Boulder Trippin': Everything Else

In addition to the beer, the food, and the game itself, we also did a lot of driving and sight seeing in Colorado. Here are some of the sights we saw during our five day trip in the Rockies.

When you first leave the Denver airport, you are greeted by a huge, blue horse. The statue, known locally as Diablo, looks completely satanic, complete with red eyes that glow at night. The artist who created the horse was actually killed before it was complete when a piece of it fell on him. Check out more on the horse here.

It's killed before ... and it will kill again!

Our next stop on Wednesday was Coors field, where the Colorado Rockies were hosting the Los Angeles Dodgers in their final home game of the season. Coors field is an awesome ball park. They even have a row of seats in the upper deck, colored in purple, where you can sit at exactly one mile above sea level. Matt Kemp hit a grand slam for the Dodgers and they held off a late Rockies rally for the victory.

Entering Coors Field, you pass the Blue Moon Pub. I never knw Coors owned Blue Moon

I wish I could pitch for the Rockies.

Beautiful Coors Field

On Thursday, we left Boulder and headed up the road to Rocky Mountain National Park. We stopped in the small town of Estes Park. It is kind of like the Colorado version of Helen, except without the German influence. Estes Park is also home the Stanley Hotel. The Stanley was the inspiration for Stephen King's novel, "The Shining". The old hotel was also used as the setting for the 1997 made for television remake of The Shining (since Stanley Kubrick did not want to shoot the original movie there.) After that, we made our way up to the park and saw some amazing views of the mountains and the valleys below.

The Stanley Hotel. REDRUM!!!

The Rocky Mountain Tundra

You don't get these type of views in Atlanta

The Continental Divide

After spending a few days in Boulder, we set out towards Pike's Peak on Sunday for the final leg of our trip. Along the way, we passed Invesco Field (home of the Denver Broncos) and Falcon Field (home of the Air Force Falcons). We stopped at the famous Red Rocks Ampitheatre and saw some beautiful rock formations at the Garden of the Gods. We then took a train (which takes almost an hour and a half each way) to the top of Pike's Peak. The weather was sunny and in the 70's at the bottom, but snowing and cloudy once we reached the top at over 14,000 feet above sea level.

Knowshon's House

Falcon Field ar Air Force

What an amazing place to watch a concert

The Garden of the Gods

At the top of Pike's Peak. It was freezing!

Overall, it was an amazing trip. We saw some beautiful scenery, unlike any I have ever seen in my entire life. Maybe I'll go back one day to ski the slopes.

Blame It On The Altitude: Our Colorado Brewery Tour

One of the best parts about the trip out to Colorado was visiting just a small sample of the 100+ breweries that exist in the Rocky Mountain state.

We were able to visit 4 full breweries and 3 brewpubs, for a total of 7 places that brew their own beer. They were: Breckenridge Brewery and Pub across from Coors Field, Great Divide Brewing Co. , New Belgium Brewing Co., Left Hand Brewing Co., Oskar Blues Brewery, Mountain Sun Brewery & Pub, and the Colorado Brewing Company-Draft House. My biggest regret was not visiting Avery Brewing in Boulder.

Quick Awards:

Best Beers Overall: Great Divide

Favorite New Beer: Oskar Blues & Great Divide*

Best Tour & Overall Experience: New Belgium

Best Personal Experience: Oskar Blues

Best Deal: New Belgium

Best Bartender: Left Hand

*Favorite New Beers: Gubna at Oskar Blues and Wild Raspberry Ale at Great Divide

Probably, the most unique place we visited was a hippie brewpub in Boulder called Mountain Sun Pub & Brewery. The best beers they had by far were their two IPAs and the Colorado Kind Ale. Definitely a cool experience, as it was a small restaurant that had some really good beer.

I've never been a big fan of Breckenridge beers, and their pub across from Coors Field was cool, but the beers were not that special. They had a small batch Pilsner that was really good, but I can't find the name of it online.

GREAT DIVIDE BREWING CO.

The first brewery we visited was Great Divide Brewing in Denver. You've likely had their Titan IPA if you've had any of their beers (it was the only one I had previously).

G.D. was about 3 blocks from Coors Field, which immediately made me a fan, but it also had happy hour right after the game. This means $3 beers, that are mostly high gravity, and very delicious (you can imagine what happened after being there almost 3 hours in their small tap room).

G.D. had the best overall beers on our trip. My particular favorites were their Hades Belgian Style Ale, Wild Raspberry Ale (best berry ale I've ever had), and the Hoss Rye Lager.

Others in our the crew enjoyed the Yeti Imperial Stout and Hibernation Ale. I also enjoyed the Denver Pale Ale.

NEW BELGIUM BREWING CO.

This was the sign waiting for us on our tour. Lots of points for New Belgium!

Does your office have a two story slide in it? Do you have volleyball tournaments every week? Does your company give tours to 20+ insane UGA fans and then also give them FREE BEER?

Didn't think so, and that's why your life sucks if you don't work at New Belgium. Especially if you are not the "Director of Fun" that had this awesome slide installed.

A slide in the brewery. 'Nuff said.

If you've ever drank a beer, then you've likely had Fat Tire, their most popular beer. In recent times, many of the beers have become available in Georgia, so there were not too many surprises in their tap room. Don't let that fool you though, the tap room was still awesome, good bartenders, and we even got to meet the brewmaster.

The 1554, a Black Ale, was an excellent dark beer that tasted nothing like a dark beer. I know that sounds contradictory, and it is, but you just have to try it. Never had anything like it, especially a dark beer with such a smooth taste.

The actual tour of N.B. was awesome, given to us by Kaitlyn, as we got to see their beer making process, their massive bottling plant appropriately called "Thunderdome", and we got to pour our own beers and they served us plenty of free samples. FREE BEER, can you believe that!?!

I would be able to recount all of the cool things on the tour that Kaitlyn told me, but the free beer has caused me to not remember them.

The picture above is "The Thunderdome." One of the coolest things is that the brewery and Thunderdome are connected by a giant beer bridge that flows the beer from one building to another.

I learned how N.B. makes all their money though. They brainwash attendees of their awesome brewery and tap room so that they pile up on the merchandise when they leave (guilty as charged, I am a sucker!)

OSKAR BLUES BREWERY

Dale's Pale Ale is the signature beer of Oskar Blues, and it is one that you can find in almost any store and many bars in Atlanta. It is also the official craft brew of the Bubba 'N Earl tailgates as deemed by Bubba himself (those cans count for something). Mamas Lil Yella Pils is also one of their beers you can find in many stores

We visited the brewery and tap room for Oskar Blues in Longmont, as opposed to their restaurant in Lyons, CO that served as the original brewery.

We got to the brewery in time for them to pop open a cask of special ale(wish i could remember it, but it was delicious). I also got to try a new favorite beer called "Gubna." Hadn't seen it in Georgia yet, but it is a 10% alcohol Imperial IPA. This beer was insane, with a flavor I had never tasted before. Can't wait to find it here soon.

Some jerk and Dale of the Pale Ale.

Our experience was awesome at Oskar Blues because Tree, the HR director for the brewery (and is also the longest standing employee), gave us a personal guided tour of the brewery. It's a huge operation they had going on, and she even made sure we got all of the mardi gras beer can necklaces we could want (which was alot with this group).

Also on the tour was the DALE of Dale's Pale Ale (brewery founder Dale Katechis). Unknown to us was the we had previously met Dale when we pulled up next to a giant DPA RV and asked the driver where the tap room was. Just so happens that the drive was Dale himself, and he also shouted War Eagle as we drove off.

When we saw him on the tour, we found out that Dale attended Auburn before moving out to Colorado. I'm sure we bugged the crap out of him with questions and pictures, but you'd never know it by how nice he treated us and how he just hung out with us for an hour and a
half. He seemed incredibly stoked on how popular his beer was in Georgia.

We probably spent more time at Oskar Blues than any other brewery, and the personal touch and great beer they provided us was exactly why we had such an awesome experience.

The beer comes out of these things, and by the process of magic, ends up in the cans below.

We could not have asked for a better time at a brewery. Thanks Dale and Tree!

LEFT HAND BREWING CO.

Most here in Georgia have had Left Hand's Milk Stout if anything, and maybe their Haystack Wheat (which was the best wheat beer I had in Colorado).

Left Hand has a great tap room and patio. We weren't able to go on a tour of their brewery, so I can't give you the dish on that.

While Left Hand was the most expensive tap room we went to, it also had the best service of any place where you paid per glass (particularly given how full it was).

Our bartender, Josh, took care of us the entire time which was a huge help with our group of 12.

We managed to try nearly every beer on the menu, and there wasn't a single bad one.

As an awesome left handed person, kudos to L.H.!

Boulder Trippin': Gameday

The main reason we all traveled 1000 miles across the country was to see the Georgia Bulldogs take on the Colorado Buffaloes in Folsom Field. Thanks to the efforts of the Colorado Dawgs, there was a great tailgate set up on a field near the stadium where thousands of Dawgs fans met. Overall, it was a great day that ended on a sour note. Here are some pictures taken throughout the day:

Folsom Field is gorgeous from the outside. The brick blends in with the rest of the buildings on campus

We arrived at the Georgia tailgate around noon. It was already packed.

The weather was absolutely beautiful.

A few members of the Red Coats came by to fire up the Georgia fans.

Why do opposing teams always feel the need to dress Bulldogs up in their colors when they play us?

A giant, inflatable buffalo just outside the entrance to the stadium...

...and then a real buffalo running around on the field.

The team looked pretty fired up before hand. Then the game happenned.

Folsom Fiels looks really nice from the outside, but inside it sucks. The concourse is an old field house and it feels very outdated. The stadium is pretty small and the loud music definitely made more noise than their crowd. At times, I felt like I was at an ACC game.

Boulder Trippin': Eating at the Buff

One of the great parts about our trip was eating breakfast Friday morning at The Buff. Just off Folsom Street about a mile from campus, The Buff definitely lived up to its billing. We all knew about it because of its appearance during season 3 of Man vs. Food on the Travel Channel:

We arrived at The Buff on Friday morning, hungry and tired from experiencing Rocky Mountain National Park and downtown Boulder the night before.

The cure to Josh's tiredness? Pancakes with sausage in them!

I ordered the Saddlebags, which are pancakes with meat cooked right in the batter. You can get bacon, ham, or sausage. I went with the bacon and it was delicious.

Saddlebags, in all their glory!

The food was great. Mrs. Streit liked the food so much, she made us go back for seconds on Saturday.

If You Wanted To Know What Life in Colorado Is Like

Just got back to Atlanta and I will be working on several posts about our adventures to Colorado. But until then, here is a picture that pretty much accurately sums up what it is like to be in Colorado and Boulder in particular:



"CHeBA HUT" is a sub shop (and chain) that's located Boulder. That's what the "toasted subs" refers too, in case you were to confuse it with anything else.

We've Arrived: Colorado

The first part of the B'NE crew has arrived in Denver, and we're killing some time until we head to Coors Field and see the Rockies.

We did get the chance to eat breakfast at an awesome place called Snooze, where I had this giant breakfast burrito and almost died:



We'll be at the Breckinridge Brewery & Pub before the game, and then we'll hit Great Divide Brewery after.

Go Dawgs!

Colorado Tickets on Sale Now

Most people know that the Colorado Buffaloes ticket office is putting single game tickets on sale August 2nd.

However, last week it became public that the Buffs decided that they would not sell single game tickets for UGA. This is an obvious response to the pending invasion of the West by Bulldawgs.

Instead of the single game package, you can only purchase ticket for the game in Boulder through their 3-game "National Championship" pack. While it seems like a pipe dream, it's actually in celebration of the REAL 1990 national champions.

However, you get stuck with tickets to Hawaii (been there done that!) and Kansas State (JUCO University is BACK!)

Anyways, if you want to pursue this option, tickets are actually on sale now if you have a promo code, and I'd suggest going to the Colorado Dawgs' facebook page to get the information on the tickets, as well as to get updates on what's happening in Denver and Boulder. They also seem to have a tailgate planned for the game, which is welcomed news.

$136 is the minimum price for the package, and if you look at online ticket sites, a single game ticket is at least $70, closer to $100 if you want a better seat.

At that point, I'd almost rather just buy the single game ticket and not worrying about unloading the others. That way, you at least have more control over where you sit.

Lexington Revisited: 2008 Georgia-Kentucky Road Trip

When BFR and I went to the Kentucky game last year, we had what might be one of the best road trips imaginable.

If you've never read the story, I've posted the best part of it below.

You can also see the original post here. It is longer, but I recommend you read my entire blathering to get the full experience.

Luckily, the friends we made on this trip are coming to Athens for the game and BFR and I will have the opportunity to re-pay the hospitality.

Lexington: A Road Trip For The Ages

Disclaimer: Read this story of our trip from Lexington, because you know going to Auburn, or anywhere else for that matter, won’t be this good. This story, my friends, is why you go on road trips.

POST GAME

After the game, we searched for the one group of Dawgs we knew, but never found them. We did run into all the players as they were coming out of the locker room. BFR and I were able to speak to AJ Green real quick, and also say hi to everyone's favorite person, Willie Martinez.

On our way back to the car, we stopped at a tailgate of a group of Kentucky fans. We had seen this tailgate initially walking to the stadium. This setup was astounding.

These fans had a trailer that, on the inside, was essentially a bar. The upgrades included flooring, nice cabinetry, seats, a huge area for food, a giant flat screen TV, and a smaller flat screen TV. A large opening on the side of the trailer with a counter provided a perfect seating area to enjoy the spread of food and drinks while watching other games on the two TVs.

Outside of the trailer were tables and chairs in blue and white, and the entire setup was surrounded by a white picket fence and a Kentucky flag flying over it all.

This awesome tailgate was right on a nice corner lot just a small parking lot’s distance from the stadium. Essentially, it was the best location imaginable.

We introduced ourselves to this group and met Elmo, JR, Chrissy, Joe, Michelle, and a whole host of kind people whose names I can’t remember.

We were talking with everyone for a good while, and they invited us to stay and watch the LSU/Bama game with them.

In the midst of all this, Joker Phillips walks up to Elmo and some other people at the tailgate. Joker wasn’t walking by at chance and they stopped him. No, Joker was walking by and purposefully stopped.

BFR and I were just blown away. Not only is this a great tailgate, but Kentucky’s [future] head coach is here talking with everyone (he didn’t seem to be in the best of moods, which is understandable).

As we watched the game and drank with these great people, we began to learn a lot about Kentucky.

Kentucky fans would rather be terrible at football and be in the SEC than be great at football in another conference.

AWESOME.

Kentucky fans despise Louisville. Their description of Louisville fans reminded me of Florida fans, which automatically makes me hate Louisville.

AWESOME.

They criticized Big East football games as being worse than watching a duck fart or listening to Oprah. Louisville vs. UCONN is not a real football game.

DOUBLE AWESOME.

They also loved Munson, and their favorite quote was Munson speaking about Lorenzen: “Godzilla is on the loose!”

AMAZINGLY AWESOME.

At about the time LSU/Bama went into overtime, they were ready to leave and we were planning on heading towards Atlanta. However, our new Kentucky friends insisted we join them at a steakhouse called Malone’s (It also conveniently has a sports bar). How could we turn this down?

BFR and I arrived at the steakhouse and joined the group in the bar. JR, who played for Kentucky in the “Couch era” told us he was inviting a friend of his named Anthony White, who also had played for Kentucky.

SEC fans may well remember Anthony White, who also played for UK during the “Couch era.” Anthony let us Georgia fans know that he considers Herschel Walker to be the best running back in SEC (and college football) history…but he considers himself the second best (embellishment on our part, makes the story better and Anthony would definitely go with it!). He is the only back in SEC history with 1500 receiving yards and 1500 rushing yards in the same season, thus he has enjoyed the nickname “Mr. 1500” as much as he was enjoying his Courvoisier Saturday night.

The eight of us sat down for a great meal and several more hours of talking about football, basketball, baseball and life in general. The conversation focused on sports and held the attention of the entire table and most of the rest of the restaurant. Anthony dropped one-liners on us like bombs:

-“One time playing Georgia, I was giving Kirby Smart the business! No offense, but you had a white DB trying to tackle me?!?”

-That Tennessee quarterback is horrible. Every time he drops back, it looks like he is playing dodgeball with the defense!

-Joker Phillips should put me in, I’ll win a national championship right now.

After treating us to a wonderful meal (that we tried to pay for), we bid farewell to this great group of people as they headed home.

We, on the other hand, didn’t head home. We joined Anthony at a party afterwards with a bunch of ex-football players from Kentucky and some of the UK Athletic Assoc staff.

Even decked out in red and black, everyone was great to us, particularly Anthony for bringing us along and introducing us to everyone there.

After a few hours, we knew that we had at least a three hour drive ahead of us, so BFR and I decided to call it quits and we headed back to Knoxville.

All in all, this was the best experience we could have imagined, far exceeding our simple expectations for our trip. I have a new found appreciation for Lexington, the University of Kentucky, and their fans.

I hope BFR and I get to return the favor soon to the great people we met, as well as other fans in the future.

Let this also provide a lesson to everyone: If you don’t feel like going on that road trip, DO IT ANYWAYS! After this trip, there are no longer any acceptable excuses for not making the road trip.

Go Dawgs!

Live at Folsom Field...in 11 months

Eleven months from now, myself and a great number of Georgia fans will make the long cross country trip to see Georgia take on the Colorado Buffaloes. Boulder is supposed to be a great town and home to historic Folsom Field. ESPN has a nice feature story up right now about Colorado's home stadium and it is a good read for anyone planning to make the trip next fall.

Folsom Field is also famous for holding conecerts, including the Dave Matthews Band every year.

Can't wait to see the Bulldog Nation invade the Rockies next fall!

We're Outta Here

Bubba, BFR, and I are headed to St. Simons where we shall partake in debauchery with minimal interference from Teblowme's followers, before heading on the par-tay bus Saturday.



HATE ORANGE. HATE BLUE. HATE GATORS.

MOUSTACHE NATION FROM ARIZONA STATE INVADED ATHENS

On Saturday, we had the pleasure to meet some of the best college football fans we've ever come across. The unique nature and passion of this group is definitely worth mentioning to any and all college football fans. If only we had met them out in Tempe last year, we could have planned out a proper introduction to Athens!

The Moustache Nation is a group of die hard Arizona State fans that are all about what I love: going to a road game as a giant force.

Moustache Nation was set up on North Campus at the edge of downtown, and they had a party starting early in the morning.

Moustache Koozies = Moustache Power!!!

Our friend Diskin and I walked up to their tailgate and were immediately welcomed with great conversation and beer (they have Tecate, we have Natty Light...I'll take the Tecate, please). I'm sure they were concerned at first as to why two morons, one wearing red pants with bulldawgs on them, were walking straight for their tailgate.

Most everyone we talked to were from Tempe, some from other parts of the west coast, and we met a few that were currently living in Atlanta.

Over the next hour or so, we learned the basics of the Moustache Nation:

-They're a large group of ASU fans that are extremely dedicated (we can relate), and pick one road game a year to travel to as a very large group (I'm talking approximately 50 people).

-Several of them often travel to other college football games around the country during ASU's off week.

-Many of them wear awesome moustaches that I could only dream of being able to grow.

-They are named Moustache Nation in honor the great Jake Plummer, who grew a moustache and later began to resemble Ted Kaczynski once he entered the NFL (which I find awesome).

-You know they are the Moustache Nation because they wear yellow jerseys that say "Moustache Nation." The front of the jerseys have a retro picture of their mascot, Sparky, as well as an awesome moustache with "5 Cent Rides" written on it.

-The back of their jerseys say "SALAD BOWL" and "'51." This is in honor of the 1951 Salad Bowl game that Arizona State not only played in, but also lost to Miami (OH). You have to love a group of fans who so greatly appreciate that they played in a bowl called the Salad Bowl, even if they lost.

Boone's Farm, a preferred drink of Moustache Nation...along with hundreds of cans of beer.

We also learned some informative things about hardcore ASU fans:

-Just as we saw last year, they continue to show a passionate hatred of their in state rival, and Dawgs can certainly appreciate that.

-You can refer to them as ASU or Arizona State, but do not abbreviate any reference to them as Arizona. That's a douchebag school over an hour away from ASU. Many of our inebriated Dawg co-eds made this mistake at Boar's Head Saturday night.

-Many ASU fans hold a great disdain the Arizona Cardinals. If you listen to why they hate them, you'd certainly agree. It was interesting to learn the inside history of the Cardinals when they were playing on ASU's campus.

We were able hang out with members of the Moustache Nation several times during the day and several even came over to our tailgate to play some cornhole. We also got the chance to hang out with some of them after the game until last call closed out the night.

Unfortunately for our new friends, the gut wrenching game didn't turn out well in the end for them because AJ Green forgot to let everyone know he is a mutant super hero.

B'NE & MOUSTACHE NATION UNITE!

We want to give a big shout out to Troy, Mark, Chris, Steve, Dan, and all the others for hanging out with us most of the day and for showing us their dedication and how ASU fans party.

You can also check out Troy's store at http://www.cactussports.com. Hopefully those koozies will be up there soon!

Also, while we didn't get the chance to talk, thanks to ASU Jay for his leadership of the Moustache Nation and making it possible for such a large group to travel as a force.

Moustache Nation helps to epitomize what college football fandom is all about, as well as doing a great job of representing ASU across the nation.

We salute you, Moustache Nation!

LONG WAY TO FIND A WAL-MART: ROAD TRIP TO FAYETTEVILLE

THE DRIVE

Bubba and I ventured out Friday morning on a trip of a lifetime. Okay, maybe not a trip of a lifetime, but an awesome trip it would be.

Is there such a thing as a good rental car? Only if it's red or black!

It started off uneventful because, well, there's nothing of note in north Alabama or Mississippi. However, north Alabama does appear to be the bingo capital of the world. We counted no less than 10 bingo parlors in a 10 mile stretch.

Just after lunch, we rolled into Memphis and ate some of the best ribs I've ever tasted here:

The rest of the drive was pretty boring. There's nothing in Arkansas. Nothing.

However, once you get on I-540, the 45 minute drive to Fayetteville is awesome. You're surrounded by the Ozarks and it makes for a hell of a sight to see.

By simply listening to the radio and looking at the landscape of Arkansas, 3 things become very clear: Arkansas loves 80s music, giant American flags (no car dealership necessary), and strip clubs in awful looking, rusted out warehouses (trucker's paradise).

We also failed to see any UGA fans driving to the game (I don't blame you).

FAYETTEVILLE - FRIDAY NIGHT

We rolled into Fayetteville at about 9pm, and immediately went to the stadium. Its an impressive place, and the video screen is massive.

We continued through the campus, which also turned out to be much nicer than we anticipated.

Rolling into Dickson Street, we saw a good number of bars and restaurants.

We met up with our friend Tyler, a native of Fayetteville, and hit up a couple bars including Brewski's and the Hog Haus Brewery.

While in Hog Haus we be-friended a Bama and LSU fan that gave us some good information on the town.

The upsides to Fayetteville were the good number of bars (probably around 15-20), and plenty of good looking ladies. Again, I was worried in the mountains, but there's nothing to worry about in this town.

The downside is that most of the bars ended up having a cover after about 11pm. Pretty lame, but I guess it's to be expected. It's better than Auburn, where they have covers on all 3 of their bars.

Unfortunately, it was only after we left for the night that we found out that there is a piano bar in downtown Fayetteville.

GAME DAY

We headed out from our hotel in Bentonville, aka Wal-Mart Land, early on to get a head start.

We saw a Chik-Fil-A, and immediately stopped so that we could get something of Georgia and some decent sweet tea (real sweet tea doesn't exist in Arkansas).

Everything you could ever want.

After getting back into Fayetteville, we traveled through campus trying to figure out the parking situation. It was about 11am, and while some were out tailgating, the campus was not packed by any means.

After about an hour of driving around and talking to a cop, we finally found a parking garage that we were able to park in for free (wasn't suppose to be free, but we're that good), and that was a good halfway point between downtown and the main area for tailgating.

There wasn't much open downtown in the morning, and we ended up back at Hog Haus Brewery.

Dawg fans started to fill the upstairs bar, and we met some great Dawg fans from Atlanta and Kansas City.

Beer and football, these are things that I like.

We also met our first Arkansas fans that were really into having visiting opponents in town and approached us to talk about football.

At this point, of the Dawg fans we had encountered, we were by far the youngest around, and the Dawg ladies were few and far between.

TAILGATING

We headed out to campus about 3 1/2 hours before the game.

Arkansas' campus is beautiful, and you can tell they've got a lot of money pouring into this school (having the Walton family and Jerry Jones doesn't hurt). The arbotoreum that borders downtown is very similar looking to UGA's North Campus.

That's right, I'm too cool for your sign. Deal with it.

Tailgating at Arkansas has all the necessities, but it's just normal and basic for the most part.

One thing that pissed me off was how all the lots surrounding the stadium were permit only, but some of them half empty before the game. I would have thrown down the money for one to avoid the long hill to our parking deck.

We did stop and talk to a lot of Arkansas fans on the way to a UGA tailgate. While my motivation was mainly to mooch their television to see the Gator/Vols game, I did want to really meet their fans. Up to this point, their fans had not been outgoing for the most part.

I guess that's something to brag about? Whatever.

On the walk through campus, we did meet some undergrads outside of some dorms. These guys were real cool, and like all good college students, they were most interested in drinking (we did provide them some needed cups to hold said beer).

We did tell them the glories of Athens, and how they will need to come to the game next year to see some real partying.

One of the better parts of tailgating was where some local UGA alumni were stationed in a Gazebo in the Gardens (really just very nice landscaped green space). It was a pretty good set up, and having that Gazebo was pretty damn nice.

I'll have to give a big thanks to the Dawgs that hosted that event and allowed us to crash it. To the Kansas City Dawgs and the ex-Gwinnett Dawgs now in Fayetteville, THANKS!

That UGA tailgate was a great time, and it was a relief to finally be around a substantial amount of Dawg Fans.

THE FANS

Arkansas fans are nice people, and when we engaged them, they were great.

However, they are probably the least outgoing to meet opposing fans as I've ever experienced.

Arkansas fans can also be described as lacking in originality. The best insults we received were "Georgia Sucks," and "Fuck Georgia." Not too original there.

There was one fan that held a "This Guy Sucks" sign over Bubba and I. However, we thought it was hilarious and wanted a picture of it, but the guy ran off.

THE GAME

Stadium=awesome. Pretty good design and setup, it was nice inside, and great views of the field. Everything you hear about the scoreboard is true, and that place can get pretty damn loud (even if they're not using their PA to increase the noise).

Unfortunately, Bubba and I got to our seats just before kickoff, so we did not get to see the pre-game pomp and circumstance.

We sat in the last row of the upper deck, and that was actually a surprisingly good view:

The Dawg fans were spread out through our area, and not bunched together in a typical road game fashion (or perhaps the beer and matching colors confused me).

We did have a pretty fun group of Razorbacks in front of us that we went back and forth with the entire game. Our picture with them provides documented proof of attractive women in the Ozarks:

Wooooooooooo Pig Sooie!!!

LEAVING

We skipped out of town after game to get a head start on driving back, and we crashed in little rock for the night.

We were able to stop again in Memphis for some BBQ, and we even saw some fellow Dawgs stopping there as we pulled out.

THINGS I REGRET

Not asking everyone if they hated Target or if they secretly hated Wal-Mart, but weren't allowed to say anything.

Not getting my picture with the golden hog statue in the Gardens.

Continually telling that Kansas State fan that he was awesome for wearing his team's shirt and not selling out to his friends' peer pressure (I was in an "altered" state).

SUMMARY

Fayetteville is an awesome college town, one of the nicer stadiums you will go to, the women are good, more bars than most towns, the campus is beautiful, and it's definitely worth the trip.

If you do want to drive, don't. Maybe do it once, but that's it. Take the plane.

There is nothing southern about Arkansas. That's okay, but it's the truth.

I would drive through Arkansas again anyday to not have to drive through Alabama ever again.

Victory pics are the best!

GO DAWGS!!