Well, we are officially recovered from our trip to Pasadena. (Minus the broken heart that goes out to our Tigers.) They played so hard, and gave us such a GREAT season. It will always be one to remember... especially since it involved this adventure.
We woke up at 4am to catch our first flight on Friday morning. We were headed to the airport to fly to Chicago and then Vegas (where we would stay until our bus ride to Pasadena on Monday.) hahahaha
I look orange. :/
So much went down between the picture above, and the picture below...
Everything was going great. Burke was doing amazingly well on the plane. No ear problems, no crying/whining, only giggles, eating gummies, and playing with the many tricks we had up our sleeve to entertain him for the ride. And then the bomb was dropped half way through our flight.
"Folks, looks like we will be turning the plane around and heading back to Atlanta. There are a lot of planes backed up at the Chicago airport due to the weather, and we don't have enough fuel to circle it for 2 hrs. I'm so sorry, but we are headed back to Hartfield-Jackson."
DO WHAT?!
Burke had done so good, now we had to do it all again?!
Oh, I had no idea...
Once on the ground, back in Atlanta may I add, we were standing in line with the rest of the plane trying to get to our destination. The problem? There were no available flights to Las Vegas (or any connecting flight). Why? Because everyone had booked them weeks ago to get to the national championship, and what openings there were, were quickly snatched up (let's just say we weren't the first in line... remember we have a one year old.)
The fact was, that if we indeed wanted to go to the game and did not want to throw a lot of $$ down the toilet, we were going to have to drive to the Oklahoma City airport.
Oklahoma City.
That's 12.5 hrs. away. So once the reality set in, Shireen, Burke, and I headed to rent a car at the airport, while Ryan and Billy got our luggage. (ha... another funny story.)
So, skip ahead three hours. We've rented a Ford Explorer (which was great since we are in search of a third row option vehicle... official test drive!), we've got our luggage, but Billy has found out that his luggage (along with numerous others) in nowhere in sight, and the car seat is finally retrieved after numerous wrong turns trying to find our car in park and ride.
Let the drive begin.
We left at 12:30pm. We arrived in Oklahoma City 14 hrs. later. Burke did amazing. I can't imagine how we only had to stop twice (once for lunch and once for dinner) plus a couple to fill our gas tank. He did wake up during the ride a couple times that night and whined/cried for a couple of minutes, only to say "mommie, mommie," me put my arm around him, and back to sleep he went. I'm sure it was because his bum was numb from sitting in the same position! Poor thing... but he did it! Actually, he did it better than us... partly because the Ford Explorer might be the most uncomfortable car you can possibly drive cross country. Marking that one off the list.
We got to a hotel beside the Oklahoma City airport at about 2:30am. Slept for three hours, and were up catching our next flight at 8:15 yet again. When we arrived, we were reunited with fellow crazy Auburn fans who did the same treacherous drive and wake up call. We all knew each other very well by the end of this trip!
Burke even got to make some friends.
We finally arrived in Vegas around 11:00am (their time.... boy does that three hour time change throw you for a loop!) Billy waited to find out where his luggage was for another 1.5-2 hrs., only to be told it wasn't in Vegas and hopefully it would be delivered to our resort the next morning.
We quickly took a taxi to our resort, got our keys, dumped our stuff, and decided to walk to lunch... it wasn't that far, and walking sounded good since we had been cramped up for the last 48 hrs. Well, wouldn't you know that the restaurant recommended was closed... it just went along with the trip... to be expected right? So Arby's had to do. We then took a three hour nap back at the resort, ate dinner at the Belagio cafe', and took in the Las Vegas sights... at least the G ones.
The Belagio fountains were beautiful. Probably one of my favorite spots, since it's free and they do a "show" every 15 minutes.
They still had their Christmas decor up! In-between the toy soldiers was a living snow globe you could walk through... so pretty!
Sure, play with knives... I'm tired son.
Caesar's Place was pretty amazing too. Pho Europe is pretty... except when you get up close and realize it's made of shiny plastic. :) But really, it's crazy how emaculate every hotel is.
After a SOLID night's sleep, we did more of the same the next day. We went to The Flamingo, where they have a live exhibit. Burke loved the canaries.
Look closely under the flamingo's foot!
The Mirage
The Venetian
Kinda fun to revisit our engagement spot, St. Marco's Square, without flying to Venice. :)
At some point, when Burke took his nap, Billy took Burke for a stroll and took some phone calls, while Ryan and I decided to burn our $40.00 gambling allowance. Yeah... we're not big rollers.
However, I did double my money in Blackjack!
The next day was game day! We headed back to the resort for a good nights sleep.
We got up bright and early to catch an Auburn bus to California! It was probably the worst part of the trip, just because it was so tight, because the scenery was nothing short of gorgeous,. We arrived and Burke was not screaming! Success!
We drove the guys crazy with all the picture taking... but hey, it's a once in a lifetime trip!
When it was finally time to go into the stadium, Burke handed over his ticket like a little boy! (Que tears.)
My favorite pic of the trip. :) He loved his shiny ticket. That smile is worth a million... or whatever we paid for that ticket.
We waited outside the stadium with a great view of Tiger Walk.
Coach of the Year- Go Gus!
Of course Ryan knew all of their names, and if they didn't have ear phones in, they would look at us a wave, give a peace sign, nod, you name it... so cool.
Nick!
Mr. Mason himself.
It was a perfect day... 78 degrees and sunny.... but no humidity. Imagine that!
One of the most awesome settings in college football I have ever seen, and I've been to a lot of stadiums. The temperature, beautiful sky, and mountainous views give it extra points.
Love this boy!
John Legend sang the National Anthem beautifully, and the fireworks were an added bonus!
So here he is taking one of the most expensive naps to date.
He slept for the first quarter, some of the third and all of the fourth. I think he was confused as to why we weren't celebrating when he woke up.
Heavy hearted, we loaded back onto our bus. We arrived at the Belagio at 2:45am., took a taxi to our resort, packed our things, and headed back to the airport to catch a straight flight home at 6:15am. That's right, the only person that was caught up on sleep was B...
Needless to say we slept good that night in our own beds.
It was a whirl wind of a trip, and one that we would do over to see our Tigers play for the national title! (And only if we had the great help of some awesome grandparents!)
It's great to be an Auburn Tiger! Win or lose.
Can't wait till next year!
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