Thursday was our "Sports Fans R Us" day! We started the day by going to Oklahoma Univeristy, home of the Sooners (and preseaon ranked #1 team). The stadium gates were open, so we had a great opportunity to walk around and take pictures of Oklahoma Memorial Stadium. We also went into the Barry Switzer Center and saw Oklahoma's numerous trophies. Ben liked seeing the Heisman Trophies in particular. It was a nice facility, and you can tell they take a lot of pride in their Sooners.
Next, we were ready to hit the road to Dallas. I was grateful it was such a short journey (like 3 hours). I don't think I have ever seen Jonathan so excited to do something...he knew we were going on a tour of the Cowboys Stadium that afternoon, and it is all he talked about. We are not huge pro-football fans, but we thought it would be fun to tour such unique structure. Also, for months Jonathan has watched a you-tube video of its construction, so we knew it would be a hit with him as well. I wonder where he gets his love of stadiums from?
We were not disappointed at all with our time spent at Cowboys Stadium. In Jonathan's exact words, "It was awesome!" At first when we arrived, it was a bit overwhelming with 900 teenagers there to play dodge ball and go on a self-guided tour. Once we started our VIP tour, we had about 25 people in our group, so it was not bad at all. Our tour guide had a great sense of humor and entertained us with stories and facts about Cowboys Stadium and Jerry Jones, the owner of the Cowboys.
Our favorite parts of being there included seeing the big screen (only took 1 year to build it), playing on the field (their motto is "Do not walk on field. Play on it."), and going into the players' locker room. I was amazed at the details in the structure and how everything is coordinated, from the football shaped lamps to the black pearl tile that has some Cowboy Blue reflected in it.
Once we were done with our tour and playing catch on the field, we were off to the Texas Rangers baseball game against the Minnesota Twins. The stadium was just a hop, skip and a jump away, so it didn't take us long to get there. At 5 pm, it was 100 degrees, and we each downed a bottled water before entering. We took pictures by the Nolan Ryan Statue, where David and I did the same 12 years ago.
Now we were off to our "All You Can Eat Seats." Yes, we each got a wristband as we entered the area and were able to eat or drink as much as we wanted from the restaurant. It had grilled chicken sandwiches, hot dogs, nachos, peanuts and popcorn...typical baseball food. We enjoyed the game, especially when the sun went down, and the Rangers had a 4-1 victory. Our trek back to the hotel was quite the adventure; I will say that I am very grateful my husband is not opposed to asking for directions (and more than once!).
The next day...
Friday was mainly a driving day. We left Texas without too much difficulty, yet another story for another day...By lunch time we made it to Shreveport, Louisiana and were thrilled to drink sweet tea and to see a rain shower. Welcome back to the South! Thanks Mem for the recommendation of Shane's; we all enjoyed our lunch.
We pressed on and continued our travels throughout Louisiana to Baton Rogue. Crossing the Mississippi River was interesting, mainly because of all of the traffic and rain. But also just sitting on the bridge at times left an uneasy feeling in my stomach!
After checking into the hotel, we headed to the campus of LSU and to find a dinner spot. We had fun seeing their mascot Mike the Tiger, a real Bengal Tiger, in his large created habitat. He was sleeping, though several people there tried to wake him. We took a walk around Tiger Stadium. It is a large, old structure; not too impressive on the outside, though I am sure this all changes in the inside during game time.
Our dinner search was pretty weird...probably too much to explain now, but we did end up at Reginellia's Pizzeria and enjoyed our last night out on vacation.
Today...
Everyone is so ready to be home today. We even talked yesterday about driving straight home yesterday from Dallas, but David and I didn't think we could do it (especially since he has done most of the driving). So we said good bye to Baton Rouge today..our final destination Home Sweet Home!
We drove down to New Orleans...went past the Superdome and were able to see some damage in other buildings from Hurricane Katrina.
Then we hit our last Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives stop in Ocean Springs, MS at The Shed. It was quite the BBQ place. It looked like a salvage yard that tried to get organized into a building. You must ask David or the boys about the bathrooms. Definitely wacky! The BBQ was delicious...we were fed at the Shed and then we were on the road again.
We were all thrilled to arrive in our home state of Florida. I think everyone screamed with excitement. Now just a few more hours on the road....
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