What a whirlwind weekend!! My parents took the train down from PA with a bunch of fellow Penn State fans and arrived on Friday afternoon. They had some minor hold-ups, delaying their arrival in Birmingham including having to be rerouted because a bridge was on fire and some lady got kicked off the train for having too much to drink! They finally arrived and we spent the afternoon relaxing and preparing for Saturday. I made an awesome "PSU football brownie" for the tailgate on Saturday. I was pretty impressed with the turnout, considering I am 100% NON-artistic (my cousin Sarah got all of those genes ;) 
Friday night we went to a Penn State Alumni Mixer held at the Wynfrey Hotel at the Galleria. There were so many Penn Staters there! They completely overflowed the room that was reserved for the event and filled up the whole lobby area that connected the mall to the hotel! 
They had the Blue Band (part of them), the cheerleaders, the dance team, and the President of Penn State getting everyone ready for the big day! We were hoping Joepa would make an appearance, but this was as close as we got: 
Saturday we woke up at the crack of dawn and loaded up the cars with people, food, coolers, chairs, tables, and equipment and headed for Tuscaloosa. We got there around 8 and set up shop next to a bunch of other Penn State tailgaters!
It was SO HOT and we were all sweating and miserable before 10 AM! We did what we had to do, and rigged up a UAB umbrella to some chairs and took turns sitting in the "shade." 
We took a walk into some nearby merchandise tents and that's where I met my favorite Alabama fan ;) 
Some "spirited" Penn Staters next to our tailgate had a "Group Jager shot/fight song singing" event every hour, on the hour. The first time they humoured our friend Leah by having her sing the Alabama fight song......and then cutting her off in the middle of it. She was a good sport! 
By this point in the day we had been brainstorming for a while on how we could magically get a tent to give us some shade. Tom and I decided that any amount of money was worth it and our wonderful friends Kelly, Stacy, & Marji stopped by Kmart and picked up a NAVY BLUE canopy tent on the way to our tailgate! Awesome! 
Stacy brought Casper along, but I don't think tailgating is really his thing. Although he did like trying to sneak up to the hot dogs and try to lick them claiming them to be his.
More hours passed and those crazy Penn State fans kept having their hourly singalong, and this time this guy showed up. Those Alabama fans sure are creative! (note sarcasm) Get it? Roll Tide?
Then THESE GUYS* showed up near our tailgate! So I had to snap a picture!
Later on in the afternoon, the sky started changing in the distance and before we knew it it was POURING down rain! At this point in the day we were very thankful for our tent!!
We spent the rest of the afternoon sitting under the tent trying to stay dry while waiting for kickoff. At least it cooled things off a little bit! 
Due to the festivities at our tailgate, we didn't quite make it over to check out College Game Day on the Quad, but we did get our picture with the bus on the way into the game! 
And I think that's all I have to say :)
The little inflatable lion even made the train ride!
Friday night we went to a Penn State Alumni Mixer held at the Wynfrey Hotel at the Galleria. There were so many Penn Staters there! They completely overflowed the room that was reserved for the event and filled up the whole lobby area that connected the mall to the hotel! They had the Blue Band (part of them), the cheerleaders, the dance team, and the President of Penn State getting everyone ready for the big day! We were hoping Joepa would make an appearance, but this was as close as we got: Saturday we woke up at the crack of dawn and loaded up the cars with people, food, coolers, chairs, tables, and equipment and headed for Tuscaloosa. We got there around 8 and set up shop next to a bunch of other Penn State tailgaters! It was SO HOT and we were all sweating and miserable before 10 AM! We did what we had to do, and rigged up a UAB umbrella to some chairs and took turns sitting in the "shade." We took a walk into some nearby merchandise tents and that's where I met my favorite Alabama fan ;) Some "spirited" Penn Staters next to our tailgate had a "Group Jager shot/fight song singing" event every hour, on the hour. The first time they humoured our friend Leah by having her sing the Alabama fight song......and then cutting her off in the middle of it. She was a good sport! By this point in the day we had been brainstorming for a while on how we could magically get a tent to give us some shade. Tom and I decided that any amount of money was worth it and our wonderful friends Kelly, Stacy, & Marji stopped by Kmart and picked up a NAVY BLUE canopy tent on the way to our tailgate! Awesome! Stacy brought Casper along, but I don't think tailgating is really his thing. Although he did like trying to sneak up to the hot dogs and try to lick them claiming them to be his. More hours passed and those crazy Penn State fans kept having their hourly singalong, and this time this guy showed up. Those Alabama fans sure are creative! (note sarcasm) Get it? Roll Tide?Then THESE GUYS* showed up near our tailgate! So I had to snap a picture!Later on in the afternoon, the sky started changing in the distance and before we knew it it was POURING down rain! At this point in the day we were very thankful for our tent!!We spent the rest of the afternoon sitting under the tent trying to stay dry while waiting for kickoff. At least it cooled things off a little bit! Due to the festivities at our tailgate, we didn't quite make it over to check out College Game Day on the Quad, but we did get our picture with the bus on the way into the game! And I think that's all I have to say :)*There are 3-4 guys that go to every single Penn State game (home and away). 2-3 of them dress in full gear and wear these silly/scary linebacker masks and 1 of them wears a Joepa mask. If you watch enough Penn State football on tv, you'll definitely spot them in the crowd!
3 comments:
YAY.....I love football season.
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