Pasadena, California: DT and I spent several hours Sunday visiting several different retail establishments gathering items for 1) a Rose Bowl New Year party at Lisa & Lenny's (they have kindly invited all our friends in town for the game) and 2) a Rose Bowl tailgate at our bus. Yes, our motorhome is now parked in the shadows of the Rose Bowl in Pasadena. Our plan was to drive over on Tuesday, but - just in case the no-reservation lot filled up early - we decided to move our journey up a day.
Just like Boy Scouts - we are prepared!
Exhausted, we limped ourselves back to our motorhome and tried to find places to load our mostly-boozy purchases into the basement of our motorhome.
Dinner Sunday was prepared (frozen) duck confit from New Seasons Market in Oregon. All I had to do was (thaw and) brown the leg-thigh duck. Dang, I am going to miss this wonderful grocer until we return to Oregon in the Spring. If you live anywhere near this Portland-area market, get yourself down to their frozen duck aisle and purchase this house-made delight.
N O W !
Duck Confit - tonight served over egg noodles because I was too lazy to make mashed potatoes.
Leaving the Motorcoach Country Club in Indio
The Magna Pergrinus headed to Pasadena just after noon. Traffic was pretty terrible and it ended up taking over two hours to reach Pasadena. We had so many passing cars honk, wave and give the thumbs-up to our pretty motorhome... but one driver so unfriendly that he actually flipped us off, then backed away and returned to flip-us-off again. Really?
We pulled up to the RV parking area next to the Rose Bowl and paid for four nights dry-camping - $400 - making this the most expensive campsite we have ever rented. Ever. Dry-camping... and there are a ton of RV's here paying the rent. Not only is there no pool or hot tub, or electricity or water or anything, we are parked in a line, so there is no way to leave unless the RV's behind you leave first. We were also asked for an additional $40 for a parking pass for the Honda, which is parked at an adjacent lot so we can drive in and out at our leisure.
There are a lot of kids as well, and they are having fun tossing footballs around and playing on a really great play structure - probably getting rid of all the energy stored-up from a several-day drive from Oregon.
The duck confit will serve us well again tonight. I am making a salad for dinner. No cooking. No pots and pans to wash. Everything already prepared this morning in Indio - so we can enjoy a relaxing evening with our friends.
Until my next update, I remain, your Rose Bowl correspondent.