Soggy Dawgs

That’s what we were on Saturday evening – a couple of soggy Dawgs (along with 93K or so other soggy Dawgs). Seems like it used to rain on game day a decent amount when I was in college. I can remember being issued my Redcoat Band raincoat to wear before a rainy game, which was never a fun day, because people didn’t always dry them out sufficiently before putting them back in their little pouch, which made it most unpleasant for the next person who was going to wear that particular raincoat. But then our first 5 or 6 years out of school, I don’t really remember it raining much on game day at all. But in the last 4 years or so I can distinctly remember certain games where it has rained. Georgia Tech in 2004 – I remember because I was pregnant with Zachary. We didn’t stay very long because nobody wanted me getting sick. Georgia Tech last year – I remember because we had planned to take both boys, but Liam was only about 9 months old, and having a baby out in the rain just didn’t seem like much fun. We did end up taking Zachary, but again, didn’t stay very long because we were leaving for Disneyworld the next day, and we didn’t want to get sick on the trip. And then that brings us to Saturday night. Josh had heard something that led him to believe that the rain wouldn’t be moving in until around 10pm – which should have been long enough to get the majority of the game in dry. Well, whoever said that lied. We left our house & it was raining – rained steadily the whole way to Athens. By the time we got parked it was an absolute downpour. Yeah we had windbreakers on, and sure, we had ponchos too. But when it’s raining like it was Saturday evening, not even all that is going to keep you dry. Even though I knew my feet would be cold, I opted for flip flops. Turned out to be a smart choice, as we had to wade through ankle deep water in a few places just to get to the stadium. It rained for most of the first half. The 2nd half was off & on light rain, but not as bad (of course by that point we were already soaked, so what was a little more rain?) And our grand plan of “We’ll leave by halftime if this doesn’t let up” was spoiled by the Dawgs deciding that they were going to wait until there were literally only 2 seconds left on the clock to win that game. I’m not sure what is going on this year – maybe they have had enough of people leaving early and so now they’ve decided they will take all of their games down to the wire to get us to stay till the end.

Once again though, we lucked out with our morning plans. We had decided to go to the North Georgia State Fair in the morning, because on Saturday mornings they have free admission & free rides from 10-11. An hour is enough time for the kids to ride stuff, so it is the perfect free activity. We decided to chance it, and it stayed dry the whole time we were there. The sun even tried to peek out a few times. Zachary rode a bunch of rides, and Liam was even tall enough for a few. Some of the carnies were more vigilant about checking heights, while others (such as the guy with one eye running the carousel) were less “observant”. Josh & I didn’t get to ride anything, but it was OK – we went mainly for them. Josh was planning to take Zachary on the Ferris wheel again (he took Zachary on it last year & they enjoyed it). But they had a different Ferris wheel there this year, and Zachary wasn’t tall enough. We had lunch there before we left (a corn dog for Zachary, who, I think was already in prep mode for next week’s Georgia game against LSU!), and ended with a funnel cake. It was a nice morning. That is one nice side benefit of the late kickoffs – we can do things like that in the morning before heading out for the game.