Nick Saban!"
Ha! That was a comment ours friends heard at the BCS National Championship Game. People are crazy!
Don and I left out last Wednesday, January 6th at 5pm headed to Ontario, California (one of the many airports of L.A.). We flew Southwest so I knew we would have to stop through some other city. We found out once we got to the airport it was actually 2, New Orleans and Las Vegas. Ooops! We also were an hour delayed because the Southwest flight that was suppose to leave earlier than us stole our plane because their plane had experienced weather delays. Anywho, we left an hour late and they held our plane in Vegas. We only arrived 15 minutes late in Ontario. I think that is pretty remarkable. Southwest is annoying with all the stops BUT very reliable. So it was worth it!
We met ours friends Chris and Stacy Anderson from Huntsville once we arrived in Ontario. They were suppose to be there 20 minutes before us but probably got there 20 minutes later than us. It all worked out perfect. From there we jumped in our rental car (which could have been a nightmare if Chris wasn't an Emerald Club member due to National have limited cars left on the lot and some people getting extremely angry, luckily they pulled our keys out of a special basket). :) We stayed that night at the Embassy Suites of Glendale. We were all beyond exhausted by the time we laid our heads down at 1am PST (which is 3am CST). :) The next morning we were all super pumped yet super nervous about the BIG GAME. Stacy made the comment, "I can't wait for this to be over." And to be honest, I couldn't either. We wanted so badly for our team to pull out the victory. Sidenote here: I became an honest to goodness Bama fan in the Fall of 1999 when I started at the University of Alabama. I had no idea before then that football meant so much to so many people. I have honestly been a fan during some of the most darkest days of Crimson Tide Football. The program experienced 5 coaching changes since 2000. We were hit with NCAA sanctions that almost ended the program. I am saying all this to say, when you have been in the "valley of the shadow of death" there is nothing sweeter to be on the mountain peak and that all to be in the past. We have prevailed!
Thursday we spent all day in Pasadena around the Rose Bowl. We got there early (around 10 or 11 local time) and hung out at the ESPN tailgate until game time. Inside the tailgate were games where you could try and hit targets by throwing the football, places where you can attempt kicking a fieldgoal, a climbing rock, places to get autographs by past Texas/Alabama football greats like Vince Young and Demeco Ryans, a place to get your picture with the Rose Bowl sign in background, Concert area where Switchfoot and Goo Goo Dolls performed and a Demo Field in which the Texas and Alabama cheerleaders performed. We actually got a little warm which we found remarkable considering our families were experiencing snow in Alabama. I remember looking around at one time in the day and thinking how perfect everything was. The weather was nice, the company was fun, the game was exciting...I couldn't ask for more.
About 1.5 hours before the game we started heading into the stadium. Don and I actually felt like they were hearding cattle. It was awful! A ton of people were trying to squeeze through a small gate opening and they were having to check bags. It took us about 30 minutes to make it in the gate. And of course there were some drunk opposing fans pushing and making my husband mad. :) Thankfully we made through gate without a fight. We were so happy BUT then we had to make it through the tunnel. It was ridiculously narrow and there were people trying to get out as we were trying to get in. The Rose Bowl might be nice to look at but it doesn't exactly have the best setup. The concessions are way outside the tunnel. Anyway, we made it to our seats with a few minutes to spare. Thank Goodness! I didn't leave again until the 3rd quarter for a drink.
You know how the game went. The Good Guys won once again and We became National Champs for the 13th time! I believe the BCS counts it our 8th time. But whichever, ALOT of times! After much celebrating and singing of Rammer Jammer we made it back to our hotel. After watching some of the post game interviews we all collapsed.
Friday we made our way down to Hollywood, Beverly Hills, and Santa Monica. We ended the day on the Santa Monica pier and it was absolutely beautiful. We ate at a Mexican restaurant at the end of the pier overlooking the ocean. It was surprisingly good and then we took a ferris wheel ride. We did this as the sun was setting. We couldn't have timed it better. I was starting to see why people moved out there. That night we walked a few blocks from our hotel and strolled through 3rd street promenade. It had lots of shopping, movie theaters and street performers. I experienced gelato for the first time. Lets just say it won't be my last. We stayed in a hotel on the beach that night.
The next morning, after Stacy and I stuck our feet in the Pacific Ocean we headed to Anaheim for Disneyland. Disneyland, as you can imagine, is alot smaller than Disneyworld. We enjoyed comparing the differences. I would say that Space Mountain is better there and we enjoyed California Screamin. It is a roller coaster in the California Adventure park. We also enjoyed the Aladdin show which we got to experience with Don's So Cal cousin Dwayne and his girlfriend Mary Ann. They joined us at about 5pm. We did not enjoy Mickey's Fun Wheel in the California Adventure park. We mistakenly got in one of the swinging cages of the ferris wheel. It went up and starting looping around and Stacy and I about lost our lunch. We had pizza for lunch and we were in the hot sun. Thankfully neither of us did. We stayed in a swanky Hilton that night in Anaheim.
The next morning we packed up and took Chris and Stacy to the airport. They had an 11:15 flight. After dropping them off Don and I headed back to Pasadena to check out the area more. We strolled the streets where Don bought a National Championship shirt. Then we ate at Cheesecake Factory. We did one more drive-by of the Rose Bowl stadium before beginning our long journey home.
We arrived back in Birmingham at midnight. Thankfully my mom had everyone settled into our house. Kate woke up at 4am that morning due to Petey rubbing his belly against her rug. She was real groggy so I didn't get an accurate reaction of her being away from me for 4.5 days. Not sure how much she missed me but this momma missed her baby.
