Visit 5 Cities: Chicago, IL

Part of my 101 in 1001 is to visit 5 new cities.

Trip 3 - Chicago, IL - 8/4/11-8/8/11

Visited Audrey in Chicago during Lollapalooza! Nothing is nastier than an outdoor music festival after a rainstorm.

Visit 5 Cities: Los Angeles

This is part of my 101 in 1001.

Trip 2 - Los Angeles, California - 12/30/10 - 1/3/11

Over the New Year, I got to go to the Rose Bowl (Wisconsin vs. TCU) game, and spend New Year’s in LA! This time around, Wisconsin didn’t win, but the trip was still a lot of fun.

We went to the Badger pep rally at the Santa Monica Pier, which was really incredible. In fact, all of the Badger fanfare is really amazing. They also had a neat performance called the 5th quarter where the band played at LA Live for a huge crowd of fans. During the games, they have what’s called “jump around” between the 3rd and 4th quarter where the fans jump up and down to the song “Jump Around”. The Rose Bowl wasn’t going to play the song, but all the Badger fans, which made up about 3/4 of the stadium, just went ahead with the jump around anyway.

NYE in LA was awesome! Jon and I went to a bar in the LA Live area. We spent a total of $10 that night at that bar. Let’s just say I made many, many trips to the bathroom with our pints of free coke refills and the “water” bottle in my purse. We tried to play matchmaker and get a New Year’s kiss for a guy we met that night. I pulled over a random girl and we introduced them to each other 90 seconds before the countdown. Too bad they only hugged at midnight. I wanted to keep in touch with the girl, but I think she was too drunk to properly introduce herself to me.

To end the trip, we played drinking games in the hotel. Jon’s 11 year-old nephew drank orange juice. I learned a new card game similar to VC, except with positions like President (when you’re the winner) that give you complete control over drinking during the game. That means you can tell anyone to drink any amount at any time while you’re President. I was President 3 times in a row, but I didn’t utilize my presidential powers to the fullest extent. And unfortunately, I had one too many screwdrivers that night.

Our flight home was packed with purple TCU fans everywhere. Good thing I sat in between two very nice TCU fans who helped me as I was recuperating from my hangover.

Pros: Rose Bowl (Badger) fun, New Year’s in a new city, hot tub in cold weather, and of course spending time with Jon.

Cons: Drinking too much and feeling not-so-well on the 6 a.m. flight home.

Visit 5 Cities: San Jose

One of my 101 in 1001 goals is to visit 5 new cities.

Trip 1 - San Jose/San Francisco - 12/2/10 -12/6/10, Jon and I took a vacation to San Jose and San Francisco to visit some friends. The weather and trip overall was great!

We visited Stanford University and somehow got to sneak into the football stadium. Elaine showed me and Jon around and toured Stanford for the first time as well.

We also visited Alcatraz and the Golden Gate bridge (almost):

Many thanks to Elaine, Andrew and Anita for their hospitality in San Jose and San Francisco!!!

Pros: Beautiful city, visiting friends and doing touristy things.

Cons: Traffic, general transportation costs and rain during our Fisherman’s Wharf visit.