Can You Call it a Rat Race When You're Chasing a Mouse?

Mickey Mouse that is.

I learned a lot about the All Star Game this year, getting to have it in my proverbial Southern California backyard. There's something fun about loving the city you live in, and loving baseball, and then watching the two come together in holy matrimony. And there's something special about knowing the best in baseball are all right there gathered in one place, with a town celebrating them from banners to fountains, to Mickey Mouses spread across 4 counties and all the cities that make them up. Like every All Star Game, (statue of liberties in New York, other monuments in other cities) the MLB adorned Mickeys were spread throughout, giving fans and tourists and girls who just like a good scavenger hunt the chance to explore new places, find delicious coffee ice cream, and put a lot of miles on their car.

There were 36 in all. 30 for the 30 teams. 1 for the American League. 1 for the National League. And 4 All Star Game themed 1,000 pound statues.

When the contest first originated, the locations were not disclosed. One would have to find it, tweet a photo, and become eligible to win a prize. I came upon the good fortune of others who found them, and put together a color coded, over analyzed list of my own. I won no prize, other than some photos, and quality time with the man I call mine.

I start via the nontraditional, with lessons. See when you agree to a scavenger hunt over 36 locations throughout southern California, one that should have for all practical purposes been spread through weeks, and you do so in 2 evenings after work and a Saturday afternoon, well you see, there are bound to be lessons. I start with the traditional, the number one.

Lesson one: My boyfriend and I, despite our ridiculously good looks and all attempts in opposition of this fact: are just like every other couple. We fight over directions.
Two: Two evenings and a Saturday afternoon, as I've alluded to by stating directly so, are inadequate amounts of time to drive over 500 miles in city traffic.
Three: My GPS was well worth the $70.00 and California sales tax, even though she was less than perfect and by the end we had moved to the mute mode.
Four: While you plan and make up lists and chart them on maps from north to south to closing times, and fill up on gas - when you get there, and you haven't charged your camera, it's all sort of a moot point.
Five: Signs indicating no touching, leaning, any contact really with the Mickey, are more like suggestions. Right?

I thought so.

But after $50 in gas, $60 in parking and toll fees and a bribe to a valet to watch the car while sprinting across a one way street, I saw them all. Oh I almost hit a seagull that flew in to my windshield, but he lived, so all is fine. Right?

I thought so.

Night one was dedicated to LA Mickeys. We started first in West Hollywood at a clothing store across from Pink's Hot Dogs because the website had it closing at 8:00. As it turns out we don't really know when it closed, because it certainly was not open when I broke most traffic laws to get there by 7:30. In any event besides some mocking by the neighboring business, we were able to photograph #1.

Moving east I had mapped 4 in and around Hollywood & Highland, including the Kansas City Royals at El Capitan. By the time we'd gotten there it had been removed days prior due to vandalism. Who hates the Kansas City Royals I asked? Kansas City Royals fans I was told.

We then moved farther east. Mind you we'd both worked all day, it's closing in on 10:00pm and we'd had our share of Hollywood crazies theorizing in a pizza parlor conspiracy theories. (I like a town that makes me look normal!) But we drove to downtown LA where we parked illegally at the Music Center and found the best Mickey of them all, the Dodger Mickey, went to Union Station and watched a movie being shot, and unsuccessfully attempted ESPN Zone at LA Live which had already closed. It was after 11:00, probably closer to midnight, when we drove from downtown LA to the Santa Monica pier, for the final one of night number one.

It made the most sense the following night to visit the ones around Disneyland - The Grove, The Stadium, The Convention Center, Hotels, City Hall, Downtown Disney, the like. Figuring most fans would be centered here, 13 were within reasonable driving, if not walking distance. I woke up with a "mickey" hangover the following morning, "no more mickeys!" I declared to my boyfriend, but we had to finish them Saturday before they were removed.

Saturday was a challenge. Even before starting our adventure, I'd driven 130 miles, with plans to drive to Bakersfield, CA the following day. One was put in Rancho Cucamonga, at Victoria Gardens, 60 miles roundtrip from Orange County, but it made the most logistical sense to hit it up first. The Nationals have Strasburg, and now Bryce Harper, and while I don't believe they deserved to be disrespected by President Obama and his White Sox hat as he threw the first pitch on opening day, I also do not believe they deserved their own Mickey a 60 mile roundtrip drive away. The Cubs was rightly placed at the Orange County zoo deep back in a Regional Park which had it not been for this whirlwind I doubt I ever would have discovered on my own. The next several were a fury of malls and promenades, a performing arts center, a trip up the coast, from Laguna to Fashion Island, to the Newport Sports Museum, and the Strand in Huntington Beach. It was rounding 10, and despite plans to take separate cars for logistical reasons I made the executive decision to knock out Long Beach, and the lone one left in LA at ESPN Zone LA Live. I secretly hated having to drive clear back to LA to one I'd previously been to, especially since it was the hated Yankees, but I was pitching a complete game here.

And with that I'd had them all. I had a brief, "what do I do now with my life moment," which I dealt with by asking Jeff "what do I do now with my life." You don't think I think things and not say them do you? But we shared a Mike's Hard Lemonade and a quarter of it drank, passed out full and proud of ourselves.

I wish I'd had more time to actually get to see the places they were placed, having been the point and all, but would spending several leisurely days visiting promenades and museums sound like me? Yeah not so much.

Now take everything I've just said and imagine it now in the reverse (because I loaded them all backwards).












































Location Listing Found Here: http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/events/all_star/y2010/index.jsp?content=disney