Trip Summary
On Feb 1, 2015, Trista Robinson and I were there for the most tragic play in Seahawks history. Fortunately, we had a lot of stuff to do and look at before and after the shocking interception. We saw the Redwood Forest and the Grand Canyon. We saw Katy Perry with dancing sharks, and Fred Flintstone with Dino, and Paul Bunyan with Babe the blue ox. We drove through a redwood tree and had a vivid (and nerve wracking) example of what behavioral economists call "the endowment effect." And we took a monkey with us.
After the Seahawks won Super Bowl 48 in 2014, and knowing that the next one would be in warm weather (Phoenix), I told Trista that if the Seahawks went next time we are gonna go. On a bit of impulse, I purchased two tickets BEFORE the NFC Championship game, paying $2,000 each to one of the major ticket brokers. The "major" part would turn out to have been critical, as due to skyrocketing ticket prices, all but the very most established brokers simply refunded the payments leaving their customers -- who had usually already flown into Phoenix -- without any tickets.
But that part seemed largely moot two weeks before the big game. The Green Bay Packers were trouncing the Seahawks 16-0 at halftime, and with 5:04 left in the entire game and the Packers up 19-7, the odds of a Seahawks win were 0.7%. Shortly after that, with Russell Wilson throwing his 4th (!) interception of the game, the odds of a Packers win climbed to 99.9%. Somehow, requiring a miraculous recovery of an onside kick, the Seahawks scored twice, and then eventually won in overtime, and we avoided the question of whether to cancel our trip and sell the tickets or go anyway.
We chose to drive down the Washington, Oregon, and California coasts, and then back up through Arizona, Utah, and Idaho. But once we arrived in Phoenix, the ticket situation got wonky. The vendors wasn't in a hotel room where they were supposed to be, and the news was full of accounts of people who thought they had tickets ending up with none. This is because brokers generally see tickets to games like this that they don't actually possess, counting on their sources and the general market coming down in price as it gets close to the game from the conference championships. But for the first time, ticket prices just kept rising. Only those brokers who had strong financial backing and wanted to stay in business actually held to their commitments.
But our service came through. We didn't get the tickets until the day of game, sitting in a hotel lobby with a big group of nervous buyers, finally to be called into a room in small groups to get the precious tickets. As we sat there men walked through the lobby offering $10,000 then $12,000 or more for ANY two tickets to the game. We found out that our broker paid $14,000 for the two tickets I purchased for $4,000. That's when the "endowment effect" was really clear -- our bias toward valuing things more highly once we feel in possession of them. E.g. I would have never, ever purchased two tickets for $14,000; but now that I had to chance to easily sell them for that much, we never seriously considered it.
So the game, you know about. Katy Perry dances on an ersatz island with an instantly famous shark dancer, Jermaine Kearse makes a circus catch that makes another miracle Seahawks comeback look all but inevitable, and with 26 seconds left, the ball on the 1, and Marshawn Lynch available in the backfield, the Seahawks decide to throw and the Patriots' Malcolm Butler busts through Ricardo Lockette's underneath route and intercepts the ball, sealing the deal for the Patriots and their evil empire.
After that historic disappointment, we were extra glad we had some more vacation days and a scenic drive rather than simply getting on a plane and flying home. How bad can things be? We're taking our monkey and seeing the Grand Canyon! After that we somehow made it through some epic fog on the Utah-Idaho border, stayed with my parents for a bit, and headed home to Seattle.
California Portion
- Map
- Route Overview
- I-5 S to Tulatin
- 99 W / OR 18W to 101 / Oregon Coast Highway
- 101 to Pasadena
- 10 to Phoenix
- Possible stops Possible Stops
- Consider motels just across the CA border
Utah Portion
Grand Canyon (South Rim)
- From Phoenix - 331 miles / 372 kilometers
- Take I-17 north to Flagstaff, AZ.
- From Flagstaff, take I-40 west to Williams, AZ.
- From Williams, AZ, take Highway 64 north to the South Rim.
- There are places to eat at Tusayan, seven miles south of Grand Village and there is good choice of restaurants, etc within Grand Canyon Village itself.
Next Leg Overview
- Back along AZ-64 E to US-89 N, 89 for 44 miles, right to switch to 89T toward Page, and becomes 89 again; 89 thru Big Water, Kanab, Panguitch, then UT 20 W to 20m and merge onto I-15 toward Beaver, SLC; I-15 becomes I-84 in Ogden, follow to Boise.
Possible Stops
- Palo Verde - Tempe - 1015 W Broadway (divey)
- Crown King - Crown King Saloon - 7219 Main St (pic) (exit 259 onto Bloody Basin Rd off 17, 1:40 drive)
- Museum Club - Flagstaff - funky roadhouse, built in 1931 - opens 11am
- Slot Canyon tours near Kanab
- Tap Room - SLC - 2021 Windsor St (divey) - since 1947
- Cheers to You - SLC - 315 S Main St (divey)
- Shooting Star - Huntsville - Open Noon-9pm - Since 1879, the bar now called the Shooting Star Saloon (formerly Holkin's Bar and Clarence's) (pic)
- Historic 25th Street - Ogden
- Twin Falls - Pioneer Club - 1519 Kimberly Rd., Twin Falls - one of the oldest bars in Idaho
- Twin Falls - The Cove - 496 Addison Ave. West - Kinda tiki (pic)
- Mountain Home - Adrian's Club - 240 S Main St (pic)
- Buhl - Black Bear Tavern - 19789 U.S. 30 (pic)
Game Tix
- Your point of contact is the owner of Venue Kings, Anthony Beyrouti. You can reach him anytime at 604-318-1426
- The Renaissance Phoenix Downtown Hotel, 50 East Adams St., Phoenix, AZ 85004 - (In the Boardroom)
- Your tickets will be available for pickup starting on Saturday January 31st at 10am.
Game Day
- Cardinals game day parking lots will be open at 2:30 PM with kick-off scheduled for 6:30 PM.
- Brown Lot - Map Directions
Links
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