Bulldogs Lemmings Headed to Neyland Stadium

Thanks to a lot of organization by some very die-hard Bulldogs, this is a picture of us boarding the boat for the game. It was the highlight of the trip--Bottles of wine to buy and a perfect way to go to a game. There was also a very good dj spinning tunes for all ages!

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

The good was how much we enjoyed our trip to Knoxville and seeing Wes and Carolyn for the weekend, the bad was our offense and the ugly was the UT stadium--It was a big dinorsaur w/tiny seats and dirty, dank corridors leading to the seats. We took a sternwheeler riverboat to the game w/200 of our best Bulldog friends and it exceeded expectations. We cruised the river on a a beautiful day and landed at the dock in plenty of time to eat dinner at Ruth Chris' and get to the game in pleny of time. The boat had a Dj spinning tunes and some people succumbed to the temptation of karaoke. We could buy wine by the bottle for $20 which was perfect for the four of us on each part of the ride. I would highly recommend this boat trip to any Bulldog who goes to Knoxville in the future. We may go again just for the ride and skip the game. The score was lopsided at 34-3 but it was only 6-3 at halftime and I thought we would win--nada--we cannot remember the last road game we won since the Snow Bowl. That's 8 long years of misery and we will rethink buying out of town tickets next year. I am glad Richmond won.

Capt. John Nicolai of Lulu the Lobster Boat

These pictures are way out of sync but I wanted everyone to see why we loved "Lulu the Lobster Boat" in Bar Harbor!

Makin' Cakes

Tomorrow is the Rotary Spaghetti Supper and I get to make two cakes! Since it is a Rotary project, I have help on this. Mr. Measurer is going to be sure I don't mess things up so he is carefully leveling the flour w/a knife, etc. However, with my track record for forgetting important ingredients, his help is welcomed! We are making my grandmother's pound cake recipe.

 

The Rest of the Trip

Once back in the US, we visited Bar Harbor, Maine and went out on Lulu, the Lobster Boat w/a very knowlegdgeable captain, John Nicolai, and watched him pull up lobster traps and we learned all there is to know about the lobster business. The most important part of the lobster business is in the eating of the lobster and we feasted on whole lobster from the ocean THAT morning. It was called soft shelled lobster as it had recently molted into a new shell and had not completely filled it up w/meat. The lobster was served in a pot of its own w/corn and potatoes and gallons of drawn butter and to die for.

Two wonderful days in Boston followed and we fell in love w/the city. On Sunday, we had a personal guide in Sasha, Camille's first friend from St Mary's and current Boston resident. She led us over quite a few miles of walking and we were exhausted at the end of the day and ready to get back on the boat for the night and eat more lobster. We did parts of the Freedom Trail, Boston Common, Beacon Hill, Little Italy and points in between. Dean and the Dews enjoyed the USS Constitution and Sasha and I sat on a bench and talked about all kinds of things. She works for Facing History and Ourselves and had to work Monday so we went out on our own to see a few more things and Harvard. We were amazed at the age and beauty of the buildings and the lack of landscaping throughtout the campus. Mississippi State is much more beautiful.

Back from Canada and New England

I had always wanted to see the fall foliage in New England and this year we found a cruise that would fulfill my dream. The only problem was that there was very little fall foliage to see. We flew to Montreal from Memphis and were very disappointed in that big city but were equally impressed w/Quebec City the next day. It was very European and charming. We were sitting outside at cafe and some Bulldogs from Meridien who recognized our Bulldog paraphenalia as well and we had a nice chat. A sea day was welcome since they only had Team Trivia on sea days and we only had two. Dean went w/me and I chose our teammates from the waiting group. I am good at this and found a family and their only daughter who are as intense as I and to prove it, they already had a name, The People's Republic of Berkely. We won naturally and I got one correct answer that they didn't know--it referred to colorful Braniff Airlines. We won baseball caps--I look terrible in caps so Tony got mine. The next day was microscopic Cornerbrook, Newfoundland. We did a float trip w/a 21 year old who was quite charming. He could not compare to Cassanova II from South Africa, our bar waiter and Chirs our dinner waiter who looked like Harry Potter and from S. Africa as well. One day was the lavish gala buffet which we have tons of pix,