Tuesday, January 11, 2011

The Day After

I’m still a little bummed the Ducks didn’t win but I managed to have a nice day anyway. We got up this morning and went to breakfast with Joel and Danelle at a place near our hotel. The food and service were both very good but the company was fantastic. It was great to see Joel and Nelly even though it was far too short, like always. After breakfast we had a few hours to kill before going to the airport. Mom went to the mall to do a little shopping, Joyce worked in the lobby of the hotel and dad and I enjoyed a few last sun rays by the pool. Even in defeat it was a great trip. Here’s hoping we’ll be in New Orleans to do it all again next year.

Katy

Monday, January 10, 2011

Game Day Is Here!

Glendale, AZ

It’s GAME DAY! There is only one thing on the agenda today... and that’s FOOTBALL! We are heading out shortly to tailgate before the big game. I’ll probably be really tired and excited or really tired and depressed when I get home. I’ll still do my best to post a brief summary of the day when I return... for now I’ll live it simply with a GO DUCKS!
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Whew what a day... the Ducks lost 19-22 but I’m still in a surprisingly decent mood. My Ducks played hard, fast and clean and I’m proud of them. We definitely had our opportunities, unfortunately it was just one of those games that wasn’t meant to be.

Getting to the game was surprisingly easy. We drove out to Glendale in 30 minutes or so and parked fairly fast. We then wandered around to a few friends different tailgates. We got serenaded by On the Rocks and then attended the Alumni Association Tailgate. I had heard in past years that it wasn’t that great but Joyce and I had very good time. The food was decent and we literally saw hundreds of people that we knew.

Our seats to the game were very good. They were on the 10 yard-line and in the club section. Thanks Dan and Anita! I ran into Sebastian Bach in one of the stairwells. Imagine this, in person he looked like a tired 80’s rocker. However, he also seemed super nice. As mentioned above the game was as close as could be, it just didn’t bounce our way. After Auburn’s last second field goal, we hung around to watch their celebration. It was kind of neat that we also got to watch Oregon’s post game interviews on the scoreboard in the stadium. We thought we had waited long enough after the game to not fight too much traffic but unfortunately that was not the case. The “blue lot" took forever to empty. Our car literally didn’t move in traffic for an hour. The most frustrating part was that all the traffic on the roads was moving, we just couldn’t make any progress within the lot. Eventually I found an additional way out. Once we hit the street, we were back to the hotel in 30 minutes. Now it’s 12:30 am and I’m beat. My Ducks didn’t win but I still love them.

Night,
Katy

Sunday, January 9, 2011

T- 1 Day

Scottsdale, AZ

Today was pre-game party day! Once we finally got out of bed and out the door we went to Fashion Square Mall for a bit of shopping and to take in Auburn and Oregon’s pep-rallies along with the Bud Light Fiesta. I was sort of surprised that Fiesta didn’t have more activities going on. Safeway had a decent interactive booth with some video games and photo opportunities. Nike had a converted shipping container where a person could personalize a shirt, although it couldn’t be personalized with any BCS or National Championship graphics, which I thought was weird. Other than that there were just a bunch of food and beer vendors mixed in with a few tailgating games. The site did also contain a stage which was used as the staging point of the respective pep-rallies. Auburn’s rally seemed pretty low key to me. We watched about three quarters of it before leaving to grab some lunch prior to the Ducks’ rally.

After our very slowly served meal at the Grand Luxe Cafe mom and Joyce decided they wanted to shop while dad and I attended the Oregon rally. The Oregon rally, unlike the Auburn rally, was quite entertaining in my opinion. It included performances by Sebastian Bach, singing Oregon’s power ballad courtesy of Jimmy Fallon, On the Rocks, Supwitchugirl and appearances by Ahmad Rashad, Neil Everett, Joey Harrington, Peter Jacobsen and Chip Kelly. The end of the show also included a few fireworks. However, the coolest thing was the Nike laser show that occurred a little later in the evening. Nike managed to brand the hill behind the Bud Light Fiesta along with some buildings in downtown Scottsdale.

Post rally dad and I hustled to collect mom and Joyce and then made our way to an event being thrown by the business school. The Championship Eve Cocktail Party turned out to be a blast. I got to see and chat with some old classmates, professors, friends and business associates. The food at Tommy Bahamas also turned out to be fantastic. All-in-all it was a great evening.

When Joyce and I returned to the hotel around 11pm we decided we hadn’t had enough fun yet, so we went out to meet our friend Micah at Dos Gringos, the Duck bar in downtown Scottsdale. We were there an hour and half and I saw at least 20 people I knew. Dos Gringos was a solid final stop in a day full of pre-gameday festivities. Now it’s time to rest up for a day many thought would never come... tomorrow the Ducks play for the National Championship!

Until tomorrow,
Katy

Saturday, January 8, 2011

T- 2 Days

Scottsdale, AZ

Today started early but thankfully everything has run on time. We are now at the Scottsdale Hilton Hotel and Villas. Hotel shopping in early fall I decided it would be ideal to book a place that was more like a condo than a hotel. The Villas ended up being ideal for this. There were two bed-rooms, two baths, a kitchen, dining area and seating area that were all very nice. The only downside of the hotel is that it appears to be a Auburn hotel. I think the Auburn band is staying in the hotel portion of the property and because of this, exclusively Auburn merchandise is being sold in the lobby.

Joyce and I have just walked back from lunch after having delicious tacos at a place across the street. Mom and dad are off on an adventure with his friend Sandy. We have a few hours until the next activity, which means it’s time for me to take a nap!
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We all just got back to the condo from a delicious Italian dinner at a place Sandy recommended. The restaurant was tiny but at least half of the tables were occupied by either Auburn or Oregon fans. We found this fun because this absolutely seemed like a local restaurant as opposed to one of the touristy spots overrun with people in town for the game. By the time dinner was over it was around 10 pm. We decided to make a post dinner run to Wal-Mart to stock up on kitchen supplies for breakfast and snacks. By the time we got back to the condo it was 11:00 pm and surprisingly enough I’m beat so I’m calling it a night.

Katy

Friday, January 7, 2011

T- 3 Days

Portland, OR

We’ve just arrived in Portland at the big pimpin’ PDX La Quinta. We are spending the night here prior to our super early flight to Phoenix in the morning. I still can’t believe the Ducks are playing in the National Championship game. Hopefully I won’t be too amped to sleep tonight because our flight leaves at 5:45 am. Speaking of sleep, I’m going to try and get some!

Go Ducks,
Katy