God Squad Reunion

January 3rd - 5th

After a short week at work, it was time to get away again to Washington DC. We met up with some old friends that all use to live in Blacksburg but have moved all over the east coast. DC was the perfect central meeting place.

Most of the weekend was spent just hanging out and catching up in the awesome townhouse that Meredith found us on AirBnB.

We stayed up until the wee hours of the morning our first night just laughing, catching up and maybe being a little too loud for the renter that was living in the basement...


Jed and Chewie re-enacting a scene from a movie

Dance Time!

Saturday we decided that we were so close to the Mall that we would go check out some museums. It was freezing outside but we didn't care. Our first stop was the National Museum of the American Indian. It was a very pretty building but they didn't have a lot of artifacts displayed compared to the size of the building.

But we still found plenty to see and do.

 

 

Our next stop was the National Air and Space Museum. I feel like I have been in here 1,000 but somehow it never gets old. We should have spent hours in here.

After a while, it was time to find something warm to drink and a little snack so we headed down the mall to PAUL. Pretty expensive for what we were looking for, but it definitely hit the spot.

When we finished at PAUL, a few people were ready to head back to the townhouse to just relax and get ready for the evening. Others decided to go check out an Art Museum and Jed and I decided to tackle some old and new monuments.

Little Hokie Bird & the Capitol

Little Hokie Bird in the National Gallery of Art Sculpture Garden

Washington Monument

Martin Luther King Jr Memorial

By the time we got back to the house we were pretty much icicles but it was well worth it!

That night Brad joined the festivities and we all headed down to Station 4 for dinner. It was a nice place and I definitely felt under dressed for the evening but it didn't stop us from having an amazing time.

 

 

Joe, Jed, Chewie, Shauna, Brad, Terri, Natalie & Meredith

We spent the rest of the night back at our house playing games and being silly.

Sunday came quickly and before we knew it we were all packing up and heading different directions. But we were all so excited to get the change to do that and I am sure we will try and do it again soon.

On our way back, Jed and I stopped off to spend some time with Jordan and Charlotte and there family. It is always so great to see them and catch up with them. So glad we got to spend more than 15 minutes with them this time. I didn't take any pictures but just so I remember, we grabbed a bit to eat at The Counter, spent some time at Starbucks and watched a little football before heading home.

It was a great weekend and we are so thankful we got to hang out with so many friends.

A Texas Bowl Game (Part 3)

December 30th -31st

On Monday morning, Jed and I got up super early and headed to Scenic Drive to watch the sunrise. It was so much fun to sit and hang out and have some time together.

Afterwards we went exploring for the morning.

We found El Paso High School, home of the first Sun Bowl games.

The headed over to see the current Sun Bowl.

On our way back to the hotel, we stopped for breakfast burritos at El Pubelito Cafe.

We picked up Nolan and Jones and headed back out for some adventures. We were on a mission to find a souvenir shop so we could bring back fun stuff for family and friends. Our first stop was a bust and the Big Texas Souvenir Shop was closed but we didn't give up and found another Texas Store in downtown El Paso.

 Unfortunately, this Texas Store wasn't what we thought it was so again, a strike out. But we made the best of it and walked around downtown to see the sights.

Before we knew it, it was time to head to lunch. The other restaurant that we had to try before we left was L & J Cafe. It is known as "The Old Place by the Graveyard" so we had to check out the graveyard first.

Concordia cemetery is a famous cemetery in the area and has many famous gun slingers buried there.

We found the Buffalo Soldier area and it was very interesting to learn about them. We even found a Buffalo Soldier from Roanoke, VA.

We were unsuccessful in finding the old gun slingers but it was very interesting to see how different the cemetery was.

Lunch at L&J's was a fun experience. It was a fun little hole in the walk with good food. So glad we made the trip out there. But before long, it was time to head back so they could all get to work.

While Jed went to work, Derley and I headed out to find some cowboy boots.

We weren't successful but we sure had fun trying.

Since it was the night before the game, we didn't have any activities so we headed out on our own. Jed, Brian and I headed to dinner at The Rub Hut.

This place was out of out of control! It was just a block or two off UTEP campus and was just a fun place. Jed and Brian definitely over did it

After dinner, we called it a night and headed back to the hotel to get packed and get ready for the big day tomorrow.

Tuesday morning Jed and I had to return the car but we decided to head out for one last "local" meal. We had read about a place called, Good Luck Cafe. So we headed out to find it. As our GPS told us we had reached our destination, we quickly found a place to park on the street and headed in.

This place we definitely a hole in the wall. There were nothing but locals here and no one spoke English. It was the perfect way to end the week. We loved the experience and were so glad that we had made one last excursion before our trip was over.

As we drove back to return the car, we then realized that we had made a small mistake. We never made it to Good Luck Cafe, we had stopped and eaten at Lucky Cafe. Silly us.

The rest of the afternoon was all focused on the game. Jed headed to work and I met up with a group of wives and headed down to the VIP Pregame they had sent up for us.

We couldn't have asked for a better bowl, this organization did an amazing job!

As we walked into the game we ran into a ton of tailgaters. It seemed a little odd since neither team was really close enough to bring a large group of fans that would have driven. We quickly realized that most people were just locals that just enjoyed college football, tailgating and the experience of it all. It was just so impressive to see.

The stadium was quite full and again it showed how much the community supported the Sun Bowl as many locals came to just watch a good game.

Unfortunately it wasn't a pretty game for the Hokies and Hokie fans. It close until about the 4th quarter when UCLA pulled away. It was a disappointing way to end a fantastic week.

After the game, Derley & I were allowed to walk onto the field to get over to the team buses and we couldn't help but thing how much fun that would have been with a Hokie victory. But instead we snapped a few quick "sad face" pictures and headed to the buses to head home.

It was such a fantastic trip, an amazing city and by far one of the best Bowl Experiences we have had. Thank you so much Sun Bowl, Vinny, Tony, Mark, David and all the others that made this trip so memorable.

Little Hokie Bird driving us to the airport

Little Hokie Bird about to get on the plane home.

Little Hokie Bird celebrating the New Year on the bus ride from the airport to Blacksburg

Little Hokie Bird at home with his new friends