Our First BIG-time Collegiate Football Game

"We Are...ND!!!"

So, last Saturday, we had tickets that we bought off my cousin for the Notre Dame vs. Stanford football game.  I was really looking forward to it!  The campus would be beautiful this time of year!  We were heading there early (it is an hour's drive east), so we could see the Golden Dome, the grotto & to meander the grounds.  We planned to watch the "Players Walk" and catch the "Trumpets under the Dome," as suggested by my cousin.  We packed up some grub for a little tailgating.

We arrived about noon (eastern) and get out the food to eat before we headed up to the campus for the remainder of the day.  Wouldn't you know, it started to drizzle.  We quickly made 4 sandwiches to throw in my purse/bag and made our way to the shuttle bus that would take us from the parking field to the library.

The.rain.never.stopped.the.whole.day!  As a matter of fact, it more than drizzled!!!  We were soaked to the bone by day's end...before day's end!  And we had an umbrella and plastic ponchos (or garbage bags as Chris kept referring to them!!!)!!!

We didn't get to tour the campus, we didn't make it to the Trumpets under the Dome, we didn't make it to the Grotto! 

We found a cafe in one of the (gorgeous) buildings and got warm drinks, pumpkin spice coffee for me and tea for Chris (he is working hard to give up coffee for digestional reasons).   

We saw the Players Walk and then made our way into the stadium for cover ~~ with another hour & 20 minutes until game time!  We sat on the floor, on our blanket, eating our sandwiches and pretzels and drinking our water. 

We stayed from beginning to end of a game that went into overtime.  Other than a couple/few minutes during halftime, we stood...in the rain...the entire game!!

Definitely NOT the experience I had hoped for...but, I can now cross attending a Notre Dame Fighting Irish football game off the bucket list! 

Watching the student section lift people into pushups each time the team scored, joining in on the chants and cheers and being part of history were all pretty cool.  If only it had been a crisp, clear, sunny & cool Fall day ~~ it was October 13th, for goodness sake ~~ it would have been simply perfect!!!  But, then, I guess it wouldn't have made as good a story, right?!? 

No pics of us were taken (I was not having it since I was a soggy mess!), but Chris got some terrific ones of the game!  He has an awesome camera and is one hell of an action photographer!  ND should hire him!!!