Go Vikings!!!

Writers note....due to PC problems the photos that were supposed to accompany this post are not available. Hopefully they will appear in a later post.

It's Monday and wow what a weekend I had. As most of you know I received a ticket to the Minnesota vs New York game as a Christmas gift from the loving husband. The game was yesterday but since I have family and friends in Minnesota I decided to make a weekend out of it and leave on Saturday morning instead of Sunday morning.

Weather wise, the good news was there was no snow forecast....the bad news was the Arctic chill was supposed to settle in and temps were supposed to be downright cold. I made sure I took along the snow boots and snow pants to put in the back of the van along with my warm gloves...just in case I had car trouble.

Saturday morning found me packed and loaded and ready to go by 9:30 or so. My plan for the day was to make Mankato, MN by noon and spend a few hours with my grandma who I haven't seen in a few years. She just moved to a new residence and I wanted to visit and take her out to lunch. I made great time driving there and only got a little turned around trying to find the new place. It was great to see Grandma and we had a great time eating at KFC and catching up on what was going on. I'm happy to say I loved the retirement community she moved into as the place is absolutely beautiful.

My next stop was Rochester, MN. I have two friends, Jackie and Jen, who live out there. Yes, they are the ones I write about when I talk of the girlfriends weekends I like to do each year. While this wasn't exactly a true girlfriends weekend, it was a me alone weekend so I had to at least stop by and say hi. The highlight of this stop was meeting Tessa, Jen's new daughter. I so love cute babies ( especially if I can hug them and give them back). I managed to drag Jen away from Mom duties and we headed over to Caribou Coffee to meet Jackie for an hour or so of girl talk. It felt so good to kick back and laugh and share stories.

My final destination for the night was Northfield, MN. My college friend Pam lives there and I would be staying the night and traveling up to the game with her the next day. I will say I was pretty proud of myself on the driving end of things. I usually get lost or take wrong turns but I only managed a few small goofs but for the most part I managed to drive on unfamiliar roads in the dark by myself and not get hopelessly completely lost.

Hanging with Pam is always fun and Saturday night was no exception. I won't go in to too many details of what all we did but let's just say there was lots and lots of laughter. We also discovered that wine coolers don't taste well after 14years. Long story short....Jan 1, 1996 I took a bottle on MSU campus as a joke (it's a dry campus) and we saved it thinking it would get drunk the next year and I guess that didn't quite happen. Like all good people who have to get up nice and early the next morning we stayed up waaay too late talking.

The next (same) morning came bright and early for me at around 7. Pam needed to leave by 8 to get up to the Metrodome in time for work. For those who don't know, Pam works for the Vikings, as a radio dispatcher during the games. Game time was noon but doors opened at 10 and Pam had to be there at 9 so that left me with an hour to kill when we got there. I enjoyed the drive up to Minneapolis since I wasn't doing the actual driving and it was a very beautiful morning. Freeking cold, but beautiful.

The nice thing about having a friend work at the Metrodome on game day is close parking. Right across the street and no huge parking fee close. After arriving at our destination I said my good-bys to Pam and headed off to find a warm place to stand. It was supposed to be fan appreciation day and there were events scheduled to take place outdoors before the game started. Now that seemed like a lot of fun last week when it was just really snowy out but it was 10 below zero without the wind chill so outdoor anything did not seen like fun. Remember the snow boots and snow pants I took along?? I decided against wearing them since I would be indoors most of the day so they were still in my van. I was OK about not wearing the pants but my toes were really missing those snow boots. I did find two tents set up for the enjoyment of the fans. The first tent was the VIP tent..this tent had a great jazz band, full bar, possibly food, beautiful purple tablecloths...security personnel looking for a VIP pass...yeah, you get where I'm going with this. I then walked over to what I dubbed the loser's tent. It was the same size as the other one but there was no band, no refreshments, the tables were set up but not decorated, the TV's (to watch the pre-game show) weren't turned on but they did have a blower keeping it above zero in there. This is where I decided to hang out. I did get a great view of the media people entering the dome though.

Finally 10:00 came and I was able to get inside where the real action was. It took a few minutes to find my seat but I was very pleased with where I was sitting. I was in the lower section of the dome but I was at the top part closest to the exit. My view of the field was the 40 yrd line and the Vikings bench. I was able to wander around and get something overpriced to eat and then take photos of the two teams warming up and chat with other early fans. The time went by surprisingly fast.

About 10 minutes before kickoff I began to wonder if the game was a sellout because there were still quite a few empty seats. About 5 minutes before kickoff, almost all of them were filled. Right as they were getting ready to do the team introduction, every idiot not in his or her seat all decided that they needed to find a place to stand...RIGHT IN FRONT OF ME!!!. Ok, not quite in front of me since there were people in seats in front of me but since I was an end seat near an exit I got quite a bit of traffic and at least one of my photos was ruined by someone blocking my shot at he last moment. I still managed to get a few of the team going on the field though.

Here is where I now confess that I am spoiled by watching TV. I'm used to seeing things up close and personal. It took a bit of time to get used to watching the action as it happened from a distance. I could still watch it on the screens but that's not as much fun. Thankfully, I do know that the yellow and blue lines you see on TV are just special effects and not painted on the field. What made watching the game live so special was the excitement of the fans. There is something unique about hearing the noise 60,000 people make. The other great part was being able to yell and scream and jump up and down with unbridled enthusiasm and not have to worry about waking up a sleeping child or getting "the look" from the husband. Yes, screaming at the top of the lungs was totally encouraged. And there was a lot to scream about. The first drive resulted in a touchdown and it just kept getting better from there. I now know the words to the Viking fight song since it is played after every score and at the end of the game 44 points had been scored. I was in football heaven. For as much grousing I did over "The Purple One" defecting to the team I was very much impressed with his playing ability and considered it a real treat to have seen him play live. As for the other Super Bowl quarterback, Eli manning??? Well, sadly, he did not put in a very good performance and I was a little disappointed. I was hoping to at least see him do a few cool things but if it means a Vikings win then sorry Eli.

Halftime was fun to watch. They had various contests on the field and several lucky people walked away with great prizes. Since it was fan appreciation day random sections were selected to receive free items. This was where I was wishing for a seat up in the nosebleed section since the upper levels seemed to benefit more than those of us in good view land. The one prize I wanted was the Target gift cards and chance to win a $1500 Target shopping spree but alas that went to the lucky lady in Nosebleedland. I tried to call the loving husband and my dad but it was really hard to hear with all the crowd noise so I kept things really short.

The second half started off much like the first..mainly more scoring. When the score hit 44 there was much speculation as to how much more playing time certain players would see. I already had my suspicions when I did not recognise the player who caught the last touchdown pass. Shortly before the end of the 3rd quarter I noticed the number 7 had appeared on the field instead of the number 4 which meant Travaris Jackson, the back-up QB was now in charge. After that the Giants scored their only points of the game. I also started to notice other unfamiliar numbers on the field. At that point the tone of the game changed. It was much more quiet and reserved and I spent more time sitting vs. standing but I was able to take photos of the teams. The fans started to leave at the end of the 3rd and by the end of the game most had started out in attempt to beat traffic.

After the game was over I managed to make my way over to where Pam was located. I got to go up into the booth she works in and meet her co-workers. I also got to walk past the visiting team locker room but of course was not permitted to take pictures and no, Eli and Co didn't appear. I did get a neat shot of the stuff being loaded onto the equipment truck. We made our way onto the field where I was able to take more pictures and have mine taken on the 50 yrd line. Really cool if you ask me.

When it was time to go, we were able to walk into the private lot the players get to park their cars in. Not much action there and no photos but still neat. I also got to get a few shots of the Giants buses waiting for the team and again when they were getting the police escort to the airport. I know, dorky but it's not like I'm ever gonna get to do that again.

The ride up to the game was fun and the day beautiful but the ride back home from the game was the total opposite. Unfortunately, Pam's car developed some sort of problem, possibly a loose hose so the car kept overheating. Ironically, the cold weather probably helped keep things from getting too damaged but the having to stop every few miles and add antifreeze and wait 10-15 minutes for the engine to cool down was not fun. Temps were dipping into the double digits below zero and once again I was wishing for those snow boots. The worst stop was on the side of the road between Apple Valley and Northfield...BRRRRRRRRR. Thankfully we finally managed to get our thoroughly frozen selves back to Pam's place.

It was late but I knew I needed to get home so I packed up and off I went. My van wasn't too happy about sitting outside undriven overnight but thankfully warmed up quite nicely so unlike my ride back from Minneapolis I had a warm comfy trip back to my house. It was still long and due to the car problems I was leaving about 3 hours later than my original plan so I didn't get home until after midnight. Dog tired I walked in the door, dropped my stuff on the floor and headed downstairs to greet the loving husband. Unfortunately, I found out both he and Carolyn had picked up the stomach bug and were not feeling that well. Oh well, back to reality.

I'm hoping I figure out what is wrong with my PC so I can download my photos and post them. Hopefully soon. I've got some great shots I want to share with you.