Notre Dame vs Air Force (Toby’s Visit)

My Notre Dame – Air Force ticket stub

Our son Toby drove to Colorado from South Bend, Indiana, for a quick visit and to attend the Notre Dame – US Air Force football game. He had purchased tickets for himself and me, planning a father-son outing.

We met  at a motel in Castle Rock, located about 20 minutes north of the Air Force Academy, on Friday. There was enough time that day to drive to the Sanderling lot and show Toby around, after which it was dinner and back to the motel.

Saturday we had breakfast before heading to the Academy. I had never been on the grounds before, and we had planned stops at the visitor’s center and chapel. (The chapel is the iconic image of the Academy.)

There were a lot of Fighting Irish fans at the visitor’s center. Many sat with us through the A/V presentation “A Year In The Life of a Cadet” shown in the center’s small auditorium. Next a short walk brought us to the chapel.

Chapel at Air Force Academy

I must say the chapel is more impressive from the inside than the outside. The use and placement of stained glass is not apparent from the outside but is a key feature. While not large the chapel is impressive!

Toby inside the Air Force chapel

Artistic use of stained glass

After taking a walk around the Academy campus we returned to the car and drove back to the parking area near the stadium. Toby was on the lookout for a Notre Dame tailgate party we could join.

Now I have never tailgated in my life, so this would be a new experience for me. Turns out there is a large cadre of Notre Dame fans based in Denver. We headed toward a Notre Dame flag that was flying from the top of an SUV. Asking around, we were quickly introduced to the guy who had more or less organized this outing of fans. He said we were welcome to join in so we introduced ourselves and made ourselves at home.

I met people from Alaska (they were headed to Moab for some bike riding after the game) and quite a few characters who had come to see the game. A total of about 70 people eventually made up this particular group. With the talk,  food, and adult beverages it was a good way to kill a few hours before kick-off.

“Irish” cupcakes were dessert

Around 2:30 we headed for the stadium to find our seats and get settled. Toby had pretty good tickets for around the 30 yard line behind the ND bench. We could see all the action at both ends of the field.

Here are a couple photos taken during the course of the game:

Players take to the field

Notre Dame cheerleaders urged crowd participation

Scoreboard showed replays, stats, and advertisements

It was a very enjoyable afternoon; the weather was great for football. Notre Dame won by a score of 45 – 10. The Air Force Drum and Bugle Corps provided a peppy half-time show. After the game and after the traffic queue out of the stadium area we stopped at Applebee’s for a late snack, watched the end of the world series game back at the hotel, then retired for a night’s rest. Sunday morning Toby and I had breakfast then parted ways– me back to De Beque and Toby off to Longmont (NW of Denver) to see some friends before he headed back to South Bend.

All in all it was a very enjoyable event. Toby and I had a chance to talk and catch up with news, enjoy the tailgating and football game, and just generally have a good time. Weather was perfect all weekend. The game went well and we met a lot of interesting people. Best of all Toby and I spent some time together.

That’s it for now. Thanks for looking in!

Pam’s Two Cents Worth:

And I had a weekend to myself (if you don’t count all the animals in my care), so it was a win-win-win.

Happy trails.