My Travel Blog: January 2011

This was Wednesday night when we got back! War Damn!

The story of the National Championship is a good one. It started Saturday the 8^th with the Scoshley wedding (or after). After I left the reception both Emilee and I headed to my brother’s in Atlanta for our flight to Albuquerque Sunday morning. I got there pretty easy because I had been there a few times, but Emilee got all turned around and lost. Luckily her Garmin finally found her through some backroads and to my brothers. At this point it’s about midnight and we figure we should get to the Marta for the first train at 6AM since my fight was at 8:15.

Our flights are an entire story in themselves. Long story short, I got my plane ticket during the 4^th quarter of the SEC championship because I knew I would be flying into Albuquerque and driving 7 hours to Glendale to save money on a flight and have a car. I mentioned this to Emilee and she decided to do the same. Everyone else we knew that was going was coming back Tuesday, and when gave Emilee the flight numbers and times and told her Sunday come back Wednesday somehow she missed the Wednesday part (this was late in the semester for us). Also, it didn’t help that continental had a flight on Tuesday at the exact same time as Wednesday and with the same flight number… So she accidentally bought the wrong ticket. Once we figured this out that afternoon she immediately called and lucked out because they just refunded her after she explained the situation. So by the time we get back on, the 8:15 flight is full (flights out of Atlanta/Birmingham out west were going fast) but they had added an additional 9:15 flight. So she gets that flight wit h the same connecting flight in Houston. Then a few days later Jeremy decides to go and he gets the same flight.

So back to the story. We go onto the Marta website and get the address for Lenox station (because they have long term parking and it’s 5 minutes from my brother’s) and I google map from his house to the station.

We get everything planned out and get all excited and then attempt to sleep for 4 hours. Neither of us slept well…. But we woke up pumped and ready to go. We were out the door by 5:30 with plenty of time (or so we thought) to get to the 6AM train. The first downfall was the traffic lights. They were on timers and had no sensors, we seemed to hit every single red light and have to wait several minutes. At one point I started turning right, turning around in the middle of the road and turning right again. So we pass Lenox road on the way to where our directions are taking us and both mention that it’s strange the Lenox station isn’t on Lenox road but keep driving. After another few ridiculously long lights with no one on the road we end up in a neighborhood doing circles. Apparently this address on the Marta website isn’t right. So at this point it’s getting close to 6 so we just turn around and drive as fast as we can back towards Lenox road. Luckily this time we spot a tiny sign pointing us down Lenox Rd. So we drive down and see the train station on the corner, but now we can’t find the parking deck. Another few U turns and a red light run later we spot signs follow them around the corner and find the deck. At this point it’s 5 after 6….. So we just decide we’ll hustle and get on the next train and run through the airport.

Well the ride on Marta was interesting to say the least. Emilee ended up with 15 dollars in change because she put a 20 dollar bill into the breeze card machine, so by the time the train got there we’re laughing and just hoping the rest of our trip doesn’t go like the first 30 minutes did. Little did we know….

On the Marta we’re just sitting there minding our own business and next thing you know we’re being begged for money by a homeless man. Then once he leaves we get a little further and the guy behind us starts asking if we’re from Auburn (I’m assuming all our auburn gear and my auburn santa hat gave it away) and tells us how his host parents are auburn alum or something. Then he starts asking how much I want for my Santa hat. He claims he has cash in his pocket and keeps asking. I finally convince him that it isn’t for sale when another homeless woman finds her way to us. After an interesting 40 minute train ride we finally reach the airport at 7:15…. It’s time to hustle. We were those people running through the airport. Luckily security didn’t take too long and we made it to our gates (which were right next to each other) at 7:45…just in time.

At this point Jeremy arrives from Athens and it’s time for me to get on my plane. At this point since they only had a 49 minute layover in Houston I say “see ya in Houston, If you’re a few minutes behind I won’t let the plane leave, don’t worry” … I would eat those words later.

I get on my plane (with 90% Auburn fans) and fall asleep for most of the plane ride. As we land I turn my phone on and have 3 messages from Emilee.

-We haven’t left yet, there is a mechanical problem with our plane

-still haven’t left yet

-I hate airports

So after all these I can’t tell what time they were sent because of all the time changes, so I try to call Emilee with no answer, assume they’re on the plane and as soon as I get off I run to the service station to figure out what’s going on. This is where I have to pull out the Erin. The Erin knows exactly how to act in certain situations to achieve whatever desired thing I need. It sounds bad but is useful in times like these. So I walk up to the woman, and after having to explain to her the entire situation so she would understand what I was asking she finally pull up their names and tells me their flight is arriving at !2:50…. Well our second flight is leaving at 12:25. So you see, we have a major problem. I explain to her that they are with me and they need to get to Albuquerque asap. Her response is “oh, well they are already set up on another flight… it leaves here at 11:45 tomorrow.” Obviously right now I’m in shock, but I have to hold the Erin together. So I explain to her our situation, we have tickets to the National Championship game that starts at 6 o clock the next day and still have a 7 hour drive once we get to Albuquerque. She sympathizes but still says there isn’t much she can do. At this point I know she isn’t trying hard enough. So the Erin really comes out. After another 30 minutes of me basically telling this lady what she needs to be doing (looking into other airports, putting them on standby, looking into other airlines, etc) our plan is set up. They get put on a standby flight at 1:15 and if that falls they will fly to Denver and then to Albuquerque arriving at 11PM that night. We discuss how possible the standby actually working is and she explains that with the weather and people all running behind she can’t predict it but it is possible. So I leave Emilee and Jeremy messages explaining all of this and giving them all the flight information and head to my gate. At this point I’m pretty sure they will lend up getting in at 11PM and I’ll just have to sleep that afternoon and drive all night. Then I arrive at my gate and see that the flight has been delayed to 11:45 and start getting excited. I’m pretty sure I’m the only person who wanted a plane flight delayed. Long story short we ended up taking off probably as they were landing. I did seriously think about how I could delay the plane leaving for 10 minutes but decided against any of the ideas that came to my head.

During that plane flight I convinced myself that driving all night wasn’t that bad, and hoped and hoped that they would somehow magically get on standby. Luckily when I arrived in Albuquerque the text I had was a lot better than the last time. It said something along the lines of “we got on the 1:15 flight, we’ll be there at 3 PM, we owe you for getting us on this flight.” I was so ecstatic I couldn’t even think. Only 2 hours behind schedule! I have no idea how they got on that flight but apparently when they were in the airport they got told that they had seats on the flight (not even standby). It was definitely a very very lucky moment. So my Dad and I go ahead and run to Costco to get all our food and stuff, I run him home, we load up the car and I head out to pick them up at 3pm. I can’t tell you how big the smile on all of our faces was the second we saw each other. I’m still a little in shock that this situation worked out that well.

So a LONG 7 hours later, a very interesting gas station stop and a few funny moments later we end up in Glendale at our hotel! At this point Jeremy determines we have been traveling for 19 hours. We’re exhausted, we decide not to go meet people that are out at some of the parties and just have a beer and get in bed prepared for a long day of awesome! This next part of the story was hilarious, in part because of our exhaustion, and in part just because it was a great end to the day. As we’re laying there in our Budget Inn (and it was definitely one of those budget hotels where you don’t touch the comforter) Emilee says “hey guys…do you hear that” so we all get really quiet and I’ll just say the next thing we knew we were cracking up. We really did get ALL the joys of staying in a budget inn. But that’s all I’ll say about that.

FINALLY GAME DAY! Thank goodness! WE MADE IT! Now I don’t even know where to start with game day so I’ll just give as quick a synopsis as possible… but words cannot describe the day. I will remember that day forever, without a doubt. So we drive over, find the stadium and a place to park. After making our first drink of gameday we decide to go adventure around to all the giant buildings and activities that seem to be going on. At this point (10AM) Auburn outnumbered Oregon fans probably 100 to 1. Not even kidding. It was ridiculous. Under Armor also did a great job of supporting us. They had several huge billboards around the place and eventually a plane flying overhead for us. They also had an entire little area where they were throwing out free stuff and had games and all kinds of stuff going on. So after exploring we walk over to the stadium so Emilee and Jeremy can get in line for their student tickets (because they somehow both managed to win the lottery!). Long story short after waiting in line they finally get to move up to the stadium from the back of the parking lot, have to go through security (legit pat down.. no one was sneaking a flask into that game) they finally make It up to will call. Why they made 1500 students go through security to pick up a ticket I have no idea…. But so begins how the city of Glendale was not at all ready or prepared for Auburn to show up. During this time (about 2 hours) I was running around figuring all kinds of stuff out, finding a guy who I heard rumors about, making phone calls, running probably over a mile, making more phone calls… but by 1pm I had a ticket in my hand. And it was totally worth it. I am so happy I went all in and got that ticket. So anyways, we meet back up at the car, figure out the pharmacy tailgate is going on in another parking lot and have to haul our stuff over there. Once we all got there and got set up and got the grill going it was like game day had finally become what it should be. Games, drinks, fun, burgers, friends, etc. A few hours later it’s time to take stuff back to the car, find a bathroom, and hang out for an hour before heading into the game. The hotel right by the stadium was I guess an all auburn hotel too. It was literally full of Auburn, they had a DJ playing all of our favorite songs… and a bar that was running out of beer…. Welcome to the unpreparedness of Glendale again. I don’t think they expected so many fans to come just to hang out. It was outrageous. At this point some ducks had shown up but it was still easily a 5 to 1 Auburn fan ratio. So we have about 20 minutes and decide just to have a beer and sit on the bumper of the car. As we’re sitting there a “security” guy drives up and informs us “I’m gonna charge 250 a head to you guys.” So we’re a little confused, he explains about the no tailgating sign that was at the front of our lot (hahahahaha) and tells us “you all do it different out there in Georgia….” (hahahahaha again) … “but, you can go right over there across the street and have your beers” …. So we walk 25 yards away and finish our beers. LOL.

Anyways, now it’s time to go into the game! AHHHHHH! They had every single person going into the game filing into one security area with probably 15 people doing bag checks and patting every single person down. So that took a while…. Again, welcome to Glendale. Then we get in, and separate to our seats. I find my section and walk up to where I think I go down and hearing the words from the security guy put a major smile on my face “oh ya, you’re WAY down there… just keep walking” … so I go down stair after stair and finally find my seat. I’m 20 yards up from the Auburn endzone on the auburn sideline. I can’t even describe the next few hours. I have some pictures, some video, and a whole lot of memories. The fans right around me were awesome, and I have never hugged/high fived so many strangers in such a short period of time. The entire stadium stood up the entire game. Auburn fans where way louder, way better, and way more amazing. I felt like I was in the student section, every single fan was singing every song and screaming on every defensive play. The only thing the ducks had was “go ducks” and “roll tide” .. yes… they kept telling us roll tide… as if that was some sort of dis. Quit comical actually.

So anyways… we WON THE NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP!!!!!!! I literally can’t even explain the entire day, I feel like I just did a terrible job. I’m still in complete awe. After the game I literally stood there staring and didn’t even know what to do. Then I realized I had to take my picture. People were crying, screaming, sitting, chanting… just thinking about it makes me want to go celebrate.

The drive back was a lot more fun. We ate at In-N-Out Burger (it's decent...), stopped at the petrified forest (ended up not going) but saw the Wig Wam Motel that the movie Cars is based on, and had a fun night in Albuquerque.

Anyways, we made it back to Auburn in time for Emilee’s birthday celebration Wednesday, and today, 6 days later, Toomers corner (and every tree for a good 100 yards) is still rolled…. It’s a beautiful thing.