Rose Bowl!!

Second semester of my senior year of college started off on a high note with a road trip to Pasadena for the Rose Bowl.  After weeks of contemplating the trip and brainstorming illogical ways to get there, my friend’s grandma finally saved the day and volunteered to let us take her ancient, two-door, teal grand-am to California.

I’ve never been one to embark on road trips; my family has, fortunately, always opted for flying, but that week I definitely road tripped for long enough to satisfy a lifetime of road trip curiosity.  After piling four people and countless bags into the tiny car and receiving nervous tears from Grandma Cech, we were ready to go.

After hours and hours of cornfields, windmills, and redbulls, we made a stop at our first “attraction”, Arches National Park in Utah.  From here we moved on to the steep and snowy mountainous terrain of Colorado, and after driving through the near abandoned dry lands of Arizona, we finally arrived at the Grand Canyon.  The Grand Canyon was everything it’s cracked up to be--a vast and miraculous landmark of serene beauty.  This was the last stop before we trekked on to Pasadena.

We were lucky enough to have beautiful 80 degree weather the entire trip and to stay for free at my friend’s apartment in Hollywood.  This same friend, who is aspiring to be a comedian, got us a free tour of the Hollywood Hills.  The next day was the Rose Bowl.  We followed badger tradition the day of the game and woke up bright and early for some early morning mimosas.  Arriving at the stadium, there was red everywhere we looked.  The tailgate consisted of beer bongs, flip cup, and a lot of drunk Wisconsin fans.  The game, unfortunately, was not very pretty, and us Badgers lost pretty bad.  However, I still do not regret my trip all the way to California to cheer on my Badgers one last time.