Chicky came home late Thursday.

When I got home from work on Friday, the family began its latest adventure.

We were headed out of Dodge.

After Rooster committed to attending Auburn, the University told him that, as a future student, he was being given two tickets to the upcoming homecoming game.

We had not been to Auburn, as a family, in quite a long time, so we took this opportunity to do so.

However, true to Chickster tradition, we did not make the trip without experiencing a few challenges.

The first one was the actual drive to the Marriott in Opelika.

Now, on an ordinary afternoon, this would have been easy; however, we hit Opelika around 8pm, and it was dark.

Alabama country is not all lit up like big cities.

We followed the directions the Mr. had printed out, but we ran into quite the quandary when, after the second roundabout, we figured we were lost.

Imagine the following picture…in pitch-black dark…

It was like a cartoon, where the characters ask, comically, “Which way do we go, which way do we go?”

The Mr. decided to turn around and head back toward the main road, figuring we had missed a turn somewhere.

Chicky was starting to feel sick.  She doesn’t travel too well in the back seat.

The Mr. made a right turn, and we saw this, but remember that it was dark.  All we could really see was what appeared to be the hotel all lit up and all the way across a field…

If we’d had some kind of four-wheel drive vehicle, we might have gone off-roading.

Alas, we didn’t feel like having THAT great of an adventure, so we turned around again.

Ugh.

We went through a third roundabout before seeing the hotel.

Thank heavens.

After checking in, we were instructed to drive around to the other building.

However, we were having an ADVENTURE, so we didn’t just drive to the building.

Oh no.

The main building had its own roundabout, which we couldn’t figure out how to get out of…

Please remember that this was happening at night, and it was dark.

As we drove under the overhang a second time, a wealthy-looking couple standing outside of their very expensive vehicle STARED at us as we drove by.

Sigh.

Yes, we’re Rednecks who don’t leave home very often.  You can dress us up, but deep down, you can’t take the Redneck out of us.

heehee

We found our building, which had its own roundabout.

We had grown wise to the hotel’s tricks and opted to park in the lot BESIDE the drive-around.

Ha!

All of the driving was worth it as we entered our room and took stock of our lodgings.  I was especially impressed with the bathroom…

I know it may seem lame to take pictures of such things, but as a soccer mom, I’ve stayed in a LOT of hotels, so I really appreciate little things like tiled showers, marble counter tops, and amenities like the following…

Now, take a look at the next picture…

Oh, my Nike’s were going to look spiffy in the morning!  heehee

We were exhausted from the long day, so we settled into the uber-comfy bedding that Marriott hotels are known for (no, I’m not getting $$ for this little bit of a promotion…I just happen to love this hotel chain).

When we woke up the next morning, we were greeted to this view from the balcony we didn’t know we had the night before…

Is that not the prettiest sight?  I grew up in a small town in Alabama, but I’ve lived in Florida for over twenty years.  Sometimes, I forget how much I love the “real” country with its peaceful scenes…

We headed out and began loading the car.

That’s when the ADVENTURE took another interesting turn.

See, I must first explain that I do everything FAST.  I don’t know why, but I am always in a hurry.  I guess it’s because I always have so much to do!

The Mr. opened the back hatch to our SUV, and I quickly leaned to the left to deposit my overnight bag.

Well, unfortunately, the hatch wasn’t up all the way.  We think that the cold temperature made the mechanical contraption stick instead of allowing the door to fly up as quickly as it normally would.

My head met the corner of the door, and it was not a light tap.

The Mr. heard the impact.

Oh.

My.

Word.

Blinding pain…

Followed by fear and the expectation that I would soon be feeling and seeing blood run down into my eye.

Fortunately, this didn’t happen, but oh my gosh…the pain.

I took a look in the mirror, and I saw what looked like a spider bite…a small red dot.

The door had nearly broken the skin.

I’ll admit that I shed some quiet tears.

We drove on, looking for a place to buy headache medicine.

Meanwhile, the spot on my head began to swell, and by the time we got to Auburn’s campus, this is what it looked like…

Sigh.

I was not a happy girl.

Such is life.

It seems to go on.

After getting my meds, we began the Auburn tradition of shopping before the game.

We had gotten to town so early that we were able to scope out the stores before the crowds got too large.  Of course, we had to backtrack and revisit them after we had seen all that they had to offer.

Rooster bought an orange/blue plaid shirt and a tie.  Chicky got a sweatshirt, lanyard, and maybe something else.  I can’t remember.  The Mr. bought a hat and maybe something else?  My brain was fuzzy a good part of the day, so I honestly can’t remember!

I do know that I got the following shirt…

Yes, we spent oodles of money, but we had not been to Auburn in a while (I think I already mentioned this).  Getting updated stuff was a must!

As we walked around campus, I took pictures.  There have been a lot of changes since I was last there…lots of construction around the older buildings.

As game time drew near, we made our way to the stadium…

The following sign proudly sits atop of it…

We made our way to our seats.  The Mr. had traded the tickets Rooster had been given for better ones.  He did have to pay a few $$, but it was worth it to not be in the nosebleed section (i.e. the Upper Deck, which Super Sis’s family actually likes, but they’re weird and don’t tell them I said this).  As it wound up, the newer tickets were a few seats away from the ones the Mr. had purchased for Chicky and me.  God has a sense of humor, does He not?  🙂

I took more photos with my itsy bitsy camera…a camera that I love so much and takes pretty decent pictures despite its size.

Prior to the start of the game, Pat Sullivan, 1971 Heisman Trophy winner from Auburn, was honored.  I was touched by the football team’s show of respect…

Then, it was time for one of the neatest traditions in Auburn…the flyover by the mascot…the bald eagle…

The University’s eagles are trained to circle the stadium, after being released from the one of the highest locations in the stadium, and land in the center of the field…

Then, it was time for the band to come out and perform the pre-game show…

And then…finally…the team came out…

Aubie got into the act, riling up the students sitting in the section in front of him…

It didn’t take long for us to score…

I love the next picture…of the kicker doing his thing for the PAT.  I’ve seen that form before…having watched and photographed thousands of soccer kicks…

After every touchdown, the cheerleaders run across the end zone with huge flags…drumming up support for THE team…

Throughout the game, the eagle makes the rounds, posing for photographs…

The halftime show was a little different.  Because it was Homecoming, a queen had to be announced.  Another tradition is that the alumni band performs with the marching band…

After halftime, we watched as Auburn scored more touchdowns.  I love the next photo, which shows the ball coming out of our player’s hands…but only after he broke the plane, as the replay demonstrated…

We left the stadium with a victory under our belts.

It had been a great day, but it was time to head back to Podunk, USA and our furry babies.

We’re looking forward to more great adventures (goose egg free, I hope) next year after Rooster begins his journey toward Auburn alumni-hood.

Filed under: This-n-That | Tagged: alabama, Auburn, auburn university, Marriott, Opelika | Leave a comment »