Yes there were long lines and yes it was very disorganized but the Traveling Hillbilly was happy to “suffer” through these inconveniences for this once in a lifetime experience. Going to the Super Bowl is something that only a small percentage of the population will ever get to experience and I am grateful to now be among that small but lucky group. It truly was an amazing event. The pageantry, the thrill, the excitement and energy of the fans made for one very memorable evening. Before the game even began, we knew we were in for a thrill.
Chills ran through me as we entered the stadium. It truly is a stunning piece of architecture. The sheer size and magnitude of the stadium make you pause for just a moment. We were fortunate enough to be on a level with lots of great bars and food just steps away. We got even more excited to discover our seats were on the 50 yard line! WOW! What a view. There is a giant screen TV that hangs above the field. It’s like watching the game on a movie theater screen. Although at times it could be distracting.
While the game started off kind of slow, the Traveling Hillbilly could not have asked for a more exciting game for my first Super Bowl! The Packers had a strong early lead but the Steelers fought back, making it anyone’s game in the 3rd quarter. This tense but exciting action continued well into the 4th quarter. With fans from both teams on their feet often, rooting for their team, you could feel the camaraderie in the stadium. There were strangers high fiving one another, shaking hands and often even hugging, sharing in the joy of their team’s success. There was also some good natured rivalry going on. While the teams battled it out on the field, so did the fans in the seats. There was some back and forth shouting and ribbing, but it was in good fun and everyone around us displayed true sportsmanship. While the Steelers were not able to pull off what would have been a monumental win, they came back and delivered a truly exciting game right up until the end! The Traveling Hillbilly thanks both teams for great game!
As if the excitement of the game wasn’t enough, the halftime show was spectacular. Again, I have to say, WOW! I have heard it did not play as well on TV, but live it was amazing. It was full of energy and visually stunning. It made us all want to get up and dance. We were very pleasantly surprised to see both Slash and USHER there as well. The Black Eyed Peas and Usher put on one amazing show. It was the best Super Bowl performance I’ve seen. It really is a shame if it did not come across on television as the fantastic show it was.
So from this humble fan’s experience, it was a night to remember! So for those of you who only remember the long lines, the disorganization and the petty frustrations of getting to the game, shame on you. Maybe you’ve just been to one too many Super Bowls. Maybe you are the type of person that is never pleased and always focuses on the bad. Now don’t get me wrong, I understand the disappointment Steelers fans must have felt and I empathize with those few hundred folks who showed up with a ticket only to be turned away because their seats were deemed “unsafe.” But for those of you who actually made it inside the stadium and still walked away complaining about the inconveniences you had to deal with, then maybe you need to take a time out and realize how fortunate you were to witness such a spectacular event. If you can’t, then maybe next time you should give your ticket to someone who would truly appreciate this potentially once in a lifetime experience.
A huge shout out to my friends at ESPN. A huge thanks to all of you for one of the Traveling Hillbilly’s greatest adventures!
Monday, February 7, 2011
It All Started at the Tailgate Party
Of course, tailgating is part of the whole Super Bowl experience. Well ESPN took tailgating to a whole new level! We went to hangar 1048 at the Naval Air Station Forth Worth. There were two “rooms” inside the hanger. The first was set up with tables and plenty of food. We had burgers, fries, sausage, chicken, veggies and some mac & cheese with peach and berry cobbler for dessert. There was of course, plenty of beer, wine and cocktails to go around. But the food was not even the highlight of this tailgate party. In the second room, they had all kinds of interesting things for us to see and do. We got to tap into the kid inside each of us and play all afternoon. There were flying simulators, a real fighter plane, guns, shooting games and of course a mechanical bull. After all it is Texas! The Traveling Hillbilly skipped the mechanical bull but had a great time checking out the planes, helicopter and even a dump truck. There were several members of the reserves on hand to talk to us about the equipment and what they do. It was very eye opening and we should all be thankful for what these brave and often, very young, men and women do for us.
Saturday, February 5, 2011
Terrorist Attack or Sick Joke?
After a great night’s sleep, the Traveling Hillbilly was rudely awakened by the hotel alarm sounding off! The alarm was followed by an announcement telling us to evacuate the building! What? Evacuate the building? Many thoughts ran through my head; could this be a terrorist attack, do I have time to put on some jeans, brush my teeth, grab my shoes? While I’m still processing all these random thoughts, a voice comes back on the intercom system telling us not to panic, they are checking on the alarm and there is no need to evacuate the building. Potential emergency situation averted! Still don’t know what happened, but am glad all turned out okay!
The Traveling Hillbilly Does Dallas
Yes, it is true. The Traveling Hillbilly is actually in Dallas/Ft. Worth for the Super Bowl. So I landed yesterday to find everything blanketed in snow. What a beautiful but concerning sight. After a little confusion with the car pick up, I got to the hotel with just enough time for a quick workout before heading to dinner. We had dinner at a fantastic restaurant called Grace, www.gracefortworth.com and then it was off to River Ranch for ESPN Magazine’s big party of the weekend. Can we say, interesting wall hangings? Deer, sheep, all kinds of interesting things hanging from the wall (see attached pictures). We got to see Kid Rock perform, who was surprisingly fun and energetic. It had been a long day of travel and fun so we decided to call it a night and headed back to the hotel early. Well, at least we thought it was early. Turns out it was actually 2am!
Friday, February 4, 2011
The Traveling Hillbilly @ the Super Bowl?
Could it really be true? Is the Traveling Hillbilly actually going to the 2011 Super Bowl? Come back over the next few days and find out.
Sunday, November 28, 2010
Ping Pong, Bingo and a Jittery Day at the Zoo
So I met my friends at their hotel for a day of fun. After relaxing poolside for a few hours, we decided to head to the zoo. It’s walking distance from their hotel and seemed like a truly interesting thing to do. What would a Mexican zoo be like?
Before heading out on our adventure though, we had to play a few rounds of Bingo! The tension was running high as the numbers were called out. Was he ever going to call a number on my card? It certainly didn’t seem like it.
Now Bingo is a little different here in Mexico, at least at the Barcelo Resort it was played differently. The first game, you had to get four corners to win. The Traveling Hillbilly got one corner, before my friend Mike shouted Bingo! Well actually, he shouted Viva Le Mexico! That was the rule. He won a wonderful Mexican calendar/plaque. We think he plans on wearing it as a necklace. The next round, we just had to get one line of numbers. It got more difficult as the rounds continued. The final game, we had to get two rows of numbers to win! After a few more exciting rounds, Bingo was over and it was time to head to the zoo.
Now as many of you know, when you go to the zoo one of the main rules is “Don’t Feed the Animals.” Well that’s not the case here. They will actually sell you a back of food so you can feed the animals. Given my friends had heard a woman from their hotel got bit trying to feed a bear; we decided to pass on the food.
The first thing we see as we walk in is a monkey handing out on top of a red tent. We stop to watch the monkey and then realize that inside the tent are baby tigers and someone is actually petting them. We stand and watch this amazing spectacle until little Dylan, calls out, “look it’s a snake!” At first I didn’t see it, and then suddenly I realized where he was pointing. There in a tree, just above us, perched a snake coiled around a tree branch! Ok, most of you may not know this, but the Traveling Hillbilly, HATES snakes. They really freak me out. So this is how our visit to the Puerto Vallarta Zoo starts off, with a snake hanging out in the tree above us, not in cage, not in glassed in case, just lounging in the tree. So my day of jitters begins! Needless to say, I spent the rest of our walk through the zoo, looking up, checking for snakes constantly!
But I was not surprised to discover the snake was not the only scary thing in the zoo. A lot of the animals are not really in a cage and there isn’t much, if any, barrier between you and a lot of what I would consider dangerous animals. Now the bears, the jaguars, lions, tigers and some mean monkeys were behind fencing but you could actually reach out and touch a lot of the animals. I have never been so close to a camel, a giraffe and zebras! I was even a little too close for comfort to a few alligators! Just avoid looking them in the eye. I hear they can move and jump very quickly. We moved past the alligators in their low concrete wall, quickly. But we stopped to for a while to hang with the pink flamingos. They truly are beautiful creatures. We also had fun with the Zebras. Oh, and the baby pigs were so cute! My friends even got to pet a baby tiger! All in all it was a very fun and exciting adventure. Once we were outside the zoo, safe and sound, my jitters subsided and I had to admit, it was a cool experience! One you would never get to have in the states, or most countries for that matter!
Before heading out on our adventure though, we had to play a few rounds of Bingo! The tension was running high as the numbers were called out. Was he ever going to call a number on my card? It certainly didn’t seem like it.
Now Bingo is a little different here in Mexico, at least at the Barcelo Resort it was played differently. The first game, you had to get four corners to win. The Traveling Hillbilly got one corner, before my friend Mike shouted Bingo! Well actually, he shouted Viva Le Mexico! That was the rule. He won a wonderful Mexican calendar/plaque. We think he plans on wearing it as a necklace. The next round, we just had to get one line of numbers. It got more difficult as the rounds continued. The final game, we had to get two rows of numbers to win! After a few more exciting rounds, Bingo was over and it was time to head to the zoo.
Now as many of you know, when you go to the zoo one of the main rules is “Don’t Feed the Animals.” Well that’s not the case here. They will actually sell you a back of food so you can feed the animals. Given my friends had heard a woman from their hotel got bit trying to feed a bear; we decided to pass on the food.
The first thing we see as we walk in is a monkey handing out on top of a red tent. We stop to watch the monkey and then realize that inside the tent are baby tigers and someone is actually petting them. We stand and watch this amazing spectacle until little Dylan, calls out, “look it’s a snake!” At first I didn’t see it, and then suddenly I realized where he was pointing. There in a tree, just above us, perched a snake coiled around a tree branch! Ok, most of you may not know this, but the Traveling Hillbilly, HATES snakes. They really freak me out. So this is how our visit to the Puerto Vallarta Zoo starts off, with a snake hanging out in the tree above us, not in cage, not in glassed in case, just lounging in the tree. So my day of jitters begins! Needless to say, I spent the rest of our walk through the zoo, looking up, checking for snakes constantly!
But I was not surprised to discover the snake was not the only scary thing in the zoo. A lot of the animals are not really in a cage and there isn’t much, if any, barrier between you and a lot of what I would consider dangerous animals. Now the bears, the jaguars, lions, tigers and some mean monkeys were behind fencing but you could actually reach out and touch a lot of the animals. I have never been so close to a camel, a giraffe and zebras! I was even a little too close for comfort to a few alligators! Just avoid looking them in the eye. I hear they can move and jump very quickly. We moved past the alligators in their low concrete wall, quickly. But we stopped to for a while to hang with the pink flamingos. They truly are beautiful creatures. We also had fun with the Zebras. Oh, and the baby pigs were so cute! My friends even got to pet a baby tiger! All in all it was a very fun and exciting adventure. Once we were outside the zoo, safe and sound, my jitters subsided and I had to admit, it was a cool experience! One you would never get to have in the states, or most countries for that matter!
Monday, August 23, 2010
Things I Learned on a Southwest Flight
Given I had a few hours to kill on the flight to Kansas City; I decided to pick up Southwest Spirit, the in-flight magazine. I figured I’d kill a half hour or so of the trip. Let me tell you, the Traveling Hillbilly was amazed by what a wealth of information the magazine was.
Things the Traveling Hillbilly learned on the way to Kansas City
• A great Bourbon Slush recipe – can’t wait to try it out at the next cocktail party
• Cows that get personal attention produce more milk. This one seems like common sense to me, given we all just want a little love and attention
• Barry Manilow has a show in Vegas
• The eggplant and bell peppers I eat frequently could be aggravating my sore knees
• Chili on cucumbers? Hhhhhmmm sounds worth trying
• I need to be more adventurous when making my own sandwiches, although a simple grilled cheese will always be a great thing
• The future is here, and it looks scary, and it’s called CENEGENICS (Dr. Rosenstein, creepy)
• The Traveling Hillbilly needs to go to Beantown
• How to make a chair out of a dollar bill (although honestly it didn’t look quite as good as the one in the magazine)
• Maybe the Traveling Hillbilly should travel the globe in search of the best pizza
Things the Traveling Hillbilly learned on the way to Kansas City
• A great Bourbon Slush recipe – can’t wait to try it out at the next cocktail party
• Cows that get personal attention produce more milk. This one seems like common sense to me, given we all just want a little love and attention
• Barry Manilow has a show in Vegas
• The eggplant and bell peppers I eat frequently could be aggravating my sore knees
• Chili on cucumbers? Hhhhhmmm sounds worth trying
• I need to be more adventurous when making my own sandwiches, although a simple grilled cheese will always be a great thing
• The future is here, and it looks scary, and it’s called CENEGENICS (Dr. Rosenstein, creepy)
• The Traveling Hillbilly needs to go to Beantown
• How to make a chair out of a dollar bill (although honestly it didn’t look quite as good as the one in the magazine)
• Maybe the Traveling Hillbilly should travel the globe in search of the best pizza
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