This past weekend, I took a trip with the marching band to Seattle, Washington for the USC Trojan football game against the University of Washington. I was so excited for this trip, because this was the trip for the junior class. It is nice to be able to spend time with the other juniors, because I am closer with them than the students in other classes. Also, I was excited to go to Seattle, because my mom’s sister lives up there with her family, and I was hoping to be able to meet up with them while I was there.
Last Friday, we got to campus at 5:30 am to head off to Seattle. Luckily, we decided to take a plane, so we did not have to drive. That would have been insane… We flew out of Los Angeles, and arrived in Seattle around 11:30 am. The first thing I noticed was the crisp, cool air when we stepped outside. I have been to Seattle multiple times before to see my extended family, but it was still refreshing to feel the clean air. We left the airport and took a bus to our hotel, which was really nice. It was right near the water in downtown.
Seattle Airport!
Once we got there, some of my friends and I decided that we would explore the city with our 4 hours of free time. We headed over to Seattle Center, which is where the Space Needle is. I have been up to the top before, so I didn’t feel the need to go up again, but it was great to walk around and see all the museums and interesting things there. Afterwards, we walked down to the water, and saw some of the piers and the Olympic Sculpture Garden. We were running out of time so we head back to get ready for the rally.
International Fountain with Space Needle in background
Long ways up!
Chillin’ at the Sculpture Garden
We performed a rally at Pier 66 in Seattle for the Trojan fans up there for the game. It was really neat to play some fun songs and entertain the crowd. We had the rest of the night free after the rally, so my friends and I walked around the neighborhood near the hotel for a little bit. We found a Safeway a couple blocks away from the hotel, which is the main grocery store I go to when I am home. I was so excited and stocked up on junk food :).
Rally!!!
The next morning, there were no plans to do anything with the band, so I decided to meet up with one of my cousins. She picked up in the morning and took me to one of her favorite restaurants in Seattle, called La Flora. She explained to me that it is a very well-known vegan restaurant in Seattle. I got a house salad that had roasted sunflower seeds on it. It was sooooo good! I would definitely recommend it to anyone if they are up in Seattle. After a nice brunch, we went over to a state park in Seattle called the Arboretum. It is a nice, densely wooded outdoors area that has lots of walking paths. It was pretty and reminded me of Muir Woods in Northern California.
Me with my cousin
After a nice morning with my cousin, I got back to the hotel just in time to get in my uniform, and head off to the stadium with the band. Because the University of Washington is renovating their stadium, the game was at Century Link Stadium, which is where the Seahawks play. The stadium was pretty cool. As we were walking in to the stadium, we came across the Washington marching band, and I saw one of my old friends from high school who plays trombone and was my section leader in high school. It was neat to quickly say hi. We got up to our seats, which were actually really good and gave us a good view of the game.
Great seats for the game
The game was awesome. It was crazy being in a visitor stadium, where everyone else around you is booing at the USC team, but the band was spirited and we cheered our team on through the whole game. Even though the second half was somewhat slow, we pulled out the victory and beat the Huskies! After the game, we bussed back to the hotel. Everyone was so happy about our victory and it was cool to share the victory with all of the other juniors. When we got back to the hotel, I wanted to hang out with friends, but I had a lot of homework to do:(. I tried to do as much as I could until I was completely exhausted.
Fighting on with the bones to victory!!
The next morning, we packed up, took a bus to the airport, and headed home. I had a great trip and I was really glad that we won the game! I definitely enjoyed bonding with my class and getting out of L.A. for the weekend. Even though this will be my last away game trip I will be taking for the season, I have a lot to look forwards to next year when our class travels to Hawaii!
