You never know when a day will turn into something totally different than what you have planned! I am a planner and often I don’t like last minute things, but I can usually just go with the flow when the occasion calls for it! Since we have been in the woods the last several weeks, we had decided to just stay home and crash this weekend! When Phyllis got home Friday night, she pulled out 4 tickets to the Georgia Tech-Duke Game at Bobby Dodd Stadium on Saturday! The kids were at a wedding with their dad so we called Craig and asked if he could meet us and he said yes, so we set everything up for the day! (I have a VERY hard time passing up anything that is free, but especially something this good!)

We got up early and headed to Atlanta at 8 even though the game didn’t start until noon! We figured if we hit traffic we would have spare time, if not we would do some exploring! We hit no traffic at all and after a couple of stops, we made it to our parking deck, which was included with the tickets and was almost inside the stadium it was so good! After parking, we decided to explore the campus a little. As we crossed the road and climbed the stairs up to a courtyard area, we realized it was Georgia Tech’s homecoming and Alumni weekend! The entire courtyard was covered with tents and tables and as we walked through, people started handing us all kinds of free stuff, assuming we were alumni! I didn’t really feel the need to tell them any differently and even though Phyllis told one guy we weren’t alumni, he didn’t seem to care and gave us more free stuff…so…go with the flow!! At one table they said we needed a Tech makeover since neither of us were wearing any gold (As a teacher at Gordon Central, I have very little Gold since my kids might not appreciate the resemblance to the Calhoun Yellow Jackets that the Tech stuff has!) They gave us beads in gold and white, towels, pins and buttons, a t-shirt, popcorn (Every time we walked by this table they handed us more popcorn and we just didn’t have the heart to say no!) Phyllis had GT painted on her face and was given a mum corsage! We were handed posters and bags, pompoms, bottle openers and chap sticks, suntan lotion (Which came in very handy at the game!) and more stuff than I can count! We had our photo taken in front of the rambling wreck and around the campus! It was incredible! I did feel a little guilty about all the stuff, but after that experience we decided we could consider ourselves honorary Georgia Tech Alumni, so it was ok!

After all of this, we walked around the campus and all the way around the stadium! We came to the main street where the band was playing, the cheerleaders were gathering and the crowd was getting fired up! We got more free stuff from advertising tables; cold towels, another t-shirt, Chap Stick balls, pens and posters, souvenir cups and more! We listened to the band for a while, but by this time we were loaded down so we walked back to the car and geared up! We changed shirts, put on our beads and pins and looked like lifetime Tech fans (Which we will be from now on…After Alabama!! Roll Tide!!! That’s for Phyllis! I don’t even really watch football, although I love live games!) We finally headed in to the stadium!!

When we found our seats, we were AMAZED! Fifty yard line, 39 rows up! We had the best seats in the house! We did invest in hats due to the fact that at a noon game at Bobby Dodd Stadium, even in October, the sun is very warm! Craig and Jasmine got there right as the game was beginning and I went to meet them and give them their tickets! The game was great! Tech was rolling and it looked like it might be a blowout, then Duke came back and near the end of the 4th, Duke took the lead! Tech came back in the last minutes for a great 38-35 win! It was a good day to become a Tech fan and Honorary Alumni! None of this would have been possible without the amazing gift, from some wonderful people, of the tickets!

After the game, we dropped some stuff off at Craig’s dorm and then carried them to eat and get some groceries before dropping them back off! We hadn’t seen Craig in about 2 months, so that was a wonderful addition to the amazing adventure we had, which came out of nowhere! We didn’t get to crash, but we did get another incredible weekend and we will rest another day!
Sometimes, when you are open to new experiences, they can lead to some of the best days! This adventure was different than most of ours, but the asphalt jungle was just as entertaining as our adventures in the woods! We also walked almost as much as we do on a good hike, including one side trip up 6 or 7 flights of stairs in the wrong direction! The stadium is one of the strangest cut I have seen It brings new meaning to the phrase, you can’t get there from here!! At least not if you can’t fly! Can’t wait for more adventures!