Bonjour, Indy!

2013 DCI FInals Week

Travel and Arrival Days

Tuesday-Wednesday, August 6-7, 2013

I'm glad that I left my house early on Tuesday, because if I hadn't, the freeway traffic to LAX would have made me anxious.  Same with the line for Southwest.  I'm also glad that I printed my boarding pass ahead of time so that I could stay out of the full service line.  The first leg of my flight was to Las Vegas.  The other people in my row discussed their addiction to Candy Crush.  I decided to eat at Tequileria and just HAD to have a margarita (on the rocks) because I just can't be at a place named for a liquor without actually having that liquor.  It's, like, a rule, right?  The shrimp tacos that I had were just OK, but the margarita was tasty.  On the second leg of my trip, a guy sat next to me whose son had been in a high school basketball tournament in Long Beach. He's currently being recruited by UCLA.  Hope he makes it!  I asked for recommendations of eateries, and he suggested Long's Bakery for their yeast doughnuts and Maxine's for their chicken and waffles.  

After deplaning and getting my luggage, I had a little while to wait for Bro and V, so I charged my phone and accessed the internet to find out great news:  Santa Clara Vanguard Cadets had won Open Class Finals!  WHOOO HOOOOOO!!!!!  So I had a huge smile on my face when Bro and V arrived.  (I had also been listening to Rockapella's "Indiana" before they got there, so that our Indiianapolis week would start correctly, so I was doubly happy).  SCVC had won by 0.45 and took the caption categories for General Effect, Brass and Color Guard.  Way to reach your peak at the end of the season, SCVC!

We walked to the shuttle area, and on the way, I fell down because the floor was wet and slippery from the sprinkler water overflow.    My knee hurt, so I iced it when we got to our hotel (Hampton Inn).  None of us were sleepy, but we somehow talked each other to sleep in the darkness.  

In the morning, we had the free breakfast downstairs which was OK.  I didn't use enough batter for my waffle, so there were holes on the side, and V did not enjoy the juice, but we were fed and ready to go to Downtown Indianapolis. We dropped off our bags at our hotel, the Crowne Plaza Royale, same place where we stayed last year.  Then we were off to watch some performances at the Individual and Ensemble competition.  There was a really cool sculpture tribute to John Wooden, which one of the kids near us didn't understand, and I needed to walk away instead of slapping her.

John Wooden Tribute

 We started to follow some brass players from Vanguard, but they were already done, so we watched the multi-tenor competition.  Bro had remembered that the winner from last year with the last name of Drummer, so we stayed to watch him.  Chris Drummer was amazing, and won his category handily.  We then watched a couple of trumpet soloists before going back to stalking Chris Drummer and watching him in Percussion Ensemble with his fellow Blue Devils, Nicole (the first female center snare in BD) and James Catherall, whom had also competed in the multi-tenor category. Their ensemble also won.  They are bad asses.  

We introduced V to the wonder of Tastings.  For lunch, we ordered the Goat Cheese and Fig Pizza, the Napa Valley Pizza, and the Filet Mignon Salad.  All of them were delicious.  I really like their flatbread.  

Goat Cheese & Fig Pizza

The wines we tasted:

V

• 2010 NxNW Cabernet Sauvignon from Columbia Valley, WA
• The featured wine in the Eclectic Reds category.  When she said it to me, I thought that she said "Putrid Wine", which made me wonder why she would ever try such a thing.  Many giggles ensued.  It ended up being a 2011 Palermo by Orin Swift from Napa Valley, CA

Bro

• 2012 Angulo Innocenti Cabernet Sauvignon from Argentina 
• 2011 Scout's Honor Proprietary Red from Venge Vineyards in Napa Valley
• 2011 Barone Ricasoli "Albia" Rose from Tuscany, Italy

Sher

• 2011 Domaine André Neveu 'Le Grand Fricambault Silex' Sancerre from Sancerre, France (Sauvignon Blanc)
• 2009 Bouchard Bourgogne Rouge Pinot Noir from Burgundy, France
• 2011 Château Pasquié 'Terrasses Blanc' from Cotes du Ventoux, France

Do you see a theme in my selections?  That's right, France.  This is all in keeping with this week's Les Miz show by Santa Clara Vanguard.  My favorite of the day was the pinot noir, because it was light and perfect for a humid day such as this one.

V was tempted by the dessert menu, so she ordered the Marquis Cake.  We enjoyed helping her with it very much.  

Marquis Cake

Afterward, we went shopping for candy.  I wanted Nerds Rope.  Bro wanted Skittles.  We found Nerds Rope at Hot Topic, and I refrained from buying all of the Little Mermaid stuff that I wanted.  We also found more of it at the Sweet Factory, and Bro and V also got more stuff.  We still had time before our 4:00 check-in, so we decided to see a movie.  Before the movie, Bro wanted to check out Tilt, an arcade with a cool name.  They had a LOT of prize claw machines.  A LOT.  Bro ended up getting a couple of plush toys from the movie "The Croods".  

We returned to the movie theater to see "The Wolverine" in 3D.  I can't believe that people still leave before the credits are over, especially for Marvel films.

We checked into out hotel room, which was deemed a quiet room, probably because it's away from just about everything.  But it's a nice, spacious room.  

Bro and V in front of hotel and Lucas Oil Stadium

Dinner was at Mikado because I was craving sushi.  I wasn't planning on drinking anything but water, but then Bro showed me the "Rising Sun", made with Japanese "vodka", Peach Schnapps and Grenadine.  It was yummy.  It was not as yummy as V's Purple Pop, but it was tasty.  So was the Stir-Fry Asparagus and the rolls:  Sweet Potato, Unagi & Avocado, Whitefish Tempura, and the Mystery Roll, which we think was made with lobster, cream cheese, and masago.  Bro also ordered mackerel, and V some miso soup.  I was saving myself for cookies.

After dropping off stuff in our hotel room, we went to the Grand Ballroom of our hotel to watch the Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony.  They had lots of cookies.  I ate lots of them.  My favorite was the peanut butter cookie with Reese's Pieces.  I need to make some of those at home.  Highlights of the ceremony for me were for Ray Mar of the Mandarins and Steve Rondinaro of DCI broadcasting fame.  

So now we're relaxing in our hotel, looking forward to tomorrow's VERY full day of drum corps.  Maybe I'll actually get up early enough to exercise. Or not.  We'll see!