Come on down!

Today we woke up before the crack of dawn to experience a TV Game Show. Of course we picked everyone's favourite classic "The Price is Right". What I will attempt to do know is give a window into what this is like.

Before hand, make sure to request tickets - we did this online which was easy enough to do, and you just print them off and take them with you.

We arrived at the lot around 5:30 am. By that time there were already over 50 people in line at the gate. At approximately 6 am, ushers came out and handed us tickets which held our place in line. We were told to come back at 7:15 to enter the studio lot.

Before 7:15, we returned and were told to wait patiently on some long metal benches. After a short wait we were told to get in order based on the previous tickets we had been given. More time passed and one of the attendants began to warm up the crowd. It was pretty entertaining to see how excited people got just at the thought of being on the show.

At approximately 8:30, maybe 9:oo, our tickets were checked and we moved to another seating area with more metal benches and more waiting in a ordered fashion. Have I mentioned that at this point we still had yet to enter the building? It was at this point where we were given a contestant card and the classic yellow TPiR name tags. In case you are wondering, you don't get to write your own name, and in order to be eligible for a prize you must put your full legal name on your tag so BENJAMIN was squeezed on to mine.

Somewhere around 10 am we were broken into groups of 12 to meet with the producers of the show. This is the time when they pick out which people might work well as contestants on stage. It's pretty intimidating to know that whatever you say could mean your chance at getting on stage!

From there we were herded around the corner to a security check and more metal long benches. This felt like the longest portion of the waiting, we were here until almost 1:00 when we FINALLY were directed into the tiny Bob Barker Studio. We understood that it would feel smaller than you imagine, but it feels different in several ways. The studio looks even wilder and more out of date than it seems on TV. The stage is very small, and it is freezing cold inside! It all happens very fast with a ton of noise and excitement and before you know it the hour is up.

For those who have been living under a rock, Bob Barker has been replaced by Drew Carey. He was pretty entertaining as a host and was good at keeping the crowd warm during commercial breaks. We were able to watch the first perfect game in his hosting history and 2 contestants spun the wheel to an even dollar to get a bonus. The winning contestant was from our row and we patted her on the back as she ran up front to contestants row.

It was a fun day. We aren't sure if we'd ever do it again, but it was fun to do once. Sadly we walked away without a prize or getting up on stage, but we had a great time.

If you have any questions about the rest of the show, let me know! I'll post when it will air at a later time.... they currently aren't sure of anything other than it will be aired after October 15.

Miss Teen USA 2007 - South Carolina answers a question

Wow - just wow. Watch it and feel my pain.

Go to the beach because we live so close...

...we thought, so we did. On the advice of a few people at breakfast the other day we gave Paradise Cove a try. It was fun - lunch was tasty but pricy, and we realized that we don't need much time at a beach to consider it a good day.

#14

The Jays were kind enough to be the first of my friends to visit us in LA. This weekend's series with the Angels was more than enough to encourage me to make my first visit to Angel Stadium of Anaheim (number 14 on my lifetime goal of visiting all 30 active MLB ballparks).

Meredith and I enjoyed the game and checking another park of my list and to top it off the boys in blue and black won 5-4. We may have had second thoughts on ordering food if we had read this article before going, but never the less we still enjoyed being there.

Feeling a little Fuller.

So our trip from Harrisonburg to Pasadena is over and we're settling in quite nicely. Aunt Suze, cousin Steve, and my sisters provided some great conversation while crossing the country. I completed my goal of driving the moving truck the entire way - an event I don't think I really want to do again any time soon.

On the way we played the classic license plate game counting the states we passed. Here is our final list in order of appearance:

North Carolina, Vermont, Ohio, Virginia, Oklahoma, Maryland, Indiana, Illinois, Tennessee, Pennsylvania, Arizona, Florida, West Virginia, Ontario (Canada), Texas, Maine, New York, Missouri, South Carolina, Georgia, New Hampshire, Louisiana, Quebec (Canada), Kentucky, Arkansas, California, Wisconsin, Delaware, Alabama, Michigan, New Jersey, Mississippi, Iowa, Colorado, Washington, Nebraska, Utah, Chihuahua (Mexico), New Mexico, Wyoming, Sonora (Mexico), Nevada, North Dakota, Minnesota, Oregon, Idaho, Montana, Alaska

Fun stuff! On our trip we drove through 3 new states that I hadn't visited - plus we stopped off at a Texas Rangers game giving my running total 13 current MLB stadiums (plus 2 that are no longer in use) and 4 new ones this summer alone!

Below are a few pics of our journey...