Wheel of Fortune

Wren recently tried out for Wheel of Fortune and was accepted! We flew to LA for the big day! Destination: Culver City.

 Destination within destination: Wheel of Fortune!

 

We settled into our hotel (The Double Tree) the day before so had time to visit Sony Studios where Wren's taping will be.

 We took their 2 hour tour, and thought we didn't get to see the Wheel studio, we did get a sweet pfaux-to of what we might look like if we did win big on Wheel... maybe something like this!

Other things on the tour included the Wonder car from Will Ferrell's movie Talladaga Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby.

 Wren got his photo with this cute rig from 22 Jump Street.

 

A favorite for Wren was seeing the Jeopardy studio.

 I totally got to meet the real (cardboard cutout) of Alex Trebek!

And see the famous sheet music for the show

We bussed home to be ready for the big day!

Wren preparing his mug for national television.

Having his morning breakfast (buffet style, and comped by Wheel) in his "business" suite, yeah!

Off he goes with his back-up outfit and a bunch of other contestants!

I didn't get to see or talk to him until he was competing. I met two sweet ladies who I sat and cheered with. I saw 5 shows from noon to 5, with a short lunch break. Wren was the 4th group out of 5. It's such a nerve-wracking game to watch!

We wanted to take advantage of our time in LA so we went to dinner close to Venice Beach. They just happened to be starting trivia... it was perfect. We didn't win, but it was super fun!

The next day we were supposed to fly out, but we were on stand-by and the flight was totally full, so we booked another night and went into town to the Museum of Jurassic Technology. A suggestion from our friend Saxtor. It was super interesting.

The In and Out was a burger joint Wren had been excited to visit, so we had our lunch there.

 The whole trip was a blast. I got to meet Pat Sajak and Vana White! And the entire Wheel staff was super nice and helpful (especially this guy Tony who has been part of the Wheel crew for 30 years!). We always knew what to do as the audience and Wren said the staff really helped the contestants feel comfortable and have fun. No wonder Wheel of Fortune is known as "America's game".

See Wren's results on national TV Thursday, October 30th. Check local listings for the time... go Wren!