Do you know the way to San Jose?

Hopefully that little earworm is making its happy little home in your head right now. It's been stuck in mine for months. Why? Because I made the decision early this year that I would attend the 2018 US Figure Skating National Championships hosted this year in San Jose, CA.

I know, you're confused. For over five years, this blog has been mainly mushing/Iditarod news and Alaska photography. I've not given up on my second favorite sport, I just haven't followed as I used to (thanks to NBC having the two worst commentators EVER on the mics these days). Niche sports are hard to follow, and others follow skating better, so I focus on mushing.

But! Instead of sitting on my butt all weekend refreshing the GPS tracker for the first race of the season in January, I'll be sitting in an arena hanging out with friends and cheering on the skaters trying to make Team USA. I haven't been to a championship (or any skating event) in ten years! I haven't seen some of my friends in ten years. I cannot WAIT for this trip!

While I'll really only be there for the senior skating events (the championship begins in December, but I just couldn't swing that), I'll be gone from January 1-13 (of course if I'm in California I've gotta visit Disney, too!). I'm working on itineraries and everything. I'm so out of the loop as to what these competitions are like. Waiting for the practice schedule to come out. Have we always had to wait this late for info?! Ugh!

But so far, here's what I have.

January 1, 2018
Drive up to Anchorage @ 8:00am

January 2, 2018
Fly out @ 6:45am
Land in Seattle @ 11:21am (10:21am AKST)
Leave Seattle @ 1:00pm (Noon AKST)
Land in San Jose @ 3:14pm (2:14pm AKST)

*Possibly attending the Junior Ladies Free Skate @ 7:15pm (6:15pm AKST)

January 3, 2018
Junior Men Free Skate @ 10:15am (9:15am AKST)
Senior Ladies Short Probram @ 6:00pm (5:00pm AKST)

January 4, 2018
Junior Free Dance @ 10:00am (9:00am AKST)
Senior Pairs Short Program @ 12:50pm (11:50am AKST)
Senior Men Short Program @ 5:30pm (4:30pm AKST)

January 5, 2018
Senior Ice Dance Short Dance @ 1:10pm (12:10pm AKST)
Senior Ladies Free Skate @ 3:45pm (2:45pm AKST)

January 6, 2018
Senior Pairs Free Skate @ 11:45am (10:45am AKST)
Senior Mens Free Skate @ 3:45pm (2:45pm AKST)

January 7, 2018
Senior Ice Dance Free Dance @ 12:30pm (11:30am AKST)

Fly out @ 7:07pm (6:06pm AKST)


My hotel is supposed to have wifi, so maybe I'll check in... but we all know I most likely won't blog much - so follow me on twitter for anything I might say about the competition (if you're so inclined).