There's a Spirit Can Ne'r Be Told

Our time in Aggieland was a blast and a great way to kick off the football season!

We arrived on Saturday, checked into our Bed & Breakfast (more on that later), and headed straight to the pre-game festivities.

My parents and my brother were hanging out waiting for us...it was so good to see them!

Alex and I missed the food at the tailgate so we proceeded to head to the "Fan Zone" to look for something to eat. I chose the Freebird's World Burrito booth and got this GIANT serving of nachos for only $6. They were SO GOOD.

My nachos consisted of chips, black beans, grilled chicken, corn salsa, red salsa, lettuce, cilantro, guacamole, queso, sour cream, etc. Not the least bit healthy, but seriously delicious!

I was like a kid in a candy store when I noticed there was a frozen yogurt booth! I told Alex that I had to have some, so later on I enjoyed a cup of Cookies 'n Cream fro-yo with shredded coconut, graham cracker crumbs & oreo pieces.

I must admit, it wasn't nearly as good as the fro-yo that I normally get, but that's probably due to the fact that they didn't have my favorite flavor or topping options (NO fresh fruit options...probably because of the heat....boo!).

At this point in the day we watched the Corps of Cadets do their march-in but I'm lacking photos from this portion as I was distracted from running into some old friends (hi Amanda & Jenn!).

After the march-in, we fought the crowds and headed over to Kyle Field to find our seats.

And I'm not joking when I say crowds. It was NUTS....just like Aggie gamedays always are!

We got a good workout walking up the ramps to our seats wayyyyyyyyyyyy up in the nosebleeds. (What can I say? We're CHEAP and tickets are NOT cheap.)

Look closely at this photo below:

See those two tiny guys in the photo walking in the middle of the track towards the top of the photo? Yeah, that would be my dad and his best friend, Gib! They were able to get "photographer passes" and got to STAND ON THE SIDELINES for the entirety of the game. They got hooked up with these passes from Gib's daughter, who has a sweet job working for the Athletic department. They were like too kids in a candy store since they are both HUGE Aggie fanatics.

Just before the game began there was an amazing flyover by a WWII airplane!

Then came kick-off and Aggie football season had officially begun! There were definitely some rocky parts and our team didn't look fantastic, BUT the good news is that we beat SFA handedly at 48 to 7. WHOOP!!

Here's a shot that I took of the Fightin' Texas Aggie Band during halftime....

And one of the student section....

PACKED!!! They said it was actually the highest attendance EVER at a season opener! Something like 82,000 people attended the game. Aggie fans are the BEST fans out there!

After the game we headed off-campus, ate some Mexican food and then went back to our B&B and CRASHED after a long (but super fun) day.

In fact, we had so much fun that Alex talked me into going to the game NEXT weekend too! We were originally going to skip next weekend's game because we're trying to save money (and tickets plus the cost of a hotel room add up quickly).

But next weekend's game is "First Responders Day" which means that all military, firemen & policemen get 50% off the cost of tickets. That's too good of an offer to pass up! Plus, we lucked out and were able to find an affordable (but not shady) hotel room for next weekend. So it looks like in less than a week we'll be doing it all over again! :)

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The B&B: Aggieland Cottage

We stumbled upon this Bed & Breakfast while searching online for lodging options. It looked cute, affordable and was miraculously available so we booked it.

I failed at taking photos of the charming exterior and interior but click here to go to the webpage and check it out for yourself.

Pros:

-The owner and proprietor, Nadine, is a super sweet and friendly lady. She really made us feel at home and at ease. To me, that's HUGE for a B&B owner because less-than-pleasant owners can really make or break your whole experience.

-Charming. The cottage, the neighborhood, the rooms...all best described as charming.

-Centrally located. It's actually only a 5-minute walk to campus and very close to the Quad and Kyle Field. Parking is always hellacious and expensive on gamedays so it was wonderful to just leave our car at the B&B and walk everywhere instead.

-Affordable. It was $159/night plus taxes, which on a game weekend is pretty darn cheap.

-Breakfast. In one word, DELICIOUS! It started out with a mixed fruit bowl.

And then these scrumptious Apple Crisp muffins:

And a ham & cheese quiche with a hashbrown crust:

This quiche was AWESOME!! Perfectly cooked (sometimes quiche can be dry but this one wasn't) and very flavorful.

CONS:

-Usually a 2-night minimum reservation. This is pretty standard practice amongst hotels & B&Bs during game weekends, but it's so annoying! We can't afford and don't want to stay two nights! Luckily, Nadine made an exception for us since no one had booked the room yet when we called, and let us only book it for one night.

-Only one bathroom, shared between two rooms. This would have been a bigger deal for us, but no one ended up staying in the other room so we actually had it to ourselves. If there HAD been someone in the other room I can imagine it would have been more awkward and annoying to share a bathroom with strangers.

-Only two rooms available, which means that it books up fast. We realized that we basically just got lucky to book this room at the last minute like we did. When we inquired about availability during future game weekends she was pretty much all booked up already. So if you're interested in it, call EARLY!

Overall:

We really enjoyed staying at the Aggieland Cottage, but for a lot of the reasons mentioned in the "cons", we probably won't be able to stay there very often. :(

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How did YOUR team do this weekend?

and

Going to football games: love it or hate it? I have a love/hate relationship with actually going to games. On one hand it's exhausting, hot, sweaty and uncomfortable to be sitting on a metal bench for 3+ hours, but on the other hand there's nothing like being there in person to get you all riled up! I love it but I don't think I would be able to do it for EVERY home game.