Tournament of Roses Parade and Football Game

Well, my Christmas surprise worked great! No one had any idea we were coming to the Rose Bowl Parade and football game until they were presented their rose ( had large name tags made that invited them to attend the 2013 Parade and football game in Pasadena) attached to the roses! And, so here we are in sunny (but not warm) Pasadena having an awesome time.

Yesterday was an early reveille with breakfast at 5:30 am! Then we were off to an amazing day of viewing! First stop was to see the Tournament of Roses antique parade cars which will be carrying officials. By the way, this years parade theme is: "Oh The Places You'll Go" from the Dr. Seuss book! What a perfect motto for our family!!! We are having such fun going places -- and the things we've seen-- and the friends we've made!!!

We were lucky enough to go behind the scenes of two different float builders. Let me tell you, you have a whole different view and appreciation of the parade after doing this viewing!! It just isn't like seeing it on tv. There are thousands of volunteers who work around the clock in very cold conditions to get their floats ready for judging. There're giant meat grinders used to grind different colored seeds and spices to achieve just the right colors. The only rule is that all material that goes on the float must have been living at some point.

I purchased several water vials and wrote friends names on them. They will hold a rose on the Cal Poly float --Tuxedo Air. It's theme is from the movie Madagascar -- teaching penguins to fly! It's a cute float!! Look for it. It is toward the end of the parade. It will be after The City of Hope float- the Journey to Cure. For those of you who know folks in South Dakota, the Sioux Falls Lincoln Patriot marching band will be right after the City of Los Angeles float. ( we have friends whose daughter is marching in that band!)

We also viewed the Fiesta float maker area. They are making several floats. It's an amazing production! We even met the "hero" dog who will be on a float dedicated to military service dogs. .This dog went on 200 missions in Afghanistan and never lost a soldier. Then he lost his front leg to an Explosive device and so has been retired. He's a beautiful dog.

After all that, we were off to Band Fest! It was a sample of 6 bands that will be in the parade. We were lucky enough to even see our friends from South Dakota since their daughters band was performing at our session. One of the bands had 400 students and did an amazing job. They were from Broken Arrow, Oklahoma. They had to raise over $400,000 to attend. The last band to perform was the Marine Corp Band! Well, what can I say except that they were spectacular! Not a dry eye in the house!!

After our KickOff luncheon with the football teams, I think we're going to the movies-- Parental Guidance. We have to be at breakfast at 5:00am tomorrow so no late night watching the New Years Clock. More information and photos later!! Off to football lunch!! Happy New Year everyone!

Bobsled Ride at Olympic Park

Wow! You think your speeding down the track so fast -- and then, you're going even faster!!! When you go around the turns you are pulling 5 G's! It is quite intense! I rode the 2nd position which is the easiest. Bill was next in the third seat with a wonderfully nice Aussie gentleman riding shotgun--- the most intense seat of all!!!

This is the actual Olympic track. They are still using it for training! Last week they had trials for World Cup with teams in from all over the world doing time trials. It lasts ( for us amateurs) about 50 seconds and you hit speeds of 80 mph! They give you instructions to hunch your shoulders ( do a turtle with your neck and shoulders) so you don't "bobble head"! Once the sled starts you can't move the G's are too intense. You brace yourself with your forearms against the side of the sled while holding on to a cable for dear life! It's a lot of fun, but you need to follow instructions, sit up super straight ( so its not so hard on your spine) and do the "turtle" with your neck and shoulders. You may be a little sore afterwards, but you can say you did the Olympic Bobsled run and that's a feat!! We continue to get a lot of snow today-- probably about 6" at our hotel! The Christmas lights in this resort town are some kind of spectacular!!

Fireside Dining and the Mormon Tabernacle Choir Christmas Concert

Last evening we had a really fun dining experience at Fireside Dining at Empire Canyon Lodge. It starts with raclettes of cheese melting onto a plate by the fire! Yum! And it only got better from there. It's a fun dining experience that you should try if you are in the area!


Tonight we had the MOST AMAZING Christmas concert at the Church of the Later Day Saints Conference Center. The center holds over 21,200 people and every seat was filled. We had a VERY early dinner (3:30 pm) in order to be in line when the doors opened at 6:30 pm. The Roof Restaurant is in a hotel in Temple Square and was the perfect spot to dine! We even enjoyed some local school choirs singing in the lobby of the hotel.

The Concert had two special guests ---the award winning tenor, Alfie Boe and Tom Brokaw. Th tenor sang beautifully, but Bill and I thought Tom Brokaw stole the show! He came out and told the story of Gail Halvorsen, a WWII bomber pilot whom, at Christmas time, ended up,organizing the dropping of chocolate rations to the children in Berlin by handkerchief parachutes. Brokaw relayed the story (I'm sure it's in his book , The Greatest Generation) of this wonderful man who really embodied the spirit of Christmas giving in war torn Berlin at the end of the war. It was a very moving story. The surprise was that the 92 year old Halvorsen appeared on stage and was briefly interviewed by Brokaw! He is quite spry for 92 and still fits in his original flight suit he wore when making those "candy drops"! This truly is a magnificent concert in a magnificent setting. If you ever get the opportunity to attend this glorious concert, you MUST do it! There can't be a better Christmas concert in the US!

While we had a beautiful evening, it was marred by the sadness of the tragedy at Sandy Hook Elementary. I know in the moment of silence that was called for in the temple, there were 21,200 people praying for all those that have been affected.....God bless them all....

Weary But Cheerful Travelers Headed Home

Well, you know how all year long I've been bragging about all the amazingly good weather we've had on every trip? I think that streak may have come to a screeching halt with hurricane Sandy! However, in another strange way, our tremendous "luck or good fortune" stayed with us!

Now, I'll be the first to admit we weren't "roughing it" -- the Chatwal is a far cry from that!! We were only 5 blocks away from where all the power outages for Manhattan started! The actual night that Sandy came ashore with all her destructive might, we were in a very insulated bubble. Our little section of Manhattan had very little rain and less wind! I think the position of all the buildings in our area shielded us tremendously! We all were thinking that there was an awful lot of "over reaction and hype"! Boy were we wrong! But, you have to understand that where we were, there were still several restaurants open and we were fine outside walking around. When the news stations began to show all the damage in the first light of day we were amazed and dismayed! There is tremendous devastation. Donations to the Red Cross would be a great idea and I encourage all who read this to text REDCROSS to 90999 to give $10.00 to the relief fund.

After much scrambling and a lot of different plans our "SUPERWOMAN" travel agent, Arlene Feen, managed to get us on a flight out of Bradley Field in Windsor Lock, CT! She secured a car and driver to pick us up at 5:00am at our hotel and drive us to the airport. Now, as we wait at the gate, we are hoping all goes smoothly in Atlanta! We are trying to get Grant's friend, Mike, home in time for his daughter's first Halloween! His son and daughter are going as Batman and Batgirl-- something he didn't want to miss!! Looks like he will make it!

We have been scheduled every day since Monday on a flight out of LaGuardia. LaGuardia remains 2' underwater. We think it's going to be quite a while before air traffic will be going in or out of there. We considered trying to rent a car and drive back to Florida, but ultimately rejected that idea because of the blizzard hitting south of NY and not knowing how bad the roads were going south. We were briefly booked out of Philadelphia, but better flights became available in Hartford so here we are!!

I do have to add one other piece of information to show you how our "luck" continues to hold. Though its embarrassing to admit, this experienced traveler left her drivers license at home!! I had taken it out of my purse and put it in a fanny pack to go to the football game and I forgot to put it back in my purse. Once again, our trusty travel agent saved me by faxing a copy of my passport to me. We were concerned TSA would give me a hard time, but with the faxed copy of my passport, my Medicare card, and photo id from Woodfield and the Boca Resort, it was no problem at all. It probably helped that I'm a registered GOES traveler!

Our flight from Bradley is showing a 20 min delay which will make our Atlanta connection really tight, but we remain "hauntingly hopeful"! Happy Halloween to all!!

NYC, JETS/DOLPHINS, MONSTER STORM SANDY

Well, who would have known that our wonderfully fun trip to New York would end in a Monster win for our Dolphins and a RECORD monster storm for the east coast?!!!

We are safely holed up in our wonderful Manhattan hotel - The Chatwal on 45th Street near Times Square! The hotel is keeping us for an extra two nights since flights for today and tomorrow have been canceled. At this point we're just hoping to get home Wednesday in time for Halloween.

Except for being hugely bored, all is well. The hotel staff is being wonderful and we have a great little Irish Pub right next door that is staying open and has quite good food.

Grant and his friend Mike are outside walking around between the rain bands. The buildings seem to be blocking the worst of the wind where we are.

Saturday morning we made our way to the impressive 9-11 Memorial. It's a beautiful site very well done. They are super organized in moving people through screening procedures. If you can, be sure to visit.


We saw two fantastic Broadway plays on Saturday. The first one was Nice Work If You Can Get It--- a total hit as far as all of us were concerned! We all thoroughly enjoyed Matthew Broderick in this play!! The second play is also a hit-- though quite raunchy and very irreverent. It was VERY funny-- The Book of Mormons-- this play brought to you by the creators of South Park.

The best part of the weekend was yet to come, though. We went to Met Life Stadium for the Jets/Dolphins football game. Our seats were graciously given to us by Santonio Holmes (part of a charity he benefits) and they were some seats!! We were in the Presidential gold level suites!! Couldn't have been any nicer. The other guests in the suite were two Jet wives with their families and an attorney who represents several NFL players. They were all gracious losers and we tried to contain our enthusiasm! What an exciting and complete game for our Dolphins!!!

But now, the rest of the story... We are here for the duration of a record storm!! This one will be in the record books for a long time!! Big THANK YOU to our tirelessly working travel agent, Arlene Feen with ProTravel, who is trying to figure out how to get us all safely home as soon as she can!!!