Everything IS bigger in Texas

I had an opportunity to cross an item off of my short bucket list. My cousin's husban organized a group of people to go help sell programs for a charity at Super Bowl XLV. A good friend of mine, Tag, and I drove down Friday afternoon. It took us about 12 hours to cover the 770 miles. We had good conditions for about 750 of the miles so we were happy regardless of the time it took. We stayed with a friend I hadn't seen since the week I left my mission in Florida. We spent Saturday catching up on our sleep, eating Hershey's Kisses (cherry filled), catching up on the last 12 years, and getting the band back together. We played Guitar (Band) Hero for several hours before heading to BJ's for lunch. A huge thanks to Billy and Lisa for letting us crash at their place. I got to work with my uncle and cousin, so that made the trip even better (pictured below).
The day of the game the weather was pretty good. It had warmed up enough on Saturday that most of the 2" of ice that was on the streets when we arrived had melted. We went the right direction to get to the parking area and were able to make a left turn into the parking lot while everyone else took 40 minutes to an hour to get off the freeway. That ended up being one of the few short lines I would see that day. After standing in line for an hour for my credentials I was sent upstairs because someone decided the image I had sent in was not acceptable. I was in that line for 3 more hours. That side of things was not fun, however things got better. Apparently this was the worst any of the employees helping us had ever seen the credential side of things at the SB. Lucky me. Once I got shuttled to the stadium it was fun. With my credential I was able to walk past thousands upon thousands of people waiting to get into the stadium and was (mostly) treated like a celebrity as far as getting me quickly inside. One jackhole in a suit wouldn't let me past a certain point. He aske me if I knew where I was going and I said "no." He said, "you don't even know where you are going?" I said no, I was a volunteer and had never been here before. I then asked if he could direct me to that location and he said he didn't know where that was, to which my final response was "YOU work here and YOU don't even know where it is?!? I don't feel so bad!" After that I was able to get right in. The stadium itself is incredible. Luke the Engineer was amazed. Luke the Parking Manager was also amazed. Parking for $200 doesn't happen every day. Everything really is bigger in Texas. The stadium looks like a space ship from another planet had landed in Arlington, TX. Indside is high enough to base jump from the roof, have a 1 second freefall and still have time to pull the ripcord and land softly. They said you can fit the Statue of Liberty inside and rotate it any direction and have enough clearance. The HD big screen goes from 20 yard line to 20 yard line and is so big you almost forget there is a game going on underneath it. It is truly a sight to behold with one's own eyes. I saw several celebrities: Owen Wilson, Adam Sandler, Jennifer Anniston, Maroon 5, Marisa Miller, Christian Slater shook my hand and said hi, Rich Eisen (ESPN), and Seth Myers. Seth Myers stopped for several people and was very cool and said hi to me and the guys working with me. Tag tried to sell a program to Owen Wilson and said that his nose is even worse in real life. Owen walked past me on his way in with his entourage but I didn't say hi. I just wish I could have heard him say something because pretty much anything he says is funny. Christian Slater shook my hand and said hi. I get recognized often, but I can't imagine what they go through. Contrary to what was seen on the news, BEP put on a phenomenal performance at half time. Seeing it live was awesome. Christina Aguilera sounded worse live singing the Ntl. Anthem than she did on TV. Just sing the song and you won't forget the words. I'm sure you saw the rest along with 111 million other people, (unless you were at my parent's house, then you didn't.)
We had to take off in the 3rd quarter so that we could beat the waves of workers getting back to the parking lot. WE got back fairly quickly and were able to get out of town pretty fast. We drove straight to Denver and got home the next morning. We had to take a couple of detours due to a fatality accident in New Mexico. The Honda did well and we stayed awake by watching 8 different movies on Tag's iPad. Overall it was a great trip and we are very grateful to our wonderful wives for letting us make the road trip.