The Ducks made it to the BCS National Championship! Of course I had to make a trip to Arizona for the game. I had a couple other good reasons for my trip as well though:
1) I've never been to Arizona! My new year's resolution was to visit some place sthat I have never been before. Arizona seemed like just as good a place as any.
2) I have some family friends, The Gish's, who live out there that I hadn't seen in forever. What a great excuse to visit!
I bought my plane ticket with little hope that I would actually have a ticket to the game. They were going for a minimum of $1500 on Stubhub. A bunch of friends were going down to tailgate without game tickets, so I wasn't too worried. In the end, I got a ticket about a week before the game for face value. Yay for connections! More on the game later.
Friday, January 7, 2011
I decided to make a nice long weekend out of my trip. I arrived in Phoenix at 4pm on Friday and Justin picked me up at the airport. I got a good taste of the Arizona landscape as we drove out to his place in Gilbert.
That night we decided to try out 5 Guys Burgers. Its supposed to be like the In 'n Out Burger of the east coast. I didn't realize this going in, so I was expecting something a little different. Overall, it was pretty good, but not the most amazing burger ever. There fries were definitely way better than In 'n Out's!
Next stop was Kona Grill for some drinks. Kona is in an outdoor mall area called Santan Village right near his house. We had some yummy drinks and ordered dessert. Dessert was pretty much the end of us! We were soooo full and decided it was time to go back to his place to watch a movie (Dinner with Schmucks) and chill out.
Saturday, January 8, 2011
We slept in a bit and then headed to Joe's Farm Grill, which was featured on Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives. The restaurant uses all local ingredients, many of which come from their own farm which is right behind the restaurant. I had a Pesto Chicken Sandwich and it was pretty tasty!
On our way out of the Joe's Farm Grill, we decided to drive through a community of homes called Agritopia. The neighborhood was like a flashback to the 1950s. There were tons of kids playing in the streets and everyone seemed to know each other. The houses were really cute too! Later that day we looked up the area to see if any houses were for sale. The housing prices were unbelievable to me (in a "Holy crap! That's cheap!" kind of a way)! You can buy a house that is over 5,000 square feet for under $400,000. Many of the smaller houses (but still over 1500 sq. ft.) were under $200,000.
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| Justin & I on the mini golf course |
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| Action Shot/ The hole where I hit my ball outta the park |
That night we met up with Justin's parents at Brio an Italian restaurant in Santan Village
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| Tom & Sandy |
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| Justin & I |
Sunday, January 9, 2011
The Oregon Pep Rally was happening out in Scottsdale at 5pm. We thought we would make a day of it and explore Scottsdale during the day and then head to the rally. We got off to a late start, so I didn't see too much of the city. Old Town was pretty cool...it looked like an old western town. The streets were lined with tons of nick-nack shops and art galleries. We checked out a couple before going to find the rally.
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| Old Town Scottsdale |
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| Old Town Sign |
We got to the rally site and I was shocked at how many people were waiting in line to get inside. We made our way in and I was hoping to find all my friends that were in town for the game. Unfortunately, but not shockingly, my phone had no service. Thanks AT&T. Typical. Eventually I tracked them down and we enjoyed catching up and getting pumped at the rally!
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| Some of the Gamma Phi crew |
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| Rally/Pretty Sky |
Afterwards, it was time to check out one of the many casinos in
Monday, January 11, 2011: Game Day
Finally Monday had arrived and it was time to go cheer on my Ducks at the BSC National Championship game. I met up with Bink, Ben, Luke, and Lisa at their hotel. After a couple stops and meeting up with Kristin and Matt, we headed out to Glendale. The game was being played at the Arizona Cardinals stadium. In addition to the big game, I was excited to check out a new stadium. Before this game, I had never been to an indoor football or baseball stadium.
We parked, chugged a beer, then decided to start wandering around. We found the Westgate City Center, which is an outdoor mall with tons of restaurants and bars. Of course it was packed, but it seemed pretty cool and like a fun place to pre-party (and watch the game for the ticketless). After finding some quick food, it was time to tailgate hop.
We all started getting antsy and anxious about the game and it was time to head into the stadium. Our standing room only tickets ended up being really awesome. We had an assigned section and seat number, which happened to be on the 200 Club Level of the stadium. What a pleasant surprise! Despite the tough loss to Auburn University (from Alabama), we had a great time at the game!
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| Tickets! All different! |
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| Me, Kristin, & Bink Tailgating |
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| Westgate Mall right next to the stadium |
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| The Stadium in Glendale |
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| Bink and I with our tickets! Excited! |
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| View from our seats |
Tuesday, January 12, 2011
My last day in Arizona was pretty relaxing. We just hung out at Justin's house before packing up and heading out to his parents house in Mesa. We visited with them for a while and looked at old Twain Harte photos. Hopefully I will be seeing them again this summer for a Twain Harte reunion.
I took Justin out to dinner at Red, White, and Brew as a thank you for letting me stay with him and entertaining me all weekend. After dinner we headed to the airport so I could get home.
Overall it was a really great weekend! I had so much fun seeing the Gish's again and watching my Ducks play in the National Championship!
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| Gorgeous AZ Sunset |
I hope to make it back to Arizona at some point to see the Grand Canyon and go to Spring Training!
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