This past weekend, I traveled with three friends to see Penn
State play Northwestern in
football. The game was a perfect excuse to go to a game as my friend Chris (different
than my fellow blogger Chris) is a massive Penn
State fan and my other friend
Robbie is a Northwestern fan. The other two of us, on the trip, have no allegiance
to either team, but we cheered for Penn
State. When in doubt always support
the home team.
Leaving around
6:30 pm
on Friday, the 175 mile drive to
Altoona, PA,
the location of our hotel, takes about 4 hours with DC traffic. As a custom, we
stop three hours in the trip in
Bedford, PA
for dinner. We typically stop at a chain restaurant called
Hoss’s. Hoss’s
is a steak house is a hybrid of a Long Horn Steakhouse and Old Country Buffet
style. You order off a board before you are seated. They have a salad and
dessert bar that are included in the price of your meal.
We decided not to go to Hoss’s and try a restaurant down the
street,
Ed's Steakhouse
Ed’s Steakhouse is, located on the corner of I-99 and I 200
off the Pennsylvania Turnpike, is a sit-down restaurant with a variety of food:
from Steaks to Sandwiches to Pasta and Salads. Here is a sample of the food
that we ordered:
The restaurant has plenty of TVs for watching sports or news programs. Service is always friendly and fast. Ed's is budget friendly with all of our bills under $20.00.
After filling our bellies, we went on our way to Altoona for the night. Before stopping at our hotel, we stopped for tailgating provisions at the local Walmart. At 11pm, Walmart is the only thing open in many small towns, I am learning.
Our normal antics began at Walmart with me daring Robbie to ride this children's amusement ride:
Provisions secured, it was time to head to our hotel for the night. As I described
here, hotels can be expensive on college football weekends. We finally decided to stay at a Courtyard Marriott in Altoona, PA, 45 minutes or 45 miles away from Beaver Stadium, Penn State's football stadium.
For $200 a night, we received a standard room with 2 beds. The room was decorated nicely and bright. I liked the wallpaper. Some of the rooms had balconies, but ours did not:
The bathroom was clean and separated. The toilet and shower in one room:
The vanity and sink right outside the toilet and shower. This style worked great for us. Someone could be showering and the rest could still have access to the sink.
The hotel had a gym
and a pool, which I forgot to take a picture. The hotel lobby was bright and inviting. The lobby had plenty of
places to sit
The hotel had computers (which you had to pay for) and a small cafe/restaurant that served breakfast, lunch and dinner
We awoke early Saturday to travel to Beaver Stadium for the noon game. Tailgating occurs in big fields, turned parking lots
We had a simple tailgate of burgers, beer and mimosas:
For the game, I decided to get into the spirit a little more than normal:
Yes, I wore a blue body suit. For the rest of the trip, I was known as "Blue"
On our way to the stadium and our seats, I received many weird looks, but that is half the fun. However, the weird looks went away, when we arrived at our seats. Our section was wild and fun. Thanks to Chris's uncle for the four football tickets located on the 40 yard line, you could see everything happening on the field.
The Northwestern game was Penn State's Homecoming game. Therefore, the marching band had alumni back to participate:
The atmosphere was pretty calm up until the fourth quarter, when Penn State kicked it into high gear. In the fourth quarter, the stadium started to rock. At that point, one could feel what 90,000 supporting fans sounds like. It was crazy.
Penn State came back to win the game with five minutes left and never look back, winning 38-29:
Overall, it was a great trip with three great friends.
Oh, and no road trip would be complete without a trip to Cracker Barrel:
Did your team win this weekend?
Until the next trip!
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