We had a great time. The trip started off extremely well as we left 20 minutes before our planned departure time. We ran into a little bit of traffic on our way out of town as I guess a bunch of Alabama fans and South Carolina fans were headed home. Unfortunately we hadn't even gotten up to speed when we had to slow down as there was a pretty ugly wreck on the highway. We saw two cars, both facing the oncoming direction, one in the median and the other on our right. We couldn't tell if they both spun around to face the wrong direction or if they were both heading in the direction they ended up and just managed to not crash into anyone in our lanes.
We got to our hotel in Douglasville and I took a nap while Chris and Jordan watched some football on TV. Then we went out in search of the TGI Fridays that we saw in the yellow pages. We didn't find it so we settled on Logan's Road House for supper. Then we headed to the game. We only took one wrong turn before we were able to find the stadium. Parking in and around the Georgia Dome is scarce and we ended up having to pay $25 to park and we still had a pretty good walk to get to the stadium.
The security in and around the stadium was good, we all had a pat-down before they let us in. The women had a choice of two lines to go through while the men had about 10 different lines they could go through. Got through security and then set about trying to find Chris a Bear's shirt. We found a LOT of Falcon's stuff but no Bear's stuff. :( We stopped at a vendor and got two sodas and a beer---with our pockets $17 emptier we found out seats.
Hey, guess what? I'm afraid of heights. Yeah. Not a good thing when your tickets are in the nose bleed section. So, in that picture of Chris and me---yeah, that's not so much excitement in my eyes as much as it is fear. Luckily the people that were sitting in front of us sat down fairly early and with someone sitting directly in front of me I was able to settle down and enjoy the game.
We enjoyed watching the teams doing some basic pre-game warm-ups and we enjoyed people watching. As kick off time was drawing close Chris made a comment about how empty the stadium was. I looked around and saw that it didn't even look half-full. Then we got caught up in watching the teams take the field, the singing of the National Anthem and the coin toss. When the teams were lining up for the kick-off I looked and the stadium was completely full. It's amazing how fast a stadium can fill.
We were mostly seated amongst Bears fans. But there was an occasional small pocket of Falcon's fans. Lucky for me I was sitting next to a very understanding Falcon's fan. He had his big binoculars and he watched the game through them. He didn't holler and cheer nor did he have a verbal 'sparring' contest with any of the fans around us. He was nice. The guys that were sitting behind us were drunk Bear's fans. The one directly behind Chris get spitting on the ground and rubbing it with his foot then he started eating peanuts and kept dropping the shells onto Chris's back. During half time people were milling around everywhere and someone kicked over one of their beers. I was lucky in that something made me look behind me just as the beer was headed down. I got Chris's jacket and my purse up and out of the way but the hood on my jacket got pretty wet before I could get it out of the way.
After the game I got really nervous as the crowd getting out of the stadium was so big. I was really scared that we were going to get separated. Then once the crowd started to thin out just the barest little bit some of the more drunk Falcon's fans were not being nice to those of us wearing Bears colors. THAT made me even more nervous. Once we got a little bit away from the stadium and we were on our way to the car I spent my energy 'booking it' as Jordan was saying. I just had no desire to be ambushed by drunk Falcon's fans. I wanted the safety of the car and I wanted it right THEN! We made it to the car after being shouted at by about every Falcon fan that we happened to come across.
We didn't make it back to the hotel until 1:30 in the morning. We collapsed into bed and Jordan was very nice and played his video game quietly this morning while Chris and I slept until 10:00.
It was a great time and I hope Chris really enjoyed his first NFL football game---even if the Bear's beat themselves.
We got to our hotel in Douglasville and I took a nap while Chris and Jordan watched some football on TV. Then we went out in search of the TGI Fridays that we saw in the yellow pages. We didn't find it so we settled on Logan's Road House for supper. Then we headed to the game. We only took one wrong turn before we were able to find the stadium. Parking in and around the Georgia Dome is scarce and we ended up having to pay $25 to park and we still had a pretty good walk to get to the stadium.
The security in and around the stadium was good, we all had a pat-down before they let us in. The women had a choice of two lines to go through while the men had about 10 different lines they could go through. Got through security and then set about trying to find Chris a Bear's shirt. We found a LOT of Falcon's stuff but no Bear's stuff. :( We stopped at a vendor and got two sodas and a beer---with our pockets $17 emptier we found out seats.
Hey, guess what? I'm afraid of heights. Yeah. Not a good thing when your tickets are in the nose bleed section. So, in that picture of Chris and me---yeah, that's not so much excitement in my eyes as much as it is fear. Luckily the people that were sitting in front of us sat down fairly early and with someone sitting directly in front of me I was able to settle down and enjoy the game.
We enjoyed watching the teams doing some basic pre-game warm-ups and we enjoyed people watching. As kick off time was drawing close Chris made a comment about how empty the stadium was. I looked around and saw that it didn't even look half-full. Then we got caught up in watching the teams take the field, the singing of the National Anthem and the coin toss. When the teams were lining up for the kick-off I looked and the stadium was completely full. It's amazing how fast a stadium can fill.
We were mostly seated amongst Bears fans. But there was an occasional small pocket of Falcon's fans. Lucky for me I was sitting next to a very understanding Falcon's fan. He had his big binoculars and he watched the game through them. He didn't holler and cheer nor did he have a verbal 'sparring' contest with any of the fans around us. He was nice. The guys that were sitting behind us were drunk Bear's fans. The one directly behind Chris get spitting on the ground and rubbing it with his foot then he started eating peanuts and kept dropping the shells onto Chris's back. During half time people were milling around everywhere and someone kicked over one of their beers. I was lucky in that something made me look behind me just as the beer was headed down. I got Chris's jacket and my purse up and out of the way but the hood on my jacket got pretty wet before I could get it out of the way.
After the game I got really nervous as the crowd getting out of the stadium was so big. I was really scared that we were going to get separated. Then once the crowd started to thin out just the barest little bit some of the more drunk Falcon's fans were not being nice to those of us wearing Bears colors. THAT made me even more nervous. Once we got a little bit away from the stadium and we were on our way to the car I spent my energy 'booking it' as Jordan was saying. I just had no desire to be ambushed by drunk Falcon's fans. I wanted the safety of the car and I wanted it right THEN! We made it to the car after being shouted at by about every Falcon fan that we happened to come across.
We didn't make it back to the hotel until 1:30 in the morning. We collapsed into bed and Jordan was very nice and played his video game quietly this morning while Chris and I slept until 10:00.
It was a great time and I hope Chris really enjoyed his first NFL football game---even if the Bear's beat themselves.