The Trip - Part 1

A couple weekends ago, The Unmentionable and I went on a weekend getaway to South Bend, Indiana.
Through work Unmentionable did, we became friends with a woman who works for the University of Notre Dame in the athletic department. Athletic dept. = free tickets to games. So this sweet friend of ours invites us down to stay with her in her home and attend a university football game. For those of you like me, this means a BIG DEAL to a man.

And it was a big deal.

Last year was the first weekend we did this. We were amazed at what a big deal "game day" is in the States. We are talking HUGE.

I cannot even explain to you the craziness that goes on for a game. A game that happens every other weekend. Every other weekend is a home game in this town and that means that 80,000 people descend upon the stadium to watch the game. Those are just the ones with tickets. There are still thousands of others that just come to the campus to be part of the festivities and the tail-gating.

Tail gating, my friends, is another culture entirely. A strange phenomenon that only happens in the parking lot of a sporting event. I have never witnessed anything like it.

And then there is the actual game. The cheerleaders, the marching band, the national anthem, the airforce jets flying over breaking the sound barrier just as the national anthem is finished.

It's incredible.

And squishy.

And uncomfortable.

Picture sitting a piece of wood with no back on it, the size of a 2x6 board, with 80,000 other people. Your spot on the "bench" is marked by a number. Your number is 4 inches from the next number, so that if you put your bum dead centre on your number, you have a total of eight inches of space before you touch your neighbour. My bum is bigger than 8 inches. Turns out most of the people attending the games have bums even bigger than mine.

But overall, its a cool thing to do.

This year we went again. We attended a hockey game on Friday night and then Unmentionable and sweet friend's boyfriend went to the football game on Saturday. I didn't need to go again. Turns out this is more of a man thing to do. I went shopping. Everyone was happy.

The weekend was so fun. Other than a football game on Saturday afternoon, Unmentionable and I spent loads of time hanging out, walking all over the beautiful campus of Notre Dame (this place is gorgeous!) and eating in different restaurants, just being together.

If you ever get a chance to go and see Notre Dame, it is worth the trip. The University in our home town is beautiful and about 30,000 students attend there. Notre Dame is gorgeous, well-maintained and filthy rich. Only 8,000 students attend there. And the facilities are incredible.

On the trip down, Unmentionable and I had the most enlightening conversation we'd had in ages. This is another post altogether because it was so interesting. It took a good portion of the trip and had us laughing hilariously and completely astonished that we had just discovered this pattern of behaviour in our lives despite that we have been married 14 years.

I'll leave you there, waiting, with bated-breath, for the next post where you discover just how strange and different two people can actually be.