Dream Trip

Halloween with the Edwards.

Where do I start? Several months ago our friends Holly, Ryan, Zane, and Anika surprised us by presenting us with a wonderful gift. They arranged a trip to see the Seattle Seahawks play the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

On Saturday we loaded up a big black Suburban that we rented and drove over to Snoqualmie Pass where we stayed at Ryan's uncle's ski cabin.

On the way over we stopped at Moses Lake for lunch and ate at one of Ryan's favorite Chinese  Food stops. Ryan bragged about the Jello that you could buy, therefore we had to give it a try. I have to admit that I have never eaten Jello at a Chinese restaurant. It was good and we enjoyed our meal.

Ryan's uncle's cabin is huge! It has everything you could think of in a large cabin setting. Commercial-sized kitchen stove and refrigerator, big screen TV and projector system, beds everywhere, and plenty of bathrooms for all.

Saturday evening we watched Cast Away with Tom Hanks on the big screen while we snuggled up to a cozy fire in the woodstove.

GAME DAY!  ANIKA'S BIRTHDAY! We were up and about early. Breakfast was a combination birthday and food celebration. Anika was turning 9 and so we celebrated while getting ready to go.

Everyone had their Seahawks gear on and loaded into the Suburban for the drive to the game. Traffic was relatively light and we were able to get a fairly close parking spot for a slightly expensive $30 price tag.

We tailgated for a while tossing the football around while the adults had a couple of beverages. We walked to the stadium and checked everything out. It was super cool to be able to move down close to the field and watch the teams warm-up. I can't tell you how excited we all were. Linda geeked out when she saw her favorites, Tyler Lockett and Russell Wilson.

Our seats were in section 333 way up toward the top of the stadium. We were almost exactly on the 50-yard line and could see the game surprisingly well.  The spectacle of a Seahawks game and all that goes with it is something everyone should witness at least once.

With all the pre-game pomp and circumstances over, the game began. Seattle got the ball first and that was exciting, but when Tampa Bay took over, the sound level in the place went out of this world. I was blown away by the volume level the crowd produced whenever the Buccaneers had the football. At times it was so loud that all I could do was laugh.

The game was a good one too! Seattle won in overtime putting a big cherry on our weekend cake.

After the game, we walked down and around the area watching people. We tried to go to dinner but gave up on the idea because there were so many people everywhere we went. We walked back to the rig and drove to Lake Sammamish and found a fast food joint where we had burgers and fries; no jello.

By the time we finished up and drove back up to the mountain we were worn out. Everyone watched some TV and then went to bed.

The next morning we got up and drove home.

This was one of those bucket list events that Linda and I had always wanted to do. It was such a wonderful trip. Holly and Ryan really did a great job of putting it all together.  It is hard to express to them how much their friendship means to us and how we love their whole family. We are so lucky to have them as part of our world.

Weirdest Super Bowl Ever!

I’m hanging my head a bit right now. Not because the Seahawks lost, but it was the way they lost. It opens the door to so much second guessing by everyone. I would prefer an all-out loss of 14 to 7, then to have it happen the way it did. It’s OK, there is always next year.

Let me tell you how watching the Super Bowl happens down here in Mexico.  In Melaque most places have a television or two. If the place considers it’s self a sports bar, they will have a satellite feed for their broadcast. If it a normal establishment then they will have a cable feed only. The differences between the two are great. Mexican sports on their cable are totally in Spanish and they have the weirdest commercials.

The satellite provider down here is Huse and it comes out of Canada. Canadian cable is a bit strange also. They show the US feed of the game, but all commercials are from Canada. It is like Canada only has four commercials so they keep repeating them, over and over. It drives you crazy.

We looked around town and watched some games at home, some in bars and made the choice to watch this year’s Super Bowl in a bar.  Our choice was The Bar Social, formerly Ava’s, also known as Jack’s Place. They had a special there where you would get a seat, in a location guaranteed a view of the TV, with a Burger, all for 100 pesos. They ended up with five big LED TVs and a large screen projector to show the game, it was quite nice!

Linda leaves Barry a little note on
his door before the game!

Leading up to the day of the game we had perfect Melaque weather. Sun and fun was the usual day in this paradise. Super Bowl Sunday arrived and so did the clouds.  The day went from sunny to cloudy and by game time it was looking a bit dark.

We get to Jack’s and found our seats and everything was great!  The game flew by and the Patriots went ahead. It starts to rain while Seattle came back, but was still behind. The Hawks had the ball with very little time left in the first half. The rain gets harder. Wilson takes the snap… all TVs went black. A total Huse satellite black out!  I get out my phone and google the Super Bowl and it shows that Seattle scored a touchdown to tie it up!  I tell the crowd and the place kind of goes as nuts and it could, not really knowing the true progress of the game. From that point on the event got a bit strange.

The folks running the TVs were running around trying to get the satellite feed back. It was half-time so we were not missing much.  The feed was completely out. They had to fall back on a secondary plan. They connected to the local cable and started broadcasting Mexican Super Bowl coverage. While all this was happening the rain got worse.  The people outside the bar, mostly smokers, were getting drenched. They all moved into the area where we were which meant that it mixed the Patriot fans in with the Seahawk fans.

Hamburgersa beast mode!

 You see, when Jack set up the seating, he seated the Patriots in the outside area. There were less of them so that worked out very well, at first. When the rain came and the satellite went out then it all changed.

Now we had everyone squished into the bar watching the two TVs that they could get show the game. Once this happened the Patriots started their comeback and of course there were two obnoxious fans mixed right into the middle of the Seahawk crowd.  Why are the obnoxious ones the loudest?

Patriots take the lead and the jerks get louder. Then the amazing catch and Seattle has a real chance! Seattle fans go nuts, Patriots shut up and everyone is happy.  Wilson runs Lynch for a first down and it looks real good for the Hawks. Wilson takes the snap steps back…the TVs go black and we don’t see anything! They come back on and all hell has broken loose.  Everyone is trying to figure out what happened, there is a replay, an interception and then the game is over. Not a good finish for the Hawks; definitely not a good way to watch, or not watch, the finish of the Super bowl game. It was nuts! Disappointing in the way they lost, disappointing in the TVs going out and leaving us completely confused, just plain hard to figure out exactly what happened.

Linda and I got on our bikes and peddled home in the pouring rain. Maybe next year is all I can say again.