56-10...are you kidding me?????
Posted
Tuesday, November 20, 2007 4:20 PM
Let me tell you about Buffalo! First of all, Chris guessed his gift on the 3rd clue. I never even got to show him my "I love Niagara Falls" thong panties (that cost $12 by the way). He was excited but wasn't showing it in the way I hoped he would. So then he asked what game we're going to, and I said, "We leave tomorrow." He was so confused. He was not anticipating that. He thought we were going to a future game, not that very weekend. So I got one small surprise element in there. He got more and more excited as the night went on. We went to Target and bought some long underwear, then ate dinner at Max and Erma's, which was not a good idea considering we spent the next three days eating out...my stomach felt so gross by the end that I was craving fruits and vegetables.
The drive wasn't so bad. Six and a half hours, and that includes stopping four times...for gas, food, and because I have a weak bladder. When we got to the hotel, I already felt bad that my husband spent nearly seven hours of his birthday in a car, rather than hanging out with friends, drinking, etc. Then the real drama hit. When I gave the front desk my reservation, they said it was cancelled by me on Tuesday. I was like WHAT? Here's the deal. I had booked two hotel rooms, one closer to the stadium and one much cooler hotel. I decided on the much cooler hotel and cancelled the other one. Well, the stupid 1-800 number cancelled BOTH reservations (both hotels are owned by the same company). I was stuck in a completely sold out city 405 miles away from home. On my husband's birthday. I actually cried. The front desk people were very nice and were on the phone with the main line for half an hour trying to get them to compensate me in some way, find me a room, whatever. Suddenly, someone called in to cancel their room for the night. Bingo! Thank god we were there at the right time. That hotel was a hot commodity, people were calling non-stop asking if they had any open rooms. If we had not been there right when that person cancelled their room, it would have been snatched right up and we would have been so screwed. Plus side, that newly available room was a suite! They felt so bad, they gave us the suite at the rate of the smaller room we had reserved. Downside, we only got that room for one night and had to pack everything up and move to a regular room the next day. But so what, at least we weren't left without a room all together! Poor husband on his birthday. He used quite a few bad words in that front lobby. He was not happy.
We went to Niagara Falls that night, and maybe my husband and I have too high of expectations but we weren't impressed. We couldn't believe that was it. So we went back the next day during daylight hours and it was cooler, but still not that massive glory I was led to believe it is. Then we went to the game. We got there at 4 thinking we'd park our car at the stadium and get something to eat before tailgating. Well, at 4 pm, the lot was packed with fans and vendors. So we ended up tailgating from 4-7:30. It included a lot of drinking, partying, people watching, fire pits, food, and fun. My favorite tailgaters were the people dancing on top of their party bus without shirts on, the group of guys watching old-school Buffalo Bills games on their portable TV and cheering when they scored, the crowd of people who set up a fire and food area in the middle of an aisle of the parking lot and refused to allow any further vehicles down that way by blocking it, and the van converted into a mini-bar that invited everyone aboard to take a shot, watch the 4 pm football games, and dance to some blaring tunes.
If you ever have a chance to go to an NFL game, go. It's awesome. The fans, the atmosphere...it's pretty freaking cool. We could walk all around the town beer in hand, no joke. In fact, a policeman stopped us once, we were carrying beer, and all he said was to make sure we used the crosswalk!!! I got so into it. Yup, that's me wearing a "F.u.c.k the Pats" shirt. Sorry if you're a Patriots fan. I'm not. Our seats were great. Yeah, the Bills had their asses handed to them on a platter, but it was worth it.
And I loved seeing my husband so happy. This is him watching his team run out...
Nothing makes me happier than seeing his face that lit up.
(I hope the attached photos work. If not, I'll work on it and have them attached by later on tonight.)