NYE in ATL

I had such mixed feelings about our New Year's Eve plans this year. Last year we had a blast at our friends' house, playing games and laughing all night long. I had hoped for something similar to this this year, but an opportunity presented itself that we couldn't pass up. The Tennessee Vols got an invitation to play in the Chick-Fil-A Bowl on NYE in Atlanta and my dad bought tickets for the whole family. I was super excited about the game, but equally as sad that we wouldn't be with our friends.

Atlanta is only about 5 hours from here, so we drove in on Thursday and found some pre-game festivities.

We were really happy with our seats, although I don't think there is a bad seat in the Georgia Dome. It's a really nice facility.

That T is made of bubbles/foam stuff that held together really well, even when it hit the roof of the dome. We also saw VTs for Virginia Tech (our opponent), ESPN, and the C logo of Chick-Fil-A.

The next 3 photos show the distribution of fans in the stadium. The majority of the left side was TN fans, about half of the right was TN fans, and the lower level of the far end zone was orange. The end zone we were in was mostly orange as well. It was almost like a home game for the Vols.

Right as the teams ran out onto the field, Chick-Fil-A cows dropped from the sky. It was really neat, and added to the sensory overload of everything else that was happening.

The Pride of the Southland Marching Band - Power T

And for Chick-Fil-A fans like me...look! They're releasing a new Spicy Chicken Sandwich in June.
They announced all throughout the game that one lucky row would get to try the Spicy Chicken Sandwich that night. In the fourth quarter, the CFA cow and some CFA workers came and stood in the aisle very close to our row. This happened right before Dad decided he wanted to leave and get a head start on the crowd since we were down by 13 at that point. I really wanted to stay and see which row got the sandwiches, but Dad had other ideas. Oh well.

The final score ended up at 37-14, Virginia Tech. No one really expected TN to win this game, especially against the #11 team in the country, but we could have played a little better.

We "celebrated" the turn of the new year in the car on the way back to the hotel. It wasn't your typical New Year's Eve, but we had a great time and I would do it again in a heartbeat.