned out that Steve had seven other people with him including two other older gentleman, one girlfriend and three of their “kids” who were all students at Wisconsin. We ate at Bubba Gump’s. It was a very enjoyable meal. We had wandered the city walk before dinner while waiting for Steve, so at the conclusion of the meal we made our way back to the car and hit the road back to the hotel.
Being that I agreed to pick Andrew and Matt up at 5:08am. I need to hit the hay. Tomorrow is sure to be a fun filled day and hopefully it will include a Duck victory!
Until tomorrow,
Katy
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