We started off on Friday afternoon/ early evening by driving across Jacksonville (IN MID RUSH HOUR!!! UUGH!) to simply go to the beach and step in the Atlantic. More on this later. We had BBQ for Dinner and crashed early. We were up EARLY on Saturday morning because we had to be at the airport by 5 AM. I THOUGHT about wearing a Rams jersey for that day BUT my Gators were playing that day at Kentucky, so I wore my white Gators jersey. Parking and security was a breeze so we had plenty of time to chill before our 7 AM flight to Chicago.
Getting to Chicago was a breeze. As I exited the plane, I told the cutie Flight Attendant at the plane's door..."Hey! Do the SNL skit and say "BUH BYE!" to the people as you rudely get us off the plane!" Was not sure if she'd get the joke but she busted out laughing as she said "I'VE SEEN THAT!!" People around us thought we were crazy.
LEAVING Chicago, we sat on the plane for an hour before taxiing. They had to fix a minor problem. There was more of a paper work issue than anything else. SO glad they gave us "complimentary" ear buds so we could watch moves and shows on screens on the seats in front of us. I watched some of Apollo 13 and Star Wars and a VERY interesting documentary on WWI. I also loved watching the flight tracker option to see where we were over the country. It was cool flying over the Rockies and then seeing Vegas in the distance. Remember, we had never been so far West.It was cool seeing Downtown L.A. as we approached LAX. I saw the Coliseum too. JUUUST before we landed, we flew RIGHT past the new stadium. LAX was not as bad as I thought it would be. We found the rental car buses with no problem and was at Enterprise in no time.
From Enterprise Rental, we drove straight down to Long Beach to see the Battleship Iowa. Very impressive and very somber....seeing the #2 turret that exploded in April 1989 and seeing the memorial with so many faces of guys close to my age at the time. We learned about the Iowa's Mascot. A dog named "Vicky" He was a bpy dog actually named "Victory" by the Captain. Apparently, Vicky took to FDR when he went on a 15 day cruise to Africa on the Iowa. My Son, who is Navy bound, really wanted to see that ship. Glad we did.
From there, we drove to the beach close to Long Beach....Cabrillo Beach.....Simply to stand in the Pacific Ocean....just 24 hours after standing in the Atlantic at Jax Beach. That was cool....LITERALLY!!!!! LOL
By then, we were whooped. We went to our hotel, the Holiday Inn Express, close to LAX. There was a Sizzler restaurant next door. VERY good by the way. We had a great dinner as....THE GATORS WERE ON THE TV!!!! We finished and saw the end of the game in our room. We then crashed. Big day ahead.
GAAAAAAAAAME DAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! OF COURSE, I put on my blue n yellow #11 while slyly grinning the whole time. I had been waiting for this for over 40 years! Going there, we had a minor glitch with finding parking at Culver City for the Expo train. The Expo train was a GREAT way to get to the stadium. We were right there after a 25 minute train ride. As we exited the train, it was so cool seeing so many other Rams fans. I had never seen a Rams HOME game. We walked to where the SR 71 plane display was. I stopped to post on here if anyone was close. I waited 5-10 minutes but no reply. So off we went. We walked around the Coliseum from the outside. I was in awe as I stared at it. I had seen it sooo many times on TV (I even recall the Chuck Heston flick "2 Minute Warning"!) But now??? I WAS THERE!! My only beef with the pregame experience was close to the SR 71....A large group playing some pretty vulgar Rap "music" VERY loudly.
Time to enter the gate!!!! The VERY first thing I wanted to do was walk over to the arches and get several pictures. That IS the face of that stadium! Again, I find myself just quietly staring. We walked back to our entrance... Tunnel #11 (GOOD NUMBER!) It was sooooooooo cool walking down the dimly lit tunnel and seeing the brightness at the end, knowing that is the field! As my boys and I emerged, I stood there and did a 360 with the biggest smile on my face. We went to our seats...3 rows over the player tunnel. I was very pleased!! With just over an hour to kill, we walked all over the pressbox side of the stadium all the way to the arches and took several photos.
The game?? Started strong with the INT and then AWESOME catch after the bomb. But it fizzled a bit when the Rams settled for the FG. Fans WANTED to get up and stay up but the Rams O kept things a tad frustrating. AND THEN IT HAPPENED........The crushing sack by Matthews, followed by another sack and then the punt return. The stadium juice was at FULL throttle. I was so amped myself, I had goose bumps on a very warm day! When the game was over, me and the boys walked towards the big scoreboard on the West endzone stands and a very nice lady took our photo in front of the final score. I was on cloud 9 as we walked back to the Expo Train station. Sunday night was simple. We simply went back to the hotel. Walked across the street to McD's and had burgers in our room as we watched SNF. We crashed and flew home the next day.
Later, I'm gonna TRY to get some pictures posted (Be patient with this Techno WIZ!)
