Once upon a time, a Georgia girl met a Clemson boy and she promised her family to never pull for a Tiger... but aren't promises made to be broken?
And who wouldn't trade teams when you have two cute little children, who wear cute little outfits, and smile pretty in pictures with those outfits on.... I caved and began pulling for Clemson when we moved back to Georgia... I guess that was the trade for Mark... I'll pull for Clemson if you let me move to Georgia.
From the time they were born, they have been going to Clemson games. We were there many times just tailgating, but it was enough to get that blood to run orange. KB has pulled for them since she started participating in Tiger for a Day...
and don't all little boys pull for the team that their daddy loves? By the way... I smocked these outfits with the help of my neighbor.... Oh what fun it was... and I have never done it again!
So after many years of disappointment... Clemson finally made it to the National Championship. While I thought that everyone would think we were crazy for traveling to the game all the way in Arizona... I only heard how crazy we were for not going and experiencing this once in a lifetime trip.... so we did it... we cashed in all our frequent flyer miles, hotel points, and a little on the side to have a trip of a lifetime!
Mayonnaise and Veve took Sis, Boo, and me to the airport on Saturday morning to catch a flight to Salt Lake City and then to Las Vegas.
After dropping our things in the room, we headed to find supper on the strip. It was quite eye-opening for Ben and KB and neat to watch the different people from all over! We decided to go to see the show Blue-Man Group and Mark loved it! There were Clemson people everywhere!
We stayed at the Luxor and that's a snapchat symbol on the side...
Sunday morning we headed to find Pawn Stars... I have never watched the show... there is no drama there... anyway... Ben and Mark thought it was great!
Then we headed to Hoover Dam... This picture is on the new sky bridge. It makes me nervous and my knees weak just looking at it.
Ben is in one state and KB is in the other.
I'm in one state and Mark is in the other... we stay in two different states of mind anyway!
KB and Ben with Hoover Dam in the background.
Pictures with another state they visited.
We left Hoover Dam and headed to Scottsdale, Arizona for the night. We were starving and met this sweet waitress on Route 66 at a little country restaurant. She was so nice to us!
Had to take this...
Our tickets to the game...
Lee Harvey Oswald, Jr. (Ben and Cole get that name) loves to look at firearms... he was all about these police officers on the corner outside the stadium... so he was all about a picture with them.
Excitement outside the stadium,..
Family picture with the sun right in our eyes!
Inside
Getting ready for the game to start....
I thought I had downloaded all the pics... and I'm too lazy to go back and put them in order... so now my pics...
We didn't have seats by each other on the plane... I thought Ben was going to be nervous, but he wasn't... he did fine sitting between two sweet men who didn't bother him and he didn't bother them!
Inside the stadium before kick-off
And someone spent over an hour in the car studying for her AP World History class... If I had been more like her... I could have been a doctor!
Waiting for Marion to come pick us up from the airport... 30 hours with no bed... so tired!
Walking outside the stadium!
Another Blue Man group pose...
Pawn Stars photo...
What we saw for 4 1/2 hours all the way to Arizona... but the crazy thing is there were so many Clemson fans who did the same thing! They were everywhere!
This is Sis on the ride to Salt Lake City...
On the strip watching cars come by...
At the game!
Warming up still...
Desert ground... snow-capped mountains.... a strange site for this Georgia girl!
And my favorite picture of the entire trip... a make-do bed... putting three suitcases together, kick your shoes off... throw a sweatshirt over you... and take a nap on the floor in the airport! I'm so proud of my travelers and how well they handled the crazy hours.
Clemson didn't win, but we are so proud of how well they played...and I will say that I love Alabama fans.... they truly wanted Dabo to win too... but they weren't willing to give up a title for it! We had a great time and it was worth every bit of money and vacation days spent... I'm thinking the trip to Hawaii for my 20th anniversary was probably just spent in Arizona... but that's okay too... we loved it!
For many years Mark has told me that the anxiety that I build up in my mind before an event isn't nearly as bad as the event itself. My children have never traveled well... they get car sick when the car is put in reverse in the driveway... okay... not really that bad, but if they don't have a little Dramamine then we can expect nausea to occur. Christmas morning our surprise of getting to visit the Orange Bowl in Miami immediately made me have a little worry... By Christmas night, I had decided to ask Emmie and Phil if they wanted to ride in the car with us... you know... to let them experience the throwing up, the 100 questions, and the fighting that goes along with "Riding with the McKinneys"....
After a little back and forth, it was a "dill pickle" that the Roberts would be joining in the family truckster to head to Miami.... it was a fun trip that will have my children talking for years.... actually... it will be hard to top the laughs we shared as we headed to see the Tigers play.
We luckily ended up a little better off than the Griswold family and their truckster... We loved ours... It was pouring rain when we left Lincolnton, but by the time we hit Statesboro.... we had better weather. As we stopped there to get ice, a man asked us if there was a game we were headed to... I wanted to call him a moron, but I said, "Yeah, we are all dressed in our gear, car flags flying, and headed south".... He didn't even know who was playing... bless his heart... some people really live under rocks in areas of our world... I mean I don't follow every single sport, but I can give you the months of the important events in sports... like April is golf, March is basketball, etc...
On the way down, we stopped for lunch in St. Augustine... and we just happened to be across from the outlets... We had a thirty minute time limit to find Sis some appropriate shorts and Emmie some boots! We were back in the car with two minutes to spare! We realized at this point that we were going to burn up at the game the next day! It was very hot!
We hit the mall when we got to Boca Raton and then had a late supper... after dropping off a few at the Cheesecake Factory... we headed to find some Simply Sleep! We got to bed around eleven and slept like rocks after traveling and shopping all day. Ben was so excited that he bought a pair of shoes with his own money! He was not excited about the $4 he spent on an Italian Ice... he wanted to "earn" that four dollars back because he said it was nasty! It's amazing the things children will pass up when they have to spend their own money!
December 31st--- we headed out for the thirty minute drive to Sun Belt Stadium... coffee in hand, game attire on, and nerves were top on the list!
It was absolutely beautiful in this area... and we were amazed at the weather... we would have a stretch of pouring down rain one minute and the sun the next.
Thank goodness Phil had a parking pass... we were able to pull right in and get on the second row!
Toll booths were everywhere... Pretty neat that they go ahead and charge you before you enter!
The girls... a rose between two thorns... just teasing... We were windblown at this point and just feeling how hot we were going to be... as we were taking this picture, Mark pointed out that we needed to take the next shot... and only use it in the blog if we won... well....
Here we go..... we know the results... and we were thinking we drove a long way... wow... they really drove a long way! Speaking of... there were so many Clemson fans on the road... it looked like driving into Anderson all the way from Jacksonville to Miami. There was orange everywhere!
The McKinneys with the family truckster....
Headed to Fanfest for a little fun before the game.
We passed by some cute girls... and guess who needed a picture... check out his smile!
Selfies before the game... yes... we got tattoos on our faces!
Emmie and Phil in front of the trophy...
The McKinneys in front of the trophy... again... one of those photos we were really nervous about taking before the game!
Headed to our seats! The excitement on their faces is great! It makes my heart smile to see how excited they were.
We were high.... in the sun for awhile... but it was great!
We were surrounded by Clemson fans and that made it even better...
John Fogarty was the halftime show... not impressive to KB and Ben, but it will be neat for us to say we have seen him.... I won't be paying to go see him... I can promise you that.
We picked at Mark the entire trip about his smile... this is what KB made for him on the way home... Bless his heart.....
We are all smiles... Clemson is headed to the National Championship... we might get "blowed out" as James says and is hoping, but Clemson is going.... So exciting!
Fans were crazy afterwards.... Ironically, we drove back to our area at the hotel and the man in the background with the Alabama shirt on was at our restaurant!
Katie Britt's first Clemson ballgame was back in 2004... Ben and I stayed back in Greenville and went shopping... This trip he is still sitting in her lap, they are all smiles, and their little hearts are bleeding orange.
What a fun trip we had... It was a great surprise that had me anxious before we got there... the win made the ride home a lot faster and easier... And that's my wish this new year... that those things that make me anxious, my children anxious, and my family anxious.... will always turn out like this past week.... all smiles!
And for a reminder of the childlike qualities every man keeps...
