Back from our Honeymoon

Stupid Buckeyes.

We left before the crack of dawn Sunday for our trip to Arizona, which would be our honeymoon. I was so excited. I didn't have any caffeine but I was so jumpy and anxious - I just couldn't wait to get there! We had a fun afternoon and evening in Phoenix with Luke, Loney and Nick, and waited for Isaac's arrival around 11:00 that evening. We headed back to the hotel around 2:00 and anxiously awaited the arrival of the next day.

We all woke up, got breakfast at Denny's, got ready, and headed to the stadium. Now, don't get me wrong - I've always been a fan of the city of Phoenix. Glendale, however, seemed quite different. It was in the middle of NOWHERE. There was city, then we crossed some railroad tracks, and there was nothing. Literally, nothing. Out of nowhere you see this big round thing up in the air and realize it's the stadium - the stadium looks like a spaceship or something of the sort. Ugliest thing ever.

There's nothing around but a new mall. It gave off quite a Disney impression - they were putting things in the desert that just didn't fit.

We parked the minivan and started tailgating, waiting the 4 or 5 hours until we could enter the stadium. We had all agreed that we would go into the stadium long before kickoff so we could enjoy every possible moment. It didn't hinder our tailgating at all, for they sold beer at the game.

We really enjoyed ourselves all afternoon. The weather was perfect (mid-70s), the atmosphere was fun (Buckeye fans everywhere!), it was a good time. The band came out for pregame, the game started, Ted Ginn ran the kickoff back for a touchdown, I thought I would surely lose my voice. Then Florida scored and it got a little quieter. Then they scored again and it got even quieter yet. That continued for the rest of the evening. It was awful - I was in my worst nightmare, and we had paid a fortune to participate.

To this day I don't know what went wrong, but those were not the Buckeyes from the season. My high school could have beat those Buckeyes. It was embarassing. It was heartbreaking. We wanted to leave the state as soon as possible.

Now here we are back in Wisconsin, still trying to figure out just what went wrong. We'll never have the answer, of course, so we might as well just let it rest.

Despite the awful ending, the first half of the trip was great. Here are some pictures to see: