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Sunday the 27th: Got back at about 1 in the morning from the Coyotes game the night before. Woke up feeling sick to my stomach. But, I got everything packed and loaded up, bought a sandwich at Circle K, and went to the stadium to load the truck and stuff. Found out when I got there that our rookie bottom bass drummer couldn't find his uniform in his house, so he had to check out one that was three sizes too big haha. Before we got on the buses Scott called us over and told us we were getting sweet free shirts. So that was exciting.
On the way there, I got to sit by myself since there were a lot of people just meeting us in San Diego, so sleeping was a lot easier. Listened to Coldplay the entire way, non stop. I know, it's sort of ridiculous, but they're so awesome. When we got to the hotel, everyone had a different idea of what we were supposed to do, so it took a lot longer than it should have to get to the room, but once that was settled we dropped everything off and went downstairs for pizza/football watching. That night we wandered around Gaslamp and did magic tricks with a mime in front of Ghiradelli's. And I made the mime talk to me, so that was the victory for the night...
Monday the 28th: Quick breakfast and then off to the naval base. We were ultra late in getting there so we didn't have any time to warm up before the first time playing on drums in two weeks, but it still went pretty well. This is where we got to see the Nebraska mascot for the first time, which is a moment I will never forget. That thing is ridiculous. Also saw Ndamukong Suh walk onto the boat while we were playing. First time I saw him in person too. We didn't get to go on the boat, but it was still a good time, and definitely the best parade rout ever...out onto a pier.
Then came rehearsal. It was long, it got cold towards the end, and my knee stopped working towards the end, so it was painful. After rehearsal, we had the band banquet, which was long, hot and painful. The drumline wore tacky christmas sweaters though, so that made it better. But the main downer at that thing was that the montage video from the entire year didn't have the drumline in it at all, so that was really disappointing. The banquet went so late there was no time to go do anything afterwards, so we sat in the hotel and stared at what we thought was some dude not moving in the tower across from us for like an hour and a half, and one person named all the cleaning people. It was fun and ridiculous. Turns out it was a mannequin since it was still there the next morning. Oh well...totally worth it.
Tuesday the 29th: The first thing we did was the convention center, where we warmed up in a spot with the best warmup view ever, and we saw the high school band representing Nebraska for the first time. Also saw Suh at this too, so that was twice before the game even started, which was exciting for me. After playing all kinds of tunes, we left and headed for Sea World. That was awesome. There were way more people watching us play than I would have imagined, and everything sounded good. It was a really great time there. Then we got some free time there until some of us had to leave for a pep band gig. Did all the stuff I did there in the summer basically, except I saw Shamu this time, which is always a great time.
After Sea World, a small drumline had to do a pep band gig, and I was a part of that small drumline. We went to the Hyatt where the teams were staying, and they kicked us out early because we were so loud. This gave us extra free time for the rest of the night. We went to a restaurant called Ponchos de Charly, and our server was Don Octavio, so you can imagine how awesome that dinner was. Then we just wandered around Gaslamp some more, found an awesome candy store, and I had the greatest shake of my life at Ghiradelli's. We went back to the hotel kind of early because the next day was going to be ridiculously long.
Wednesday the 30th (Game day): Woke up bright and early to go to the Holiday Bowl Parade. Best. Parade. Ever. So many balloons, so many high schools, it was great. And we warmed up facing the ocean again, which I want to do every time we warmup now. We played Vader for the Star Wars people, so that was kind of funny, and we played Band Yell with Ironwood Ridge High, and that was really loud. The parade was great, so many people the entire route, and then we went to Broadway Pier for a "Battle of the Bands", where SE Lincoln High played Nebraska's fight songs, and we played everything. Then we walked probably 20 miles (that's what it felt like) to Seaport Village, where we had an awesome catered mexican food lunch. Just sat there and stared out into the bay. It was sort of cold, but not too bad. Then we went to the stadium.
It started raining when we got there. We unloaded everything and headed out to play at three tailgates. It was kind of a mist the entire tailgating time, so it actually felt pretty good. After making a complete lap around the stadium, we went into the tunnel where we stood for at least half an hour with IRHS and SELHS. There were lots of shoes hanging from the piping above us, so that was kind of odd. We finally went out onto the field to do pregame, and it was awesome. Qualcomm doesn't hold very many people, but it feels a lot bigger than Arizona Stadium or Sun Devil Stadium. It stopped raining for pregame and the first half, but started again at halftime. During pregame there were parachuters that landed on the field. That was amazing. And then we went up into our ridiculously great seats. Right on the field, lots of room. So much better than a home game or at ASU, or even Vegas. The game itself was horrendous. We never really stood a chance, but we still had an awesome time in the stands. Halftime was the greatest halftime show of all time. We played part 1, then a montage of music with the high school bands and fireworks everywhere, the drumline even danced to Love Shack.
It was great.
After the game everyone was really hungry, so a group of us went to TGI Fridays. It took a long time to get food, but when you're with fun people it really doesn't matter that much. After eating we just went back to the hotel since it was after midnight by then.
Thursday the 31st: Just got up, packed, loaded the buses and left. We stopped in Yuma for lunch, but ended up having to unload the equipment truck because it broke down just as we got there. That was the only exciting part of the trip back, mostly because I slept the whole way from Yuma to Marana listening to Five for Fighting. After we got back to Tucson I cleaned up my house and then went over to the staff's house for midnight, where I got the year off to a good start with friends. It hasn't stayed that great, but hopefully it will turn around soon.
So that was the best band trip ever. So much fun the entire time. Truly incredible. I hope we go back again next year. That's up to Foles and crew I guess.
Oh I, I just died in your arms tonight
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