Auburn Partay Downtown

Thirty years of Auburn history...

I met this crowd 14 years ago, when I was inducted by marriage into the Auburn football tradition. Coming from a basketball-fan family, I was clueless about the rabid SEC fans and rivalries... And now Rick has created 4 small, crazed AU fans that have me convinced we will have to pay out-of-state tuition for four, or move to AL! (Calm down Shah! :)) They are a really fun group, though I needed a few years under my belt to feel comfortable around all that history...

The Championship ticket prices were outrageous, so the crowd gathered from near and far to party at Loew's hotel downtown. We were on the 28th floor, in a clubhouse, and that is THE way to tailgate, for sure. I am not a fan of huddling under a tent in the cold! We headed downtown at lunchtime, and I intended to leave after a few hours. Ten hours later, after the big win, the kids were passed out on the couch and there we still were, celebrating... welcoming back some partygoers that had gone to the game.

The guys remember the various wins in detail, I remember the gatherings by who I was pregnant with at the time - "Oh yeah! The game I wore overalls, and was pregnant with Cole!" or "We were at your house, I was 7 months pregnant with the girls! Did Auburn win that year?" (So sporty of me, I know. :)) None of the crowd had seen the fruits of all these labors, so we had to take the brood along. They ended up having a blast, as being high up in the city was like a wonderland (you'd never know they were growing up just 20 minutes away...).

The hotel clubhouse was surrounded by a huge balcony with a firepit and a pool.

Cole, Tony and Isabella around the firepit
Jadyn & Phoenix staying away from the pool and fire!

Gasp! No one got wet! Shudder! No one was burned!

I thought I would need a luggage cart to roll the sleeping kids (and a wobbly Rick) down to the car at midnight, but we managed easily. Wow. What a win. Rick heads to Phoenix, AZ next month for the national championship!