This was an action-packed weekend for us. At 4:30 AM Friday morning we hopped in the car and set the GPS for Knoxville TN. The next 8 hours involved a lot of driving for CDW, and a lot of napping for me. Check out this very cool marquis in downtown Knoxville.
I digress when I eat apples. Anyhow we were visiting UT-Knoxville for the UCLA UT football game. Every year CDW and some of his Bruin Alum friends take a trip to support UCLA football. This year I got to go.
Our arrival Friday afternoon was followed by a very unhealthy lunch. It involved many fried and cheesy things, and some things smothered in BBQ sauce. They also put pork on a lot of stuff here without telling you - beware to my fellow non-pork eaters.
Saturday morning the tailgating started early. Someone had a connection with some locals, so we were invited to a fabulous tailgate right on the river. This tailgate was off the hook - we had the fanciest Bloody Mary's ever - our host grows his own tomatoes, and makes his own Bloody Mary mix. Each year has different flavor nuances. I preferred the 2003 vintage. Delish. Above check out our Bloody Mary host, Rich, and CDW.
CDW and Rich at the stadium. We tried to leave our tailgate in time to see the team come into the stadium. We heard that this was a big deal. I guess we enjoyed our drinks a little too much, because we missed the team. We did make it in time for something with the band called "Fever Pitch." I still don't know what that means. I hope it's not some dirty thing a local told me to play a joke.
The crowd during the so-called "Fever Pitch."
The stadium crowd looks out over "Fever Pitch."
Neyland Stadium offers beautiful views on the river side. CDW, Michelle and Rich pictured here.
JS and CDW.
JS and CDW in the stadium. There was a lot of orange in there! The attendance was a little over 102K. We think that there might have been 1K UCLA fans. We were the tiniest sliver of blue in a sea of orange.
The band at UT is called something like "The Pride of the Southland Band." I am fascinated by college marching bands mostly because my college (not naming names here) only had the stinkin' Pep Band while I was there. They finally got a real band a few years after I left. Anyway, UT's band did some very cool stuff. See above it says VOLS - you have to read it upside down.
This is a big T. I'll bet it's for Tennessee.
This says USA. Sarah Palin would be proud of these Americans.
This is the final score. Sad day for the Volunteers and their Rocky Top.
Happy day for Bruins fans who travelled from all over the country to support their team!
These are the UCLA flags.
Can you see the doggie in this picture? He's pretty small because we were high up. The doggie's name is Smokey, and he is UT's mascot. He's a Blue Tick Coonhound. I think Smokey is awful cute. I caught him rolling around on his back in disgust a few times when Tennessee was blowing their fourth downs.
These are out of order - this is the UT team as they came out of the locker room before the game. Very exciting. The entire stadium shook.
I was sad that Peyton Manning wasn't on a recruiting visit to TN - that is the only possible improvement I can suggest for my future trips to Tennessee. But we had a pretty good time anyway.
Lucy.
Spritle.
