Rose Bowl Trip, Day 1
So, after much deliberation, my parents gave in and bought Rose Bowl tickets. I won't say for how much. But let's just say, it cost less than a thousand dollars per ticket, and more than a dollar.
Our flight was at 11am. We left our house at nine, in the care of one W. Neal Mann and one Tipper Gore Little.
Both are quite adorable. Note--those are my dad's legs in the pup pic.
Our flight was slightly delayed because of gross weather.
On the flight with us was Randall McIntyre, who was in the chorus of Mikado over the summer, and my driving instructor, Coach Grimm. Coach Grimm looks like a cross between a bulldog and Chris Farley. He frequently hiked up his pants to recapture his belly, which was made soft by years of coaching. He had been recruited by the Ivy Leagues, but had chosen Texas. A good man. A sort of weird man, but a good one. We used to imagine lessons that went like this:
"So when you're turning, make sure you have lane integrity, or else you'll end up in a van, Down By the RIVER!"
Also on the flight was this man,
from whom my parents got an autograph. His name is James Street. He was the QB the last time UT won the national championship (1969). So that was pretty cool!
Nevada from the air.
When we landed, the pilot led the plane in a singing of The Eyes of Texas.
Not the best picture, but I was singing when I took it. The gentleman in the row behind me commented afterwards, "someone here is a lovely soprano!" and my mom was like "MY DAUGHTER IS AN OPERA SINGER!" How flattering/embarassing.
So we landed in Las Vegas...
...Where we caught a connecting flight.
My dad won $15 on slots. Then my mom lost $10. So overall, it was a good (hour-long) stay in Vegas.
We flew over the Hoover Dam on the way out. Whee!
The flight to LA was very pretty, although turbulent.
It was kind of gross outside when we landed--rainy, windy, slippery. Not humid though, thank heavens.
Dad drove to the hotel in Santa Monica.
He drove pretty quickly.
Finally, we did what we flew to California to do:
Eat In-N-Out burgers.
Frankly, I prefer Short Stop in every regard...but my dad is obsessed with the "mystery menu" of the In-N-Out. For those of you who aren't "in the know," In-N-Out is this burger chain that I guess is a West Coast "thing," and technically the only food they serve are:
Cheeseburgers
Hamburgers
Cheeseburgers plain and dry
Hamburgers plain and dry
and Fries.
BUT!
If you know the "secret menu" you can order these wacky burgers, like, "Ten on Ten" is ten hamburger patties, and "Five on Five" is five. Grayson ordered "The Flying Dutchman," which he thought was just going to be a burger plain and dry, but turned out to be two patties with cheese and no bun. I had been joking about just ordering random crap: "I'll have a Magellan." "I'll have a Willy Wonkanator." "I'll have an African Rabbi."
My regular cheesebuger kind of made me feel woozy...
To be continued!
Our flight was at 11am. We left our house at nine, in the care of one W. Neal Mann and one Tipper Gore Little.
Both are quite adorable. Note--those are my dad's legs in the pup pic.
Our flight was slightly delayed because of gross weather.
On the flight with us was Randall McIntyre, who was in the chorus of Mikado over the summer, and my driving instructor, Coach Grimm. Coach Grimm looks like a cross between a bulldog and Chris Farley. He frequently hiked up his pants to recapture his belly, which was made soft by years of coaching. He had been recruited by the Ivy Leagues, but had chosen Texas. A good man. A sort of weird man, but a good one. We used to imagine lessons that went like this:
"So when you're turning, make sure you have lane integrity, or else you'll end up in a van, Down By the RIVER!"
Also on the flight was this man,
from whom my parents got an autograph. His name is James Street. He was the QB the last time UT won the national championship (1969). So that was pretty cool!
Nevada from the air.
When we landed, the pilot led the plane in a singing of The Eyes of Texas.
Not the best picture, but I was singing when I took it. The gentleman in the row behind me commented afterwards, "someone here is a lovely soprano!" and my mom was like "MY DAUGHTER IS AN OPERA SINGER!" How flattering/embarassing.
So we landed in Las Vegas...
...Where we caught a connecting flight.
My dad won $15 on slots. Then my mom lost $10. So overall, it was a good (hour-long) stay in Vegas.
We flew over the Hoover Dam on the way out. Whee!
The flight to LA was very pretty, although turbulent.
It was kind of gross outside when we landed--rainy, windy, slippery. Not humid though, thank heavens.
Dad drove to the hotel in Santa Monica.
He drove pretty quickly.
Finally, we did what we flew to California to do:
Eat In-N-Out burgers.
Frankly, I prefer Short Stop in every regard...but my dad is obsessed with the "mystery menu" of the In-N-Out. For those of you who aren't "in the know," In-N-Out is this burger chain that I guess is a West Coast "thing," and technically the only food they serve are:
Cheeseburgers
Hamburgers
Cheeseburgers plain and dry
Hamburgers plain and dry
and Fries.
BUT!
If you know the "secret menu" you can order these wacky burgers, like, "Ten on Ten" is ten hamburger patties, and "Five on Five" is five. Grayson ordered "The Flying Dutchman," which he thought was just going to be a burger plain and dry, but turned out to be two patties with cheese and no bun. I had been joking about just ordering random crap: "I'll have a Magellan." "I'll have a Willy Wonkanator." "I'll have an African Rabbi."
My regular cheesebuger kind of made me feel woozy...
To be continued!