Winter Classic: Pre-Game

As is apparently required by law, we did not get out of town on time. Not that it really mattered other than the fact that we constantly dream about how awesome it must feel to actually get on the road on schedule and not be running around like decapitated chickens up until we pull out of the driveway.

It's 11:37 CST, so in essence we're still in 2010 but physically we're already in EST so we're already 37 minutes into the new year, and new decade...and the day of the Winter Classic! Of course I was still on edge all day yesterday about the weather situation and desperately hoped the NHL would announce something, at least by the morning before we'd leave our hotel and head into the city. Apparently they announced their decision to move the game to 8:00pm at almost the exact same time we got on the road (3:30CST). But I was the first shift driver, therefore not messing around on my phone or the computer, and Kirby was napping (and thus not on the computer) so we missed the news by just a few minutes. I would have been less stressed about our departure time had I known we weren't going to have to get up early to head down for the game. We were listening to the Preds vs. Minnesota game on the drive and heard them mention it, but their announcers are a little slow and they never made it clear if it was an official start time move so it was hard to tell if they were just discussing it. We stopped to eat about two hours later and I immediately pulled out my phone to check "official" outlets, and once I saw the release from NHL.com we were both very relieved.

The drive went strangely well. Not many people on the roads and we didn't hit any traffic, or even slow areas, the entire ~500 miles or so. That was a welcome break for sure.

*****

We arrived at our hotel at 1:00am on the dot. When I checked in I was informed that our room is scheduled for remodel and that we'd have to check out this morning and then they'd check us back into a different room. I made the (I think, rational) case that we should just be allowed to stay in the room since we'll be out early tomorrow morning...it's one extra day not an extra week. Or even couple of days. Not surprisingly, the night desk guy said I'd have to ask a manager in the morning. Kirby and I discussed it while we unloaded the car and briefly entertained the ides of driving back farther West after the game before stopping for the night until we remembered that we'd have all our stuff in the car while it was parked downtown tonight, including quite a bit of electronic gear. We agreed that it would be a better idea to find another hotel closer in toward town to check into this afternoon, get ready for the game and then not have to drive as far after, since it will be 11:30pm by the time it ends, and then probably another hour or so to get back out of the downtown area to where we'll be parked.

So we got into our room and I set about looking for another hotel. I eventually found one, and for a little less than we're paying here, so in the end it isn't too bad...and if we have to pack all our stuff up and move to another room it's really not that much more work to just go to a different hotel and save us some time after the game. I'm sure we'll be beat, so the shorter the distance we have to travel then, the better. The drive to St. Clairsville was right about 7.5 (driving time) on the nose, so another 30 minutes or so won't make or break the drive home tomorrow.

After I had the hotel situation resolved I turned to figuring out parking. I'm usually the type of person that over plans a road trip and has everything mapped out, with alternatives, etc...but for some reason I figured I'd deal with that when we got here. I also assumed that parking information was in the brochure that came with the tickets, but I'd only scanned it, and come to find out it only had information on the pre-purchase lots, to which we do not have a pass. Since we have no idea what people will be charging for lots around the stadium area (but assume that we'd get off lucky with $20), we don't know our way around at all, and it's going to be PACKED down there we decided to look into the public transit.



So, it got really late on us fast and I finally laid down to go to sleep around 5:00am local time. It was only 4:00am to me mentally, but that's still freaking late!! The first two hours I slept soundly, but then I started waking up every hour on the hour thinking it was time to get up. Every time I felt like I'd been asleep FOR-EV-ER!!! So, at 9:30 I decided to go ahead and get up, so we didn't have to rush out of here, and I'll attend to getting dressed and maybe a nap when we get checked into the other hotel.
That brings us to right now...having a muffin and some coffee...about to throw some clothes on and round up all our crap. I don't think it's really sunk in just yet. I was thinking about it before falling asleep last night and it still doesn't feel real. Just to see a Caps vs. Pens game at all is something I've wanted to do for the past couple years, and to see THIS one in particular is a really big deal. Obviously I want the Caps to win, but even if they don't I just hope we get a good game out of it, like the one last week. It won't be as entertaining if it's very lopsided, even if it's lopsided in favor of the Caps.

That's all for now...more to come after the game!! LET'S GO CAPS!!!