Post by jenhatter06 on Dec 8, 2007 3:03:04 GMT 3
Portland may have been cold, rainy, windy, and Marat-less, but that didn't mean there was a shortage of fun times and awesome tennis! 
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 28
Mom and I had a long travel day to Portland, including a four-hour layover in Texas. And the flight from Texas to Portland took FOREVER -- it felt like the longest flight ever, even with my previous experience with long (and longer) flights.
... I have become a little obsessed with taking pictures of the clouds from the plane window:
We got to Portland at night to a 40 degree (Fahrenheit) drop in temps (from 75 at home to 33!) -- it was see-your-breath-cold! ;D But I didn't mind, I was excited for it (I am more of a cold-weather person than a hot-weather person) -- it definitely felt refreshing when we stepped out of the airport.
Waiting for our luggage, I saw people with Davis Cup signs -- picking up people with credientials ... that and the cold, fresh air perked me right up!
The hotel we stayed at was close to the airport so they had a shuttle that came to pick us up. Cutie Shuttle Driver asked where we were from, why we were there -- got to talking about the Davis Cup and he said that his dad was one of the volunteer drivers for the week. (!) Had I thought about it at the time (read: un-jetlagged), I should/would have asked if he could find out any scoop, but alas ... *shrug*
THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 29
We rented a car and drove a couple hours south to visit family that live in Eugene. Got to visit with an aunt & uncle who I hadn't seen in 6-7 years, and a cousin, who at 5, I hadn't even met yet!
On the way down we passed Oregon City, which is home to the End of the Oregon Trail. We had time so we stopped; I was interested in it having played the computer game many a time. ;D
Covered Wagon anyone?
Weather was cold, and raining off and on ... I took pictures along the drive.
Sun's peeking out .... but not for long ...
Me messing around
Had fun times with the family; so nice to see them. My little cousin was a hoot-and-a-half; cutie pie, so smart, and talkative. Love spending time with young cousins; miss that since most of the rest of us are grown up already!
Shame we had already had plans on Thursday as I later found out about the draw ceremony and where that was, otherwise we could've checked that out.
On to the good stuff! ;D ....
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 30
Day 1: Davis Cup Final
To start, I have been anticipating this since it was a mere possibility in April -- silly commentators had to bring up the fact that if USA and Russia made it through, it would be a home final for us; so I've been thinking and hoping about it for 6 months! And I immediately knew that if that happened, no matter where in the country is was, I wanted to go; I figured the US boys had a good chance, and I wanted to be witness to it. And while I am biased to my US boys, I do adore Team Russia as well. 
Twas cold in the morning! But we walked to a store to get a sharpie (I have a visor that we got Mardy Fish's autograph on at the DC QF in '04, so I made sure to bring it with to see if we could add to it). We then made our way to the metro that took us straight to the Coliseum.
Standing in line, band came out to play ...
Team USA as youngins
After taking tons of pictures with the family on Thursday, and snapping away once we got to the Coliseum, we get in, peruse some of the booths before making our way to see where our seats are ... who's the smart one who has a fussy camera that's already flashing the low battery sign and who forgot to bring more batteries just-in-case? Yeah, me. Probably would've taken more pictures than I did, but I kept it off as much as possible to conserve battery and make sure that it lasted the whole day (which it did -- actually lasted longer than I thought it would).
Seats weren't bad; we got a whole big-picture view. And being in the last row of our section, with no one sitting behind us, was nice. Plus, there was enough room behind the seats to shove all bags, sweaters, etc. out of the way. And who's doing some last-minute practicing? Team Russia!
Small warning: camera was being fussy, so some pictures are blurry (and some are really blurry)
Managed to get a few video clips with my camera too! Video - Dmitry/Mikhail Practice: www.youtube.com/watch?v=uoA7naf6i5Q
Team USA did a little practice too, although I missed a lot of it as I took the opportunity to walk around and see more of the booths (although there really wasn't a lot), and get some face painting.
Mardy/James
Bob/Mike
John Isner
Face Paint!
Opening Cermonies -- I'll admit it, I cried during the National Anthem, which I don't think I've ever done before. I'm not sure why, or where exactly it came from. And the stadium was packed, and rockin'.
Billie Jean King
Video of Opening Ceremonies: www.youtube.com/watch?v=HugJskJHMEE (I actually took it on Saturday, but it was the same on Friday)
Match 1: Andy v Dmitry
Match particulars I can't really remember, except some rallies, which sometimes you weren't sure when/if they were going to end. ;D (Am actually watching reruns on TV -- wanted to see what it looked like, what the commentators were saying, etc.) All the matches are pretty much a blur, all the excitement of the whole thing just took over. That, and I went out during the middle of the match for food and souvenirs (beat the rush of everyone else during the break between matches).
Press Boxes
Team Benches
Dima in Red
Changeover entertainment including a stunt team, band, jugglers, said stunt team tossing shirts into the crowd -- and Mardy, Robby, Donald, and John tossed shirts one changeover:
Andy - Interview - Big Screen
Match 2: James v Mikhail
Beginning of the second set, thought it was going to be another quick match; boy was that wrong. Wore me out, it kept going and going. And again with rallies. Definitely was surprised to be up 2-0 at the end of the day; didn't think James was going to pull it out.
Misha got an "awww" when he high-fived a ball kid a point after the poor kid tripped running from one of the net to the other.
Guy in front of me was taking pictures through binoculars -- which I thought was genius! Tried it out ... didn't work so well with me, a lot trickier than it looks, but fun to try; most of the pictures turned out extra blurry 'cause I couldn't get my hand to stay steady enough.
Fun times watching (spying) on the team through the binoculars; Team USA was closer so it was easier to watch them. Chatting with each other, cheering, their reactions to things ... ;D
Up 2-0! Mom wanted to go down and see if we could add James' autograph to the visor .... success! And I took a blind, arms-in-the-air picture of James, and that worked too! 
On the ride home, somone inquired about the pom-poms, which were given as a freebie. He was asking because they looked like Portland Trailblazer (basketball) pom-poms. When I said it was from DC, he at least knew what we were talking about (some people in Portland had no idea), but he then said that he had watched some of it on TV earlier in the afternoon, but didn't realize it was there in Portland! I just had to shake my head; local media may not do too much for the event (as least from what we saw), but the fans care, and that's all that matters!
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 28
Mom and I had a long travel day to Portland, including a four-hour layover in Texas. And the flight from Texas to Portland took FOREVER -- it felt like the longest flight ever, even with my previous experience with long (and longer) flights.
... I have become a little obsessed with taking pictures of the clouds from the plane window:We got to Portland at night to a 40 degree (Fahrenheit) drop in temps (from 75 at home to 33!) -- it was see-your-breath-cold! ;D But I didn't mind, I was excited for it (I am more of a cold-weather person than a hot-weather person) -- it definitely felt refreshing when we stepped out of the airport.
Waiting for our luggage, I saw people with Davis Cup signs -- picking up people with credientials ... that and the cold, fresh air perked me right up!
The hotel we stayed at was close to the airport so they had a shuttle that came to pick us up. Cutie Shuttle Driver asked where we were from, why we were there -- got to talking about the Davis Cup and he said that his dad was one of the volunteer drivers for the week. (!) Had I thought about it at the time (read: un-jetlagged), I should/would have asked if he could find out any scoop, but alas ... *shrug*
THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 29
We rented a car and drove a couple hours south to visit family that live in Eugene. Got to visit with an aunt & uncle who I hadn't seen in 6-7 years, and a cousin, who at 5, I hadn't even met yet!
On the way down we passed Oregon City, which is home to the End of the Oregon Trail. We had time so we stopped; I was interested in it having played the computer game many a time. ;D
Covered Wagon anyone?
Weather was cold, and raining off and on ... I took pictures along the drive.
Sun's peeking out .... but not for long ...
Me messing around
Had fun times with the family; so nice to see them. My little cousin was a hoot-and-a-half; cutie pie, so smart, and talkative. Love spending time with young cousins; miss that since most of the rest of us are grown up already!
Shame we had already had plans on Thursday as I later found out about the draw ceremony and where that was, otherwise we could've checked that out.
On to the good stuff! ;D ....
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 30
Day 1: Davis Cup Final
To start, I have been anticipating this since it was a mere possibility in April -- silly commentators had to bring up the fact that if USA and Russia made it through, it would be a home final for us; so I've been thinking and hoping about it for 6 months! And I immediately knew that if that happened, no matter where in the country is was, I wanted to go; I figured the US boys had a good chance, and I wanted to be witness to it.
And while I am biased to my US boys, I do adore Team Russia as well. 
Twas cold in the morning! But we walked to a store to get a sharpie (I have a visor that we got Mardy Fish's autograph on at the DC QF in '04, so I made sure to bring it with to see if we could add to it). We then made our way to the metro that took us straight to the Coliseum.
Standing in line, band came out to play ...
Team USA as youngins
After taking tons of pictures with the family on Thursday, and snapping away once we got to the Coliseum, we get in, peruse some of the booths before making our way to see where our seats are ... who's the smart one who has a fussy camera that's already flashing the low battery sign and who forgot to bring more batteries just-in-case? Yeah, me.
Probably would've taken more pictures than I did, but I kept it off as much as possible to conserve battery and make sure that it lasted the whole day (which it did -- actually lasted longer than I thought it would).Seats weren't bad; we got a whole big-picture view. And being in the last row of our section, with no one sitting behind us, was nice. Plus, there was enough room behind the seats to shove all bags, sweaters, etc. out of the way. And who's doing some last-minute practicing? Team Russia!
Small warning: camera was being fussy, so some pictures are blurry (and some are really blurry)
Managed to get a few video clips with my camera too! Video - Dmitry/Mikhail Practice: www.youtube.com/watch?v=uoA7naf6i5Q
Team USA did a little practice too, although I missed a lot of it as I took the opportunity to walk around and see more of the booths (although there really wasn't a lot), and get some face painting.
Mardy/James
Bob/Mike
John Isner
Face Paint!
Opening Cermonies -- I'll admit it, I cried during the National Anthem, which I don't think I've ever done before. I'm not sure why, or where exactly it came from. And the stadium was packed, and rockin'.
Billie Jean King
Video of Opening Ceremonies: www.youtube.com/watch?v=HugJskJHMEE (I actually took it on Saturday, but it was the same on Friday)
Match 1: Andy v Dmitry
Match particulars I can't really remember, except some rallies, which sometimes you weren't sure when/if they were going to end. ;D (Am actually watching reruns on TV -- wanted to see what it looked like, what the commentators were saying, etc.) All the matches are pretty much a blur, all the excitement of the whole thing just took over. That, and I went out during the middle of the match for food and souvenirs (beat the rush of everyone else during the break between matches).
Press Boxes
Team Benches
Dima in Red
Changeover entertainment including a stunt team, band, jugglers, said stunt team tossing shirts into the crowd -- and Mardy, Robby, Donald, and John tossed shirts one changeover:
Andy - Interview - Big Screen
Match 2: James v Mikhail
Beginning of the second set, thought it was going to be another quick match; boy was that wrong. Wore me out, it kept going and going. And again with rallies. Definitely was surprised to be up 2-0 at the end of the day; didn't think James was going to pull it out.
Misha got an "awww" when he high-fived a ball kid a point after the poor kid tripped running from one of the net to the other.
Guy in front of me was taking pictures through binoculars -- which I thought was genius! Tried it out ... didn't work so well with me, a lot trickier than it looks, but fun to try; most of the pictures turned out extra blurry 'cause I couldn't get my hand to stay steady enough.
Fun times watching (spying) on the team through the binoculars; Team USA was closer so it was easier to watch them. Chatting with each other, cheering, their reactions to things ... ;D
Up 2-0!
Mom wanted to go down and see if we could add James' autograph to the visor .... success! And I took a blind, arms-in-the-air picture of James, and that worked too! 
On the ride home, somone inquired about the pom-poms, which were given as a freebie. He was asking because they looked like Portland Trailblazer (basketball) pom-poms. When I said it was from DC, he at least knew what we were talking about (some people in Portland had no idea), but he then said that he had watched some of it on TV earlier in the afternoon, but didn't realize it was there in Portland! I just had to shake my head; local media may not do too much for the event (as least from what we saw), but the fans care, and that's all that matters!
Very early flight home. Sitting waiting to board, Mom motions to someone sitting a couple rows of seats away, and it's John Roddick! (Andy's brother & coach) He was on the same flight! Cool moment. I didn't say anything to him though -- it was too early, didn't want to bother him (plus, I'm a big chicken). 
The company gave us a rental car to get home, as the couple wouldn't be able to bring the key in until Wednesday. Wednesday came, and I successfully have my car and key back! 
