Waking up the echoes...

Well, I certainly won't say it was the purpose for this trip, but perhaps the initial inspiration for the trip was the chance to catch a football game at Notre Dame Stadium, and that is what I did today. I dragged Tim along as well, and I think he enjoyed himself despite being neither a Notre Dame fan in general, nor a particularly big fan of American football, in general. We made the 15-20 minute walk from the Ritter house to Notre Dame. (This, by the way, is easily the best form of transportation to a major sporting event. Now I just need to go about making friends that live within walking distance of all the major venues I'd like to attend events at...) Tim was also quite helpful in knowing how to get around the campus. We didn't do a ton of touring, but the first obligatory stop was the fabled Golden Dome:

Due to our location and the timing of our arrival, we stumbled upon the assembly point from which the Notre Dame marching band, guard, cheerleaders, etc, started their trek to the stadium:

While I am a Notre Dame fan, and a serious sports fan in general, and certainly appreciate the college football history that's represented on the Notre Dame campus, I don't typically find myself getting crazy nostaglic about venues and such as it relates to sports. However, as we were heading on into the stadium, the band was also marching along, and when they launched into the Notre Dame Victory March there in the shadow of the Dome, I have to admit, I had a bit of a moment. It was really pretty awesome. And then, right outside the stadium, the band nearly ran over us. Well, not really, but somehow we had found ourselves in front of them and in their path, and the security personnel clearing the way for them yelled at us to move. Our seats were in the end zone, at the very top of the lower level. Prior to the expansion back in the mid-90s, we would have been about 1 row from the top of the stadium. Still, a very nice view, and I had another bit of a moment as the Irish came out of the tunnel through the band to the Victory March.
It was an absolutely incredible fall day for a football game. Bright, clear skies, and temperatures in the mid 60s. It felt much warmer than that inside the stadium with the sun beating down on us and thousands of people pressed around us yelling and such. Tim and I both came back with some sunburn (who thinks about packing sunscreen for a trip to Indiana in October?) There were two unused seats next to us, which was quite useful. Most of the stadium is bleacher seating, and at least in the lower level, the amount of space allowed per person on the benches was not allocated with the size of the average modern day American in mind, if you catch my drift. Tim and I were appropriately sized for these seat widths, but there were many in our row who were not. Anyhow, it was a great day for the game, and the game wound up being pretty exciting, after looking like a ND blowout, and still wound up with the favorable result.
On the way out, we got a good look at the famous "Touchdown Jesus". This mural is actually partially visible from inside the stadium, but we were sitting with our backs to it.
After the game, we made our way back to the Ritter house, eager to just have a chance to sit down again in a chair that had a back to it. So, all in all, a great experience and one I'd be very excited to repeat in the future.

That being said, Notre Dame could have lost by 50, and I still would have had my entire trip made for me today. One of Nathan's favorite phrases these days is "Amazing" followed by either Mommy or Daddy, depending on which parent he's sucking up to at the moment :) During dinner, I received an "Amazing Scott", for the absolute highlight of my day. That little train was the best money I've spent on this trip :)