Voyage to a Championship - Day 2

We are in... Vegas!  As part of our whirlwind trip, we decided to take a party bus with the Las Vegas Auburn Club instead of driving a car. The bus was scheduled to leave Excalibur.  On Sunday morning, we timed the walk from MGM Grand to the bus pick up at Excalibur - 14 minutes give or take.  We wanted to be prepared on game day.

Mom and I had the great idea to walk the Strip for exercise.  In order to reach our distance goal, we ended up walking for an hour and 15 minutes.  We also time the walk from MGM to the Flamingo.  Mom, Dad, Jeff, and I attended Auburn party at the Flamingo.  It was hosted by the Las Vegas Auburn Club and we met Freddie Carney!  Freddie is president of the LVAC and put together all the buses for game day.

Jeff and I on the bridge from NYNY to Excalibur, in front of the MGM Grand. 

My parents at the Auburn party. 

 Mom and I with Freddie Carney.

Auburn party

Voyage to a Championship - Day 1

The first day finally arrived for our epic trip. A lot of things had to come together for Auburn to be in the position to play for a national championship. A lot of things had to come together for me and AJ to take this trip. After a long month from the SEC Championship and our invitation to play in the BCS game, we finally arrived at the Atlanta airport. I don't think AJ slept a full night from Dec. 4 to Jan. 8 because he has been so excited.

The contents of my suitcase were orange and blue.  The Atlanta airport was orange and blue.  I was so nervous about losing our game tickets.  I even devised a plan so that AJ would be on one side of the security gate and I would be on the other so we could keep an eye on the tickets. 

At the gate, I used my charm and sweet talking to get AJ on an exit aisle seat.  Then, the gate agent called me back up and got ME on the exit row.  On the plane, I sat next to newlyweds from Austrailia.  As everyone boarded, they asked me - Is there some sort of sporting event going on?  They had no idea......

AJ and his dad, Tony, at the gate  ready to board the plane.

My brother, Jeff, was able to come with us too.

Mom with her #2 button.

Me and mom at the gate.

We arrived in Vegas around 10:30 p.m. Unable to contain our excitement, Jeff and I decided to head to the West Wing Bar at the MGM Grand.  We had a great time catching up.  We counted how many Auburn bowls games we have attended.  We have both gone to 17 games, but not the same 17.  I thought that was amazing.