State No. 37 - Louisiana

This was a very fun trip.  Unlike Hawaii, nearly every decision I made chess & non-chess wise on this trip was good.

I guess we should start with the food I ate.

I was told from multiple personal sources that New Orleans is known for food.  I tried to eat as many foods known to New Orleans as possible: Po-Boy, Muffuletta, Gumbo, Beignet, & Jambalaya over the 3.5 days I was there, & you can see Some Food Pictures from NOLA right here along with their locations.  Everything I ate there was excellent.  They probably have even more good food down there, but as my stomach isn't in the capacity of Jughead, Yoshi, Garfield, Kirby, or Pac Man, I am definitely going to have to come back for a return trip to discover more.

On the Friday of the trip, I went to the National World War II Museum.  There's 5-6 buildings & lots of things to see.  They have included a dog tag card that lets you follow the story select person as you follow along through the various galleries in the museum.  (You see a picture of the dog tag card as the last picture of museum pictures in this instagram link.)  Now, you are supposed to go through the train car at the beginning of the museum to introduce you to this idea, but I was running nearly late for one of the add-on shows I added to my visit.  They do have the dog tags in the area after that first train & before you pass on to the path of the various galleries.  The only criticism I have is that to hear the story, there are old school telephones connected to the stations.  There are stations all over the museum galleries where you tap the dog tag card & then you pick up the phone to hear the story. While I am okay with this as a person who used old school telephones before cell phones exploded in popularity, I know there are people who don't like the idea of using something someone has used previously.  If there was an additional option to use your phone to follow the story through your own headphones, that might improve the situation for those not comfortable with using the old school phones.  

After a short break to eat gumbo (I wanted the meat, but because it was lent, they did seafood.  It was still very good.), I drove over to Mardi Gras World.  (Hint: There is free parking along Tchoupitoulas Street within the shoulder. I agree with the staff that there is no need to pay $26 for parking in Lot G nearby just to visit.) 

This is a parade person's dream place!  They craft the floats here for the various Mardi Gras Parades that you see between January 6 & Fat Tuesday (for the uninitiated, the day before Ash Wednesday).  They don't just build the floats & characters for their own parades though.  They rent out these floats &, well, characters to other entities (E.g. Disney, anyone?).  The only rule is that anything created for one parade has to be recolored or changed in some way or shape if it is going to be reshown in a future event.

I know in the instagram post I mentioned I would share a few more pictures I took here, so here we go.

This has to be of Baron Davis.

In looking up New Orleans Players wearing Number 1, the likeliest best players were Baron Davis & Zion Williamson.  Zion has hair, so I am assuming Baron Davis was the intended player for this statue.  (Chris Paul is #3)

You bet I am taking a picture of French Fries

Marilyn Monroe in the front, Supergirl behind

The Fleur-de-lis, Saints symbol

I did nickname my trip location an NFC South Location for purposes of hiding my exact location from higher ups who did not need to know.  Incidentally my coworker also vacationed in the NFC South, but when we discussed this, I had to point out that if we were vacationing in the same city, I would have joked about the specific city instead.  He did land on New Orleans as a guess after knowing my previous trip history.

Cat in the Hat

Peter Rabbit Characters!  I recognize Benjamin Bunny.

Superman Logo

Darth Maul

Crescent City Connection?

Mississippi River

3rd shot of my panoramic view of Mississippi River

Inside the gift shop for Mardi Gras World, a random pair of large figurines

Penguin

Penguin #2

Penguin #3

So the Chess Tournament was held at the University of Holy Cross, in the southern part of New Orleans.  As per tradition, I dressed up in cosplay as another character for at least one round like I promised to do until my first convention, A Video Game Con, comes back for its full convention.  However, this time, I introduced a new character on the road, Blue Drill Toad, from Super Mario Brothers Wonder.

Blue Drill Toad, Drill Hat

Blue Drill Toad, Blue & Black Toad Hat

You can see the reference character on the second picture of this instagram post.

I had a lot of extra time after my first round, which was only 22 minutes long I think.  I ended up playing some pool for kicks.

I was playing fairly well on Day 1.  I opted to wear the video game hats through Day 1 just for kicks.  I started the tournament 3.5 points out of the first 4 Rounds, including this fun game in Round 4.

[Event "New Orleans Open"] [Site "New Orleans"] [Date "2024.03.23"] [Round "4"] [White "Chen, Kevin E."] [Black "Phillips, Rene W."] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "D02"] [WhiteElo "1824"] [BlackElo "2105"] [Annotator "Chen, Kevin E."] [PlyCount "171"] [EventDate "2024.03.23"] [EventType "swiss (rapid)"] [EventRounds "6"] [EventCountry "USA"] {Turns out he's played in NJ before & we both know or heard of FM Tommy Bartell} 1. d4 Nc6 {This was definitely not the opening I expected.} 2. Nf3 d5 3. Bf4 Bf5 4. e3 a6 5. Bd3 Bg6 6. O-O e6 7. Qe2 Bd6 8. Nbd2 $6 (8. c3) (8. Bxd6) 8... Bxf4 9. exf4 Qf6 10. Bxg6 ({I didn't see} 10. g3 Nxd4 11. Nxd4 Qxd4 12. f5 {wins the Bishop due to a pin on the e-pawn}) 10... hxg6 11. Qe3 Nge7 12. c3 Nf5 13. Qe2 O-O-O 14. b4 Nh4 15. g3 Nxf3+ 16. Nxf3 Qf5 17. Rfb1 Qg4 18. Qd3 Rh3 19. a4 Rdh8 20. Kg2 {I wanted the Queen to be able to capture on b5 without worrying about guarding the Nf3} ({Deep Fritz 14 x64:} 20. b5 {I thought live during the game about this continuation.} axb5 21. axb5 Nb8 22. b6 c6 23. Ra8 Qf5 24. Qxf5 gxf5 25. Kg2 R3h7 26. Rh1 f6 27. Re1 Re8 28. Nh4 Rh5 29. Rea1 Reh8 30. R1a7 g5 31. fxg5 fxg5 {1.07/19}) ({Stockfish 16:} 20. b5 Na5 21. bxa6 Rxh2 22. Nxh2 Qh3 23. a7 Kd7 24. Qb5+ Nc6 25. Qxb7 Na5 26. Qb5+ Nc6 27. Qd3 Nxa7 28. a5 Nc8 29. Qf3 Qxh2+ 30. Kf1 Nd6 31. Ke2 g5 32. fxg5 Qh7 33. a6 Ra8 34. Rh1 Qg6 35. Qe3 Ne4 36. Kf1 Nxg5 37. a7 Qe4 38. Qxe4 Nxe4 39. Rh7 Ke7 40. Rxg7 Nxc3 41. Ra5 {3.13/28}) 20... Qf5 {I think my opponent feared the Rook & Queen joining forces on the b-file. This Queen trade, however, seems to harm his attacking chances more than mine.} 21. Qxf5 gxf5 22. a5 ({As pointed out the next day by my third round opponent Mark Kislingbury} 22. Nh4 $2 {does trap Black's Rook & force an exchange sacrifice.} R8xh4 23. gxh4 Rxc3 {however, Black has too much play for the exchange & five of my remaning seven pawns are weak.}) 22... Na7 23. Rh1 (23. Nh4 $2 {See my 22nd move note.}) (23. Ng5 $2 Rxh2+) 23... R3h6 24. Ng5 Rf8 (24... f6 $2 25. Nf7 {forking the two rooks}) 25. h4 {fortress set up!} Kd7 26. Rhe1 Nb5 (26... f6 $2 27. Nxe6 Rf7 (27... Re8 28. Nc5+ Kd8 29. Nxb7+ Kd7 30. Nc5+ Kd8 31. Rxe8+ Kxe8 32. Nxa6) 28. Nc5+ Kc6 (28... Kc8 $4 29. Re8#) (28... Kd6 $4 29. Re6#) (28... Kd8 29. Nxb7+ Kc8 30. Nc5 Kd8 31. Nxa6 $18) 29. Re6+ Kb5 30. Nxb7) 27. Rac1 Na3 28. Nf3 {I wanted to play Nd2/Nf3 & c4} f6 29. Nd2 Rfh8 30. Nb3 b6 31. axb6 cxb6 32. Re2 ({I almost overlooked} 32. Ra1 $4 Nc2 {picking up an exchange.}) 32... g5 33. fxg5 fxg5 34. hxg5 Rh2+ 35. Kf3 Nb5 36. c4 ({Stockfish 16:} 36. Ra2 {This was the other move I contemplated in the game} Ra8 37. Nd2 Ke7 38. Ke3 f4+ 39. gxf4 Rh3+ 40. Nf3 Nd6 41. Ke2 Kf8 42. Ng1 Rh1 43. Kf3 a5 44. bxa5 bxa5 45. Kg2 Rh4 46. Ne2 Kf7 47. Kg3 Rah8 48. Kf3 Kg6 49. Rb1 Nc4 50. Rb7 R4h7 51. Rxh7 Rxh7 52. Ng3 Rh4 53. Re2 Kf7 54. f5 exf5 55. Nxf5 Re4 56. Ne3 Nxe3 57. fxe3 {1.96/35}) 36... dxc4 37. Rxc4 Nd6 38. Rcc2 Ne4 39. Nd2 Nxg5+ {I actually forgot that I had a pawn there as I assumed he would pick it back up eventually & that is why I overlooked guarding it.} 40. Kf4 R8h5 41. Nf3 ({Stockfish 16:} 41. Nc4 Kc6 42. Re5 Rh1 43. g4 Nh3+ 44. Ke3 Rh6 45. gxf5 Re1+ 46. Kf3 Ng5+ 47. Kf4 Rg1 48. d5+ exd5 49. Ne3+ Kb5 50. Rxd5+ Ka4 51. Ra2+ Kb3 52. Rxa6 Nh3+ 53. Kf3 Rg8 54. Rd1 Kxb4 55. Raa1 Kb5 56. Rd5+ Kc6 57. Rc1+ Kb7 58. Rd7+ Ka6 59. Nd5 Ng5+ 60. Kf4 Rh4+ 61. Ke5 Re8+ 62. Ne7 Nf3+ 63. Kf6 Rh2 64. Rd5 Reh8 65. Ra1+ Kb7 66. Rd7+ Kb8 67. Ra2 R8h6+ 68. Ng6 {1.88/31}) 41... Nh3+ {I thought this was trying too hard to win & let me get my knight & rook into action vs. the Black king.} 42. Ke3 Rh1 43. Ne5+ Kd8 44. Rc6 Rd1 45. Rxb6 Ng5 46. Rxa6 Rb1 47. Ra7 {can't hurt to keep Black's king out of the action.} Rb3+ ({Even though he had under 2 minutes left, he saw through} 47... Rxb4 $4 48. Nc6+) 48. Nd3 Ne4 49. Rc2 Rh1 50. Ke2 ({Stockfish 16:} 50. Rcc7 Ra1 51. Ke2 Raa3 52. Rxa3 Rxa3 53. Rg7 Nc3+ 54. Kf1 Ra6 55. Rb7 Rd6 56. Nc5 Kc8 57. Re7 Kd8 58. Rxe6 Rxd4 59. Re3 Rc4 60. Re5 Rxb4 61. Kg2 Rb5 62. Rxf5 Ke7 63. f4 Nb1 64. g4 Nd2 65. Rd5 Rb2 66. Kg3 Kf7 67. f5 Rc2 68. Ne6 Ne4+ 69. Kf4 Nf6 70. Rd4 {3.50/41}) 50... Nc3+ 51. Ke3 ({Stockfish 16:} 51. Kf3 Nb5 52. Ra8+ Ke7 53. Kg2 Rbb1 54. Rc4 Rhd1 55. Ne5 Rdc1 56. Rxc1 Rxc1 57. d5 exd5 58. Ra5 Nc7 59. Kf3 Rc3+ 60. Ke2 Rc2+ 61. Ke1 Kd6 62. Nd3 Rc3 63. Kd2 Rc6 64. Ra7 Rb6 65. Ke3 Rb8 66. Ra1 Re8+ 67. Kf4 Rf8 68. Ra5 Ke6 69. b5 Rb8 70. Ra7 Kd6 71. Kxf5 Rf8+ 72. Kg4 Nxb5 73. Ra6+ Kc7 74. f4 Re8 75. Nb4 Kb7 76. Rg6 Nc3 77. Kf5 d4 78. Nd3 Ne2 79. Ne5 Rf8+ 80. Ke4 Rd8 81. g4 Nc3+ 82. Kd3 Nd1 83. f5 Nf2+ 84. Ke2 {2.14/54}) 51... Nd5+ 52. Ke2 Rxd3 53. Kxd3 Nxb4+ 54. Kd2 Nxc2 55. Kxc2 Rf1 {I cursed because this endgame is now theoretically drawn. I knew I had to force my opponent to prove drawing technique, however.} 56. Kd3 Rxf2 57. Ke3 Rf1 58. Ke2 Rg1 59. Kf2 Rd1 60. Ke3 Rg1 61. Kf4 Re1 62. Kf3 Re4 63. d5 {I like this idea of a pawn sacrifice, forcing the opponent to capture it less comfortably. Here it isolates his remaining pawns.} exd5 64. Rf7 Re5 65. Kf4 Re4+ 66. Kxf5 Re1 67. Ra7 d4 68. Ra4 {I remembered this trick from reading a Rook vs passed pawn position years ago. Here, his King being on the same file as the pawn hurts as a correct check can freeze the action.} Rd1 (68... d3 69. Rd4+ {just eats the pawn cleanly.}) 69. Ke4 d3 70. Rd4+ Ke7 71. Rxd3 Rf1 ({If he was really going to trade Rooks, this was a better time to do so, forcing me away from my pawn.} 71... Rxd3 72. Kxd3 Kf6 73. Ke4 Kg5 74. Kf3 Kf5 {and he has opposition}) 72. Rf3 Rxf3 73. Kxf3 {[#]} Kf6 $2 {this was an unfortunate misplay for my opponent with 10 or less seconds left.} ({My opponent was right in that he had opposition, but it wasn't the short opposition he calculated, it was the long one.} 73... Kf7 {long opposition draws as I can't make headway.} 74. Kf4 (74. Kg4 Kg6) 74... Kf6 75. Kg4 Kg6) 74. Kf4 {What follows is textbook way of winning King & Pawn vs King when you have the opposition.} Kg6 75. Kg4 Kh6 76. Kf5 Kg7 77. Kg5 Kf7 78. Kh6 Kf6 79. g4 Kf7 80. g5 Kg8 81. Kg6 Kh8 82. Kf7 Kh7 83. g6+ Kh8 84. g7+ Kh7 85. g8=Q+ Kh6 86. Qg6# 1-0

I played miniature Golf at New Orleans City Putt.  On the New Orleans Golf Course Portion, each hole had a street name & a brief history, along with a few statues.  I didn't like the instagram post cropping my pictures, so here are some pictures:

I used this street to go to the restaurant I ate a po boy at

Street of the World War II Museum

Someone offered to take a non-selfie picture while waiting for the next mini golf hole, so why not?

I used this street to travel to the Tournament

Purely for pronunciation fun.

I came back for the Lecture which was promised before Round 5 on Sunday.  It was advertised as a lecture centering on Paul Morphy, but it ended up being a lecture on the New Orleans Chess Scene.  The lecture was choppy.  While the facts were there, I don't think the presenter did as good a job as he could have.

Round 5 was awful, & ended up knocking me out of prize contention.  All I will say is I will never combine 1. ... e5 & 2. ...b6 versus the English again.

I rebounded nicely in Round 6.

[Event "New Orleans Open"] [Site "New Orleans"] [Date "2024.03.24"] [Round "6"] [White "Chen, Kevin E."] [Black "Small, James T."] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "C66"] [WhiteElo "1824"] [BlackElo "1400"] [Annotator "Chen, Kevin E."] [PlyCount "69"] [EventDate "2024.03.23"] [EventType "swiss (rapid)"] [EventRounds "6"] [EventCountry "USA"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 d6 4. O-O Bd7 5. c3 a6 6. Ba4 Nf6 7. Re1 h5 {I didn't think this was right, but I didn't do enough to punish it initially, it seems.} 8. d4 Nh7 $2 (8... Be7 9. Bxc6 Bxc6 10. dxe5 dxe5 11. Qxd8+ Rxd8 12. Nxe5 Bxe4) 9. Bxc6 Bxc6 10. dxe5 g5 {he's all-in going for a kingside attack.} 11. exd6 Bxd6 12. e5 Be7 13. Qe2 Qd7 14. Nbd2 O-O-O 15. Ne4 g4 16. Nd4 Bd5 17. Bf4 Nf8 18. Rad1 Ng6 19. Qe3 h4 20. f3 Nxf4 21. Qxf4 Rdg8 22. Nf5 gxf3 23. Qxf3 Qe6 $4 {[#]} (23... Bxe4 24. Rxe4 Bc5+ 25. Kh1) 24. Rxd5 $1 Kb8 (24... Qxd5 $4 25. Nxe7+) 25. Nxe7 Qxe7 26. Nf6 Rg7 27. Red1 h3 28. g3 Qe6 29. Rd8+ Rxd8 30. Rxd8+ Ka7 31. Qe3+ b6 (31... Qb6 {was the best move but survival chances down a knight & a pawn are very slim for my opponent}) 32. Qe4 c6 (32... Qxa2 33. Ra8#) 33. Qd4 a5 (33... Qxa2 34. Qd7#) 34. a4 c5 35. Qe4 {mate is now inevitable. USCF Rated Win #500.} 1-0

Bonus about my Round 6 win was that USCF told me it was my 500th Rated Win.  Yay!

I missed out on winning prize money.  They advertised only the top spot in each section getting money.  Sadly, two U2000 Players reached 5 points, so my 4.5 points did not get anything.  (The tournament organizers calculated the tiebreaks two different ways & came up with the same result.) As far as I am concerned, my bad first two moves in Round 5 cost me the prize money.  Still, I had a lot of fun & I played a lot better overall.

I will give Louis Armstrong Airport (MSY) two serious downgrades. The security line organization was nonexistent - I wasted 10 minutes in the non-TSA Precheck Line.  Heck, even Newark (EWR) pre-airport upgrades had better security line organization.  Also, really Auntie Anne's personnel near Gate C4??  I wanted to buy pepperoni pretzel for lunch (I already ate breakfast) at 5:22 am, & you wouldn't sell me one until 6am??  That is bad business practice man.  I couldn't wait because my boarding time was before that, & at a different gate on the other side of the airport.  MSY, I can officially crown you as the worst airport I have ever been in so far.

I won't let that dim my trip memories, as overall this trip was still a big success.  I will see you later in another state!  We can now end our recap of State No. 37.

State No. 36 - Hawaii

I had ideas of what I wanted to do in Hawaii & play on this trip, but execution on this trip was one of the worst all time.

I looked back in my chess career & noticed I have played four events in the week between Christmas & New Year's.  2007 Quad in Somerset, 2008 Quad in Somerset, 2011 NYC 5 Round Tournament (Took a bye during one of the original six rounds), & 2013 NYC 6 Round Tournament.  Total Record, 2 Wins, 9 Draws, 6 Losses.

My event end of year struggles continued to Hawaii, where I blew at least 3 games when I had the advantage in the main event (at least one of which I was outright winning) & followed it up with two games in the blitz where I repeated said meltdowns.

I was the low person in the field, so I had a full point bye in the first round as there were an odd number of players in my section for that round.  I was assigned an extra rated game against another odd player from a lower section.  I lost that game but figured, well, better get the bad play out now than later.  

I lost the second round after successfully surrounding a pawn, but didn't realize I didn't have to interpose on the Queen check.  After missing my chance to win that pawn, said pawn successfully cracks open my position & I stumble into a mating net.

The position in Round 2 After 27. Rd5 Qb1+, when I played 28. Rd1 by mistake

After blundering into a quick mating attack in Round 3, I finally played fairly well in the late ending to win in Round 4.  This time, instead of my patented Knight vs Bishop endings, it is a Queen ending for your enjoyment!

After Round 4, I thought maybe I had a chance to salvage things as I got a big advantage in Round 5, but then I let that slip to a quick tactic & eventually lost.

You can see both games below.

The tournament format was nicely setup, one of my favorites in my career.  Joe Hanley (Hanley Chess Academy) organized the tournament into 3 main event days & 1 day for the side events.  It went Thursday 12/28 Rounds 1 & 2 10am & 4pm, Friday 12/29 Rounds 3 & 4 10am & 4pm, Saturday 12/30 Rounds 5 & 6 10am & 4pm, & Sunday Action 9:30am Blitz 1:30pm & Quick (I think 4pm) events.  

With the time control of G/90 +:30 Increment, there was too much time in between the two rounds, which some of us players not from Hawaii commented to Joe.  I did however like the fact that we didn't start too early & the times were the same for each day of the main event.  I personally would have liked Rounds 10am & 3pm or even 9am & 2pm.

The strangeness of the field in the Over 1800 Section was, there were no 2000 or higher players.  I can't recall very many open sections or top sections I ever played in before not having an expert or higher during the tournament (the only one coming to mind was North Dakota).  This, however, resulted in exciting games, even if I was on the wrong end of 2-3 of them.  TD Damien Nash ran the Main Event Sections well. If I have a chance to go back & play in this tournament, I probably would.  

I have dressed up loosely in cosplay for every chess tournament I participated in since the 2019 A Video Game Con 's last main convention event.  I plan on doing so until they come back with their main event or I find out they are done.

Hint Toad - Day 1 Main Event

Fire Luigi Alternate - Blitz Event

Here are the #fiftystatesofchess maps, with Hawaii being the third biggest negative differential state (-4) in my career (New York -17 & Pennsylvania -24 are the top 2 in this category).  This record only considers games where notation is required.  I'm going to have to add this note in at some point on the maps, & at some point, I hope to reverse these negatives into positives.

I still made friends amongst a few chess players on this trip, & I hope to see them again soon!

Now we get to the non-chess parts of the trip

For the second trip in a row (see State No. 35 Oregon + Bonus Trip), I was sick.  Someone around me got sick, & I ended up sick on the trip because of that & eating something bad on the airplane.  So my exploration game was a bit off.

On the plane about to enter Hawaii, there's a survey that everyone has to take to certify that they're not bringing in certain foods or plants into Hawaii.  It wasn't a bad or long survey, but it did get my attention as I had never heard of this before & wondered if this was similar to the rule about never speaking of that Brad Pitt Movie.

I dropped in at Crossfit Oahu.  The coach who greeted me was in the middle of coaching the 4pm class & would eventually coach the 5pm class.  I ended up doing bar dips for the first time so that was exciting, but I did struggle with turkish getups.  The facility was nice & the coach was good with adjustments, but I think the coach who led the 6pm class was better.

Wednesday Plan Fail + Pre-Tournament Call Hijinks

I did go to Pearl Harbor Wednesday morning.  Out of all the historical sites I have visited in my life, this is one of the top sites for being covered in school.  Still, there was still lots & lots of things I didn't know, and this was still a very eye-opening trip.  I did take a few pictures & those pictures can be seen in the link below.

Pearl Harbor Pictures I took

I went to Bishop Museum after that.  I was told by an outdated reference that there was a daily Hula show there, but there was none that I found.  I did enjoy going through the museum though & learning about the past & present for Hawaii, so I still recommend going.

Bishop Museum Pictures I took

Afterward, I ate dinner at Hula Grill Waikiki (one level above Duke's Waikiki) & this was the Sunset I was lucky enough to be able to see.

There was a pre-tournament zoom call I forgot I wanted to partake in, so I called in while I walked back to the hotel.  I dropped by a convenience store on my way back to the hotel while taking part of the zoom call, & I made the mistake of trying to cover the volume with my ear in line while my camera was still active.  The host was nice enough to point out that they had a closeup of my ear lol.

On Thursday - Saturday - I ate at a lot of local places, but the walk to the tournament (from my hotel to the Neil S. Blaisdell Center) did not feel like a Hawaii vacation. I felt like I was just in some random city that happened to be close to water.  I also had a hotel snafu where I saw a bug in an unusual place, killed it, & dumped the bugged towel outside my room on Wednesday night.  I called the front desk & they said that they would advance the housekeeping & clean my room to prevent occurrence.  I came back the next night & they did not do so.  A different hotel worker saw the note & wouldn't grant the advanced housekeeping request (they don't clean until the 4th day).  So, if I ever return to Hawaii, I know never to book at that hotel again.  (Which is sad because this is the first hotel in a long time that served breakfast that I ate at & didn't get me sick)

On Sunday morning, after the final round of the main event, I attempted to hike up one of the trails to catch a sunrise.  I was late, & unfortunately, I got sick again.  I only made it up to an unmarked viewing spot before deciding after about 20 minutes I could go no further.

I went to the Ala Moana Center & found the stage that they do a Daily Hula Show at 5pm. 

Unfortunately, I missed my chance to see it as I opted to go to a Luau show at the Aloha Tower that night after the Blitz Event.

These are a few pictures I took before the Luau show started.

I liked the show, but the details around were disappointing - the buffet closed early, the drink menu for the drink tickets was limited.  I was hungry afterward & had to go search for additional food later.

Monday - Since my flight was an afternoon flight, I killed a little bit of time at Tropics Mini Golf.  (See pictures below.

Tropics Mini Golf Pictures

At select holes, there's a wheel that you can spin to determine how you &/or your opponents are affected.  This seems like the type of mini golf course you play with friends or fun characters like Bugs Bunny.

I went back to the Ala Moana Center for lunch & then picked up my bags at the hotel & took off for the airport, where your bags have to through a USDA checkpoint to ensure you're not bringing banned fruits/plants/etc. prior to going to the mainland.

That concludes State No. 36 for me.  I probably could have enjoyed this trip more & played better, but it is what it is.  The next blog entry is anticipated to be in an NFC South location, unless something changes that I cannot forsee at the moment.

State No. 35 - Oregon + Bonus Trip

First off, I want to apologize for the long delay. Usually I try to post within a week of my trip ending, but a perfect storm of many things hit, & I am not able to post until now.

This was an unusual trip.  Usually, most of my trips center around a state & a chess tournament, or two state s& two chess tournaments.  However, I wasn't able to find a tournament in Washington the week before or after the Oregon Open.  So, I decided to bookend the trip by visiting Mushroom Kingdom related places.  

I ended up going to Seattle first, did the Space Needle on Thursday, a Top Chef Restaurant Thursday Night, & the video game convention PAX West, & Nintendo Live.  I then drove down from PAX West directly to Portland to play in the Oregon Open. I spent a little time in & around Portland on Tuesday, then hopped on a Southwest flight Portland to Burbank.  I finished the trip with most of two days at Super Nintendo World in Universal Studios Hollywood before flying home.

If you wish to skip down to the actual Oregon/Chess Stuff, feel free to do so.  Otherwise, just enjoy the ride.

Trip Part 1 - Seattle

So, I touched down in Seattle on August 31 roughly 10:00 - 10:15 am local time (which is Pacific Time Zone), & I drove up north to the Space Needle.  I thought it was ridiculous of me to schedule an 11:45 am space needle visit since it was "only" 30 minutes driving north of Sea-Tac Airport, but there was a LOT of traffic around the airport.  It took me over 30 minutes mostly standing in line to get to a shuttle bus to go to the rental car counter, & then it took another 30 minutes to exit the rental car parking garage.  An accident had blocked the exit passageway & reduced traffic to one lane.  I began having some flashbacks to the Houston night traffic that I saw.

Traveling Note: Parking Garages in Downtown Seattle are expensive.  Look before you leap.  Street parking is there, but limited.  Have fun with that.

I made my way up to the Space Needle, & it was fun to look around the city from up high, as well as learn things about the construction of the Space Needle while waiting in line.  I took some videos & photos from the top & posted them on the following instagram links:

Daytime Views from the Space Needle

View of the Amazon HQ Office, according to the Space Needle

I did take some additional photos that the Space Needle sent to me via email, but I have not yet shared them yet, so you get to see it first here:

Basically, there were picture taking spots where they would impose you on the image.  Didn't have to pay, so I thought it would be cool to grab some.

After the Space Needle, I eventually made my way to Riot Athletics, where I ran into Cardio Thursdays, similar to Cardio Thursdays at home at CrossFit TreeHouse.

Visit to Riot Athletics

Pretty difficult workout, as rowing is my best of the four machines, but I gave it my best.  Fun coach & good classmates there.

I ended up going to a place called Kobo Pizza.  The restaurant is owned by Top Chef finalist Shota Nakajima, who I was really fond of during his season of Top Chef.  It's a small restaurant inside the Redhook Brewlab, so of course I felt nervous about being a dry twit (dry in this case meaning I don't drink alcohol) entering an alcoholic place, but I eventually found it.  I had some difficulty with the ordering system.  So, how the ordering system works, is you're supposed to read the QR code off the table stand into your phone, & you access the menu that way.  The computer stand near by was supposed to be for takeout orders only.  But the QR code wasn't working on my phone, so I just indicated to the staff that my order was for here rather than to go.

I ended up sitting at a table occupied by a woman who was visiting Seattle for work, but from Portland.  It ended up being a fun conversation over dinner.  (Even more fun than the random lunch conversation in Chicago where the woman I talked to joked about diets before revealing she is a dietician from Las Vegas if you remember that.)  She was able to give me suggestions for places to do & things to eat in Portland, & I think I ended up taking her advice on at least one of them.

I never posted a picture of my pizza, mainly because I forgot to take one, but I had the Kimchi Pineapple Pie, which was really good.  (Side note, if anyone tells you pineapple doesn't belong on pizza, that's fine - give me that person's pineapple pizza lol.).

Friday, September 1 - Nintendo Live

So I had a one-day ticket to PAX West & was lucky enough to be selected to go to Nintendo Live.  

Nintendo Live Pictures 1

Nintendo Live Pictures 2

It was really huge, & I got to do lots of stuff, including try out Super Mario Bros. Wonder.  It was kind of funny that I as Fire Luigi picked Daisy as my character for the 15-minute trial period, but I am sure my character's girlfriend (Yes I ship Daisy & Luigi, & there is canon evidence to boot of their relationship if you look through the video games & the dialogue) would approve as this will be the 4th time I get to main Daisy (Mario Kart Double Dash, Super Mario Party, Mario Golf Super Rush).  

I believe I uploaded to my instagram page the PAX West 2023 Stories, which included a few funny videos I got to do.  I don't know how to link directly to the story collection, but if you can find my instagram page (thekecmaster), you should see it.

My only regrets were I could have spent more time at Nintendo Live (only an hour), & the line for the pop up shop was already an hour & 15 minutes.  It was still better than when my friends made it to Nintendo Live on Monday of that weekend as the pop up store line was 3 hours & the items I would have liked for them to buy were apparently gone.  I wrote a note to myself to maximize my next trip to the Mushroom Kingdom as much as possible.

I rejoined my friends to continue walking around the rest of PAX West, & I gotta say, the event is so huge that we walked to different buildings.  There were a couple of things that bothered me before I left: 1) We saw all of 1 person cosplaying Mario.  Heck, we saw more Warios, Waluigis, Boosettes, & Toads, than we did of Mario!! 2) I didn't appear to find the video game fan artists I was expecting.  I brought a binder with me on the trip expecting to purchase video game fan art, but didn't find any!  Ah well, there's always another convention I can do so at.

This was my haul from Nintendo Live.

Trip - Part 2 - Foxy Cafe, Tacoma, Washington

I left PAX West just after 4pm & started driving down to Portland from Seattle.  I figured that I would visit a bikini cafe /restaurant on my way down, since it makes no sense that I visited a bikini coffee shop in Arizona & none in Seattle where the craze seems to have started.  I ended up going to Foxy Lady Bikini Bar.  Nothing special, although I forgot to change out of my Fire Luigi costume.  I did consent to a few pictures being taken there, so if you see a picture of Fire Luigi at Foxy Lady Bikini Bar...that might have been me.

Additional problem was the overalls got extra smell from smokers outside & some idiot throwing up less than 20 feet near me.

Trip - Part 3 - Portland, Oregon

I continue the drive, & as I get to Portland, I call up the Hotel asking about Parking.  They said that Valet Parking was 57 dollars a night (or whatever the amount was, I just know it began with a 5) & do not park in the parking garage behind them as that a car was just stolen the night before.  I knew people before the trip told me Portland was bad, but when you have a hotel tell you where not to park because of a carjacking, that can't be a good sign.

By the way, the Moxy, where I stayed at, is a bar first & then a hotel.  The bar doubles as the check in point.  I walked right by the hotel before realizing this.  Oops.  Now, I am still dressed up as Fire Luigi, having made the decision to drop my stuff off on the 11th floor (thank you for giving me a high room or bar noises may have kept me awake), I decide to get my signature fake drink, ginger ale with no ice & an orange slice.

Some random woman flags me over...& I wish I had ignored her.  After commenting on the Luigi getup for a little bit, she starts talking so explicitly that even porn stars & other adult entertainers would be blushing.  I didn't even bother the getting to know the name stage, though I do feel bad for her friend, who was thoroughly horrified.  I just looked at my drink & did not finish it, fearing that there was something in it.

Saturday, Sept. 2

I woke up sick - I started coughing quite a bit.  I took a quick detour before the first round to a random CVS & bought some COVID-19 tests.  Thankfully, it was negative, so I could play.  (By the way, getting sick on vacation is no fun - how are you supposed to vacation?  You should be getting sick while working, because you can now work from home in some industries.)  I didn't play great, but I managed two draws in my first two rounds.  The Chief TD held a players-only reminder of the rules, etc. 15 minutes before the start of Round 1.  He was explicit & clear, & I felt he would be a good chief tournament director, unlike the person at the 2022 NJ Open who shall remain nameless.  We did not have any round start more than 10 minutes late, & we did not have to skip an entire round. (Yes, both of those happened in 2022 at the NJ Open - a 4.5 hour delay for Round 1 on Saturday.  Thank goodness I opted to play the two-day schedule last year.)

As I was walking to dinner, I did see a funny sign that I had to take a picture of

They named the app for parking a Parking Kitty App in Portland!  That is cute & awesome at the same time.  It's just unfortunate that there was some extra graffiti applied to this sign, but man, I know cats & cat lovers out there would love this, as well as any culture that worships cats.

I walked around to one of the places my unexpected dinner partner (by the way, not a date) at Kobo recommended: Jojo, where I ended up getting the Fried Chicken Melt sans Ranch & a non-alcoholic Ginger beer.  I loved how the recommendation worked out - fantastic.  I then stopped by the Cookie Dough Cafe on my way back to have Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough with Oreo Pieces on top!.

On my way back to the Moxy, Ms. explicit drunk woman wasn't there, so I felt very relieved.  There was a much more attractive woman wearing pink pants, but as she was working the bar/concierge desk, I knew better than to flirt with her.  (There is a reason I bring her up & it will come up later.)

Just before Round 3, the Chief TD indicated that they raised prized by 50% due to bigger turnout than expected.  Here was a picture of the updated prizes:

On Sunday, I played a game that my opponent kind of made easy for me, winning in 31 moves due to bad piece placement on her part. (Apologies for not using Stockfish - I haven't installed it on my new machine yet.)

[Event "Oregon Open"] [Site "Portland"] [Date "2023.09.03"] [Round "3"] [White "Chen, Kevin E."] [Black "Li, Emma Shurong"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "C68"] [WhiteElo "1800"] [BlackElo "1519"] [Annotator "Chen, Kevin E."] [PlyCount "65"] [EventDate "2023.09.02"] [EventType "swiss"] [EventRounds "6"] [EventCountry "USA"] [SourceVersionDate "2023.01.07"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Bxc6 {This is probably one of my favorite variations, where I try to put my Knight to work against the opposing Bishop & work an eventual 4-on-3 kingside majority.} dxc6 5. O-O Bd6 (5... Bg4 6. h3 h5 {is the variation that gives Black a lot of chances.}) 6. d4 Qe7 7. dxe5 Bxe5 8. Nxe5 {Might as well get rid of one of the two Bishops.} Qxe5 9. Nc3 Nf6 10. Qe2 O-O 11. h3 b5 12. a3 Bb7 13. f4 Qe7 14. e5 Nd5 15. Ne4 {I did not want to play opposite color Bishops.} Rfe8 16. Re1 Rad8 (16... c5 17. Be3 Nxe3 18. Qxe3 c4 {was probably better, keeping lines of communication for his Bishop's long diagonal open.}) 17. Be3 {to take the c5-square & restrict his Bishop.} Nxe3 18. Qxe3 Rd5 19. b4 Red8 20. Nc5 Bc8 21. Re2 a5 22. c3 a4 23. Rae1 h5 24. Qf2 Bf5 25. e6 Rd1 (25... fxe6 26. Nxe6 Bxe6 27. Rxe6 {activates my Rook}) (25... Bxe6 26. f5 {wins a piece}) 26. exf7+ Qxf7 27. Rxd1 Rxd1+ 28. Re1 Rxe1+ 29. Qxe1 {I thought an ending with Queen & Knight vs Queen & Bishop would be better than Rook & Knight vs Rook & Bishop. But if all the heavies come off safely, I feel like I can win pretty easily.} g6 (29... Qa2 $4 30. Qe8+ Kh7 31. Qxh5+ Kg8 32. Qxf5) 30. Qe5 {[#]} Bc8 $4 {this undoes some protections & sets up some targets} ({Deep Fritz 14 x64: 1)} 30... Qd5 31. Na6 Qxe5 32. fxe5 Kf7 33. Nc5 g5 34. Kf2 Ke7 35. Kf3 Bc8 36. Ke4 h4 37. Kd4 Be6 38. Ke4 Bd5+ 39. Kf5 Bxg2 40. Kxg5 Bxh3 41. Kxh4 Bc8 42. Kg5 Kf7 43. Kf4 Kg6 44. Ke3 Kf7 45. Ne4 Ke7 46. Kd4 {0.34/26}) ({Deep Fritz 14 x64: 2)} 30... Qa2 31. Qe8+ Kg7 32. Qxc6 Qxa3 33. Qxc7+ Kg8 34. Qd8+ Kg7 {0.55/25}) 31. Qe4 {three targets (c6-e6-g6) Black's Queen can't defend them all} Qf6 32. Qe8+ Qf8 33. Qxg6+ 1-0

In the end, either her Bishop falls or her pawns on the Kingside get wiped out.

At some point in the early stage of Round 3, there were a few disturbances from the open section where supposedly there was a homeless man in the room & someone throwing water in to the air & hitting players.  I don't know the full story, but I definitely heard things.  Also, someone started kept stealing the extra results posting sheet the TDs posted.  Let's back up - The TDs posted one pairing/result sheet on the wall between the U2000 & the Open, & another pairing/result sheet on the table in front of the Open Section. I think it was a mistake for the TDs to let players post the results on the table sheet, as going forward there was always missing results.  The Chief instructed players to write results on both pairing/result locations, but that was definitely not done & that paper pairing/results sheet on the table was always stolen in each and every round after!

By the way, I ate at Denny's in between Rounds 3 & 4.  Another sign that you are in a bad place - there are signs telling customers not to bring backpacks into the bathroom.  I can tell you I have never seen that sign anywhere that I can recall ever being in, like New York, Newark, Cream Cheese City, Houston, Atlanta, Charlotte.  It's probably a sign that people are going into the restrooms to do drugs, but man that was unsettling to see.

I played better in Round 4 as well, but I misplayed a situation & ended up having to take a draw.  I'm still kicking myself for not grabbing the exchange, but I thought that his Bishop at the time was more dangerous than the Rook.  I'll show the position only down below.

R4 Bhaskaran-Chen After 24. Be4

That night, I noticed that my room, while it had a rotary phone, had a special button - Press Here for bedroom stories.

I was curious as to what bedroom stories would be told, so I decided to press this button.  Miss Pink Pants (I recognized her voice from a previous night, just never knew her name) answered the phone & informed me that yeah, the button simply calls down to the concierge desk.  No actual stories told.  That button was for a prior time.  Yeah, I was blushing when I apologized for that unnecessary call the next morning.

On Monday, I lost a heartbreaker in Round 5, which took me out of the prize money, but at least I finished Round 6 with a win, closing out the tournament with a winning record.

[Event "Oregon Open"] [Site "Portland"] [Date "2023.09.04"] [Round "6"] [White "Iyengar, Varun Venkat"] [Black "Chen, Kevin E."] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "D02"] [WhiteElo "1565"] [BlackElo "1800"] [Annotator "Chen, Kevin E."] [PlyCount "148"] [EventDate "2023.09.02"] [EventType "swiss"] [EventRounds "6"] [EventCountry "USA"] [SourceVersionDate "2023.01.07"] 1. d4 Nf6 2. Nc3 d5 3. Bf4 Bf5 4. e3 e6 5. Nf3 Bd6 6. Ne5 a6 7. Bd3 {With this Bishop trade the Knight on e5 has less power.} Bxd3 8. cxd3 c5 9. dxc5 Bxc5 10. d4 Bd6 11. O-O O-O 12. Rc1 Qe7 13. h3 Nbd7 14. Qf3 h6 15. Rfd1 Rac8 16. a3 Rc7 17. Ra1 Rfc8 18. Rd2 Nb6 19. Rad1 {[#]} Nc4 {I didn't realize I could take on a3 right away.} ({Deep Fritz 14 x64:} 19... Bxa3 20. Ng4 (20. Ng6 fxg6 21. Bxc7 Rxc7 22. bxa3 Rxc3) 20... Rc6 21. Nxf6+ Qxf6 22. Nxd5 Nxd5 23. bxa3 b5 24. Qg4 Nxf4 25. exf4 Rd6 26. Qf3 Rd5 27. Rd3 Rc4 28. Qe3 Qd8 29. Qe4 Qd6 30. R1d2 Rf5 31. Qa8+ Kh7 32. g3 Rc1+ 33. Kg2 Qd5+ 34. Qxd5 Rxd5 {-0.94/22}) 20. Nxc4 Rxc4 21. Bxd6 Qxd6 22. e4 Qc6 ({Deep Fritz 14 x64:} 22... Rxc3 23. bxc3 Nxe4 24. Rd3 Qb6 25. Re3 Qa5 26. Rxe4 dxe4 27. Qxe4 b5 28. Qb7 Rc7 29. Qa8+ Kh7 30. d5 exd5 31. Qxd5 Qxa3 32. Qf5+ g6 33. Qf6 Qxc3 34. Qxa6 Qe5 35. Qa1 Qxa1 36. Rxa1 b4 37. Rb1 Rc4 38. Kf1 {-1.08/25}) 23. e5 Ne4 24. Nxe4 {offered draw here} dxe4 25. Qe3 Rc1 26. Kh2 Rxd1 27. Rxd1 Qd5 28. Rd2 Rc4 29. Kg1 a5 30. Kh2 a4 31. Kg1 {offered another draw here} b5 32. Kh2 Kh7 33. Kg1 g5 ({Deep Fritz 14 x64:} 33... b4 34. f3 exf3 35. gxf3 Kg8 36. Kf2 b3 37. Qe4 {-0.94/25}) 34. Kh2 b4 35. axb4 Rxb4 36. Qc3 Rc4 37. Qe3 Kg6 38. h4 f6 39. h5+ Kg7 (39... Kxh5 40. exf6 Kg6 41. Qh3 {was something specific I did not know how to handle.} Qf5 { is given by the machine, but the Rook ending isn't as easy as the computer makes it out to be.}) 40. g3 {this kid kept offering draws!!} f5 41. Qa3 Kf7 42. Qe3 Ke8 43. Rd1 Rc2 44. Rd2 Qb3 45. Rxc2 (45. Qxb3 axb3 46. Rxc2 (46. Rd1 Rxf2+ 47. Kg1 Rxb2) 46... bxc2 {would have been a very fun way to win this game }) 45... Qxc2 46. d5 exd5 47. e6 {[#] I cursed, as I realized I would have to let him take the a-pawn so I can stop mate} Qc6 48. Qd4 Qxe6 49. Qxa4+ Ke7 ( 49... Kf7 {Notation error...I wrote Kf7 in my scoresheet but that didn't make sense later.}) 50. Qd4 f4 51. gxf4 gxf4 52. Qg7+ Kd6 {[#] Plan: eat the h5-pawn, then work the middle pawns.} 53. Qf8+ Ke5 54. Qb8+ Qd6 55. Qh8+ Kf5 56. Qh7+ Kg5 57. Qg7+ Kxh5 58. b4 d4 59. Qf7+ Kg5 60. Qg7+ Kf5 61. Qf7+ Ke5 62. Qh5+ Ke6 63. Qxh6+ Kd5 64. Qg5+ Kc4 65. Qf5 f3+ 66. Kh3 Qd5 67. Qf8 d3 {[#]} 68. Qc8+ {I knew to keep checking me to stop playing the d-pawn, the b-pawn would have to be given up} Kxb4 69. Qc1 d2 70. Qd1 Qh5+ 71. Kg3 Qg5+ 72. Kh3 Qg2+ 73. Kh4 Qxf2+ 74. Kg5 Qe1 0-1

I went to Multnomah Falls on Tuesday (Sept. 5).  It was a really nice hike to reach the top of the waterfall.  I had a hard time taking pictures up top (heights), but I managed a few extra ones I never posted before, so here you go.

From the Parking Lot

Near the bottom of the trail

Near the top of the falls

.

Back view at the top

The top of the falls

Looking out over the Columbia River

After a quick stop for lunch, I went back to the heart of downtown to go inside Powell's City of Books.  It is a fascinating place, with aisles color coded & such.  I regret timewise that I only had about half an hour to spend before I needed to get to the airport (& pick up a replacement Nintendo Switch charger, my first lost fumble of the trip, along the way to PDX), but I did manage to pick up four or five books so, I guess there's that.

States I have played in - updated 2023.09.23

Win-Loss State Map - Updated 2023.09.23

Combined Playing & Results Map - Updated 2023.09.23

And with the Chess Maps put up, that officially ends #StateNo35 for #fiftystatesofchess, but if you wish to hear the rest of the trip, read on.

Trip - Part 4 - Burbank

After flying in to Burbank, I tried to call up my hotel to double check if they had a shuttle bus from Burbank airport to the hotel.  Unfortunately, the powers of my traveling bad luck decided to strike at that exact point as the phones were out for roughly 15 minutes at the hotel.  Hearing no pickups within the 5-7 minutes, I called a lyft instead.  When I got to the hotel, they apologized for the communication issue & comped me a pair of water bottles & some snacks, which made up for it.

On Wednesday, September 6, I left the hotel early dressed in my blue Toad Reverse color hat, Super Mario blue shirt, & Super Mario zipper sweater from CrossFit Treehouse (Thanks everyone!) with my blue Toad normal hat as a spare. I got to Universal Hollywood at 7:15 expecting to join a line, but instead I was near the front!  It turns out that the hours I read in trip preparation must have been the summer hours & that the park (now in Fall Hours) wouldn't open for early access to Super Nintendo World until 9am. I just asked security if I could wait by the scanning machines & they said sure.  At 7:30 they started letting people go through the scanning machines, & you can now take selfies by the Universal Studios globe they set up (pictured below) while waiting for the park to open.

Interestingly, they started making announcements & stuff, & they finally opened the park at 8:30am to the early access entrants.  (I played Mario Kart Tour on the mobile phone for most of that time while waiting.)  It does take a while to talk down to Super Nintendo World, so they have staggered points - walk to a point, stop, then walk to another point, stop, etc.  

You finally get close, & you realize you have reached your destination when you hear the music just before walking through the pipe that takes you in.  

Lots of people went straight to the Bowser's Mario Kart Challenge as that line tended to be the longest.  I veered left & grabbed a Power Up Band, a colorful watch-like device that keeps track of your actions in the park.  So every time you punched a block, or did some other recordable action, you would accumulate points & keys (hopefully) toward a score.  One of the games needs three keys to unlock, but you can get a key in more than 3 ways at a time.  I think if you do it right you can at least 5 keys going through everything one round at a time.  Each of those games, assuming the same wristband starts the game, gets harder as you win at it.

I selected a Toad Power-up Band, as I cosplay Toad the most often, I use Toad the most where speed matters (Super Mario Brothers 2, Super Mario Run), & I have the most Toad Hats (at least 16).  They do have Power-Up Bands for Mario, Luigi, Peach, Daisy, & Yoshi.  Once you select your band & do the configuration, you join that character's team.  

The eyes on the end just get me lol.

Here are a few screenshot pics from the app:

Some Stamps are repeatable

Map to help you find things you haven't done yet.  

I ended up repeating this all but once, & only because my left arm wasn't registering.

There are some stamps in the 131 I can never get, but that's okay.  I ended up getting 19 more on Thursday.

Thursday Mario Kart Ranking...how different it is when you learn where the fire buttons are lol.

I got really lucky to eat at Toadstool Cafe both days.  First two foods eaten on Wednesday.  Warning: Reserve quickly as they run out of room!

Yoshi's Favorite Fruit and Veggie Salad(VG)

Fire Flower Spaghetti & Meatballs

Toadstool Cheesy Garlic Knots(VG)

Mario Burger (Bacon, Mushroom & Cheese)

Princess Peach Cupcake(VG)

Hat wasn't edible, but the Crown was.

This is the selfie I meant to post online on the gram, but I selected the wrong one.

Needless to say, I had a lot of fun at Super Nintendo World.  I know there were things that didn't work, but overall I think they did a good job to cover the range of the Mario diehards & the Mario rookies.

From Thursday, when I wore the reversed color Toad hat!

One of the very few quips - You could play Where's Daisy & Where's Rosalina in this park.

Fire Mario Hat for kicks

I did also get to see the Studio Tour, though I only took pictures at the cars (See the last three pictures in the post), & Harry Potter World (first few pictures in the post), where I bought a Ravenclaw scarf.  I sadly lost my Ravenclaw hat, which annoys me.

I met up with my friend Hya over the break, & we ate at Lucifer's Pizza on Magnolia Boulevard on that Wednesday night.

Meat Lover's Pizza

And that concludes my trip!