Football Road Trip 3.0

November 6th -8th

We were so excited to be able to take a few days and hit the road and watch some stress free football. We had quite a few unique combinations of games this year but at the end we decided we would go to Iowa at Indiana University and the Miami Dolphins at Buffalo. The main deciding factor was Jed being a Dolphin's fan and Tyrod Taylor was the starting quarterback for the Buffalo Bills.

On Friday afternoon, we hit the road headed for Bloomington, IL. The goal was to make it as far as we could so we had a short drive the next day to the game. But it is not a Friday night in November without High School football and we were able to find a game in Lexington, KY. We made it to the game by the second quarter as we watched the Henry Clay Blue Devils crush Madison Central 50-9.

We were so excited to be at the game and watch football. However, we were clearly the only ones that felt that way. At halftime, we watch and watched about 90% of the crowd head to the exit. We thought for sure they were be back for the second half and then we started to wonder if we were just confused and it was the end of the game. After about 15 minutes the teams came out to place but the fans were done and never came back. It was a pretty funny experience.

The only other fan in the stands

After the game, we made a quick stop in downtown Lexington, KY for pizza at Goodfella's Pizzeria and were able to make it to the far side of Louisville, KY before calling it a night after 3 states and 400+ miles.

On Saturday morning we found a super cute coffee shop, Nancy's Bagel Grounds before we hit the road so we could spend some time walking around Bloomington before the game started at 3:30pm. We read that we had to check out the wings at  Buffalouie's.

The wings did not disappoint but if you decide to go, make sure you have a lot of time, they are definitely not quick and we got there before the lunch rush!

After lunch, we spent some time walking around, checking out bookstore, campus and all the tailgating around campus. It is a great time of the year to visit as there were still signs of fall all over campus. The campus was really pretty and there seemed to be a large park that ran through the center of campus. The best part of the walk was when we ran into the Iowa Hawkeye's cheerleaders and mascot. We had to take the time to get a picture with them.

Before long, it was time to head into the stadium. We sat around a mix of Iowa & Indiana fans which made for some interesting experiences. Iowa was favored to win the game but Indiana gave them a run for there money, it ended Iowa up 35-27. Overall it was a great game and we couldn't have asked for a better day for a football game.

Travel on the way out was a much different story. Little did we know, there is only one road out of Bloomington, IN and with 40,000 people leaving the stadium all at the same time with construction on the only road out it took us a lot longer to get up the road to Buffalo, NY. Our goal was to make it into Pennsylvania before calling it a night but we failed and only made it to Bellville, OH. Day two we were in 3 different states and covered an additional 430+ miles.

We were up and out super early on Sunday in order to get to Orchard Park, NY before kick off at 1pm. We were really hopeful to make it into Buffalo, NY to try some real deal wings but much to our super, they were not opened early enough for us to make it there and to the game on time and we needed to get to the game early since we had to pick up tickets from Will Call.

I guess now is as good as anytime to explain what happened with tickets to this game. As we were deciding which games to go to this year and this was a possibility, Jed thought he would reach out to Tyrod just to see if he remembered Jed and if he was willing to hook him up with some tickets. We were both SHOCKED when Jed got a quick response back from him letting Jed know there would be tickets for us at Will Call for that game.

So the day of the game, we walked around to about 3 different Will Calls trying to find our tickets. We both secretly thought that it was too good to be true and were pretty sure we would going to have to scalp into the game. By the 3rd Will Call we were just asking so we can say to ourselves that we tried before heading off to find tickets elsewhere. We walked up to Will Call and asked for tickets under Castro. He walked away and came back not with a NO but a "Who left you tickets?" (ie, There is no way the starting quarterback for our beloved team left YOU tickets.) We sheepishly responded with "Tyrod Taylor" and up came an envelope with tickets TO: Jed Castro FROM: Tyrod Taylor. I desperately wanted to take a picture of the envelope but we were both trying to keep our cool as we were both in complete awe and shock that it was really happening.

We waited until we walked away before we checked in the envelope, not only did it have tickets but it has yellow wrist bands that got us in the family entrance so we didn't have to walk in with the crowds! It took everything in me not to bounce around like a little kid with excitement in getting this crazy experience.

As we walked to our seats, our eyes grew larger and larger and our jaws pretty much hit the ground when we got to our seats. There was no way we were in the right seats. I was so sure we were in the wrong seats I turned around to the people behind me and made them look and my tickets and make sure we were where we were supposed to be. I could not believe it when they told me we were.

We were about 3 rows from the field!! We were over the moon and truly could not comprehend all that we were experiencing. It was just so unreal for us. After walking around a little bit, we headed back to our seats for the start of the game when I finished looking in the envelope. I was dumbfounded when I pulled out...

Seriously, tickets to the post game. We were stunned. But we didn't have time to focus on that right then, it was time for the game.

We had the best time at the game and loved watching everything that happens on the sideline. Jed will always be a Dolphins fan but it didn't take more then one or two downs before Jed became a Buffalo Bills fan. By halftime, we were in the gift shop looking to purchase a Taylor jersey.

It was also the time that we made the incredibly difficult decision to "be adults" and even if we would really, really like to go to the pass game festivities, we had to make the grown up decision and start the really long drive home.

So after the game, we hit the road about 4pm. With 533 miles and 4 states to go, we didn't make too many stops along the way. But we did make one quick pit stop for dinner at Primanti Bros.

It was such an unreal weekend and I absolutely love getting the opportunity to do with Jed each year. I hope and pray we get the opportunity to do it again next season. But until then, we head home for more Hokie Football. But I can't end this post without a HUGE THANK YOU to Tyrod Taylor. You made this trip and we can not say thank you enough. You are the best!

Halloween Bachelorette Party

October 31st

With only a few weeks before Meredith & Antonio get married, we needed to get together and celebrate the pending wedding. So a group of ladies all made there way to Blenheim Vineyards to spend the day tasting wine and snacks.

After our day at the winery, we headed to Richmond to get changed into our theme for the evening, the 80's and head out for a fun evening of wild costumes and live music.

It was such a great time with new and old friends. We are all looking forward to the big wedding in a few weeks.

Birthday Celebration & Football

October 22 - 25th

This weekend we invited as many friends and family to celebrate Jed's birthday. Since Jed's actual birthday was on a Thursday the celebrating started pretty early in the week. For a while, Jed had talked about wanting a birthday party in the glass room in the movie theatre. For a while it was so funny to laugh about it but after a while, I realized that it would be awesome to surprise him with a little kid birthday party in the movie theatre glass room. But that part of the birthday will come later.

Jed started his morning with a huge surprise when we walked into his office. A bunch of people from work thought it would be hilarious to aluminum foil his office!

Jed's next surprise, we had a group of friends over to the house for pizza from Giordano's before we headed to the movie threatre. He was so surprised and it was so much fun!

After celebrating in the glass party room, we hopped into the movie theatre and watched The Martian.

It was a great way to celebrate Jed's birthday and we were excited to continue the celebrating as friends and family started to arrive in town on Friday evening.

Everyone got here by the time we were out tailgating on Saturday afternoon. The tailgate was a great time for everyone to hang out and catch up. It was so great to see everyone and just hang out.

The game was great and very stressful. We still can't believe we lost the game 43-45 in 4 overtimes! What a crazy game.

On Sunday, we had one last party for everyone to celebrate Jed's birthday since he spent most of his day yesterday working and didn't get a chance to hangout with friends and family.

 It was such a great day. We couldn't have asked for a warmer, prettier day. We all had a great time running around the park and stuffing our faces with pizza, cake and candy from the pinata!

After celebrating Jed's birthday for the last 4 days, it was time to change focus as everyone headed home and we headed to a wedding renewal service. It was such an honor to be a part of this service and it was a great way to end the weekend.

Congratulations Robyn & DR!