FSU Football Game Trip

Cheryl, being a faithful alumni of Florida State University, is trying to "convert" me to a FSU Seminole fan. It's not really a conversion, since I'm not a really a fan of any team, but nevertheless, she's trying.

We were watching a FSU football game at a sports bar one weekend, and we won "free" tickets to the following weekend's game, so the following weekend we drove down to Tallahassee to watch FSU slaughter Wake Forest. Unfortunately, that weekend was also "Parent's Weekend", so motels in the area were all booked up. We had to stay in Thomasville, GA -- about 260 miles (3h 45m) from Atlanta, and about an hour from FSU's campus. The drive down to Thomasville was nice because it was less to drive Friday night after work, but it unfortunately pretty much ruled out going back to the motel to freshen up after the game, before going out in the evening....and it didn't make sense to go back Sunday morning.

Well, we had a great time. It was a nice little vacation break, and the game was a fun (and being a former "band geek", I have to add that FSU's band is fantastic). The weather turned out perfect (sunny & 80s) for the game even though 30 minutes before the game we feared rain! Luckily, we ended up on the shady side of the stadium because neither of us had even thought about sunburn being an issue...and it would have been because we were in the sun for maybe the first 30-40 minutes of the game and we got a little burnt from that! After the game, we drove around trying to decide where to eat and get a drink or two. After a bunch of time (and a beer at a bar near campus), we ended up settling on a steak at a Roadhouse Grill. (Just to make you hungry ;-)

Click on any of the thumbnail images to view a larger image...
IF one is available (read the "oops")

The "Oops":

One other unfortunate thing: I didn't bring my camera to the game. I was planning on it, but a button on the shorts I was going to wear broke, and the other pair I had didn't have pockets that would accommodate the camera and I didn't want to have to hold it the entire time. SO...this also became my first endeavor of using the camera in my new Motorola Razr cell phone. It is not a good camera -- not for distance anyway. I now wish I'd brought and just held onto my "real" camera, especially since I discovered weird thing about the Razr's camera: Although it takes pictures at 640x480, and has a 2x and 4x "digital" zoom, unlike other cameras that digitally zoom in (making it grainer, but closer), leaving the resulting picture the same size (e.g. 640x480), the Razr's "zoom" in reality, crops, not zooms in! A 2x zoom results in a 1/2 size picture (320x240); 4x "zoom" results in a tiny 1/4 size (160x120) picture. Gee, thanks Motorola!

	Borrowing a phrase from the movie "Forest Gump"... A sign at a store we stopped at to get me an FSU shirt.
	The band on the field before the game started
	Likewise...
	Spelling "NOLES" (as in Seminoles)
	You would never know it looking at this tiny picture, but this is an Indian (Chief Osceola) holding a flaming spear. Great camera!
	The score board.
	Another quality picture...The band.
	Cheryl.
	The band at half-time.
	*Wow, check out these cheerleaders (well, if I had used a real* camera...)**
	Me and Cheryl
	My view of the game (well, unless I leaned to the right or left.
	Coming back from getting a Coke, I snapped a picture of Cheryl...and the the face of the guy above. ;-)
	During the game, I also tried out the phone's video camera capabilities. Click on phone to see a 52 second video clip (best if you have broadband internet)
	I didn't take this picture -- my camera was in the trunk -- but coming up the road, approaching the state capital building, this is what you see. Gee, phallic enough, Florida?

The next time we go to a game, I'll bring a real camera.