2009.11.14 UNC 33 Miami 24

Julie, the twins, Buzzy and wife, Bob, Bob's son and his son's friend all went with us to the Carolina/Miami football game Saturday, 11/14. We had great great fun. The boys were just as wonderful as the girls always are. Don surprised us all with a gift card to the student store and the very first thing we did was go shopping. Katie got the most wonderful jacket which she said was $80 but marked to half price. I told her I'm going with her next time. I never find those kinds of deals. I got a book about Carolina with gorgeous pictures and signed by the author AND I got some earrings (3 pair). They gave me 15% off the book since it was marked as such but the guy said that was really a mistake. I have all kinds of other Carolina jewelry but didn't have a single pair of earrings. I needed them to complete my "going to Carolina football games" outfit. Everyone left happy with their new stuff. One of the twins got a bum card and Don had to go in and straighten out that snaffu but had no trouble doing so. They just issued her a new card - one that would work.

Then we went to eat at the Carolina Club which is in one of the buildings right outside the football stadium. On the way, I got to see the new Don Stallings building which is still under construction. There are a couple of pictures of it in the slideshow above. Don and I became especially aware of this buidling as some people think it is named for him! We do know Mr. Stallings and his wife so it made a good story the last time we saw them. Food was good at the Carolina Club and we got to visit with everyone including Don's son and his wife who joined us for the meal. They sat apart from us at the game but went to the game also.

We also went by the bell tower which everyone except me climbed and went by to let the twins and everyone else at least touch the ram as he wished he could just graze on the grass. The twins didn't want to go see the mascot until they saw it was the "natural" one, not the dressed up cheerleader. I always love to pet the mascot which I have done almost every game this year. When we had a Thursday night game, I told him he would get Saturday off for taking the trouble to come out on a Thursday. I just know no one else had told him.

Game was great. We did win which I did not really expect. But Bob's son wants to go to Carolina and I am glad our team made us proud in his presence. We left the game a little early, partly because Julie and her group had left and Don remembered we had some of their stuff in his trunk. So we scurried to catch up with them before they got away completely. I convinced Don to hurry on as I couldn't go fast enough in the dark to make it possible to catch them. Therefore, I got to walk by myself (in well lit areas) a good bit of the way to the car. He stayed with me until we got all the way down steps and almost out of the stadium and then he jogged on ahead and caught up with them just before they got to their vehicle.

Trip home was good and peaceful - we took 64 to 49 which is now mostly 4 lanes and a very peaceful road. Not like I-85 at all. You can almost relax. However, you have to watch speed limits. We got pulled over for speeding - the guy said we were going 53 in a 35 zone. I am not convinced he was right as we saw a 45 limit sign but not a 35 MPH limit. Anyway, Don apologized and the policeman gave us a lecture and let us off with a warning. We could not believe it. Two miracles in one day - a win and a warning without a ticket (especially with that much over the limit). We stopped to eat at a place we were told about called Best Foods. It is a cafeteria with all sorts of huge anterooms and a shop with Christmas everything for sale and a steakhouse on the side. Don got a salad bar and chicken and I got beeftips over rice. The food was really good but we concluded the chicken and salad bar are their specialty so that is what we should get if we go back there. Don is going there with his high school class real soon and he wanted to see what it was like before he makes a 97 mile drive to eat with them again. We concluded it was a good place to go eat a meal.

Got home safely and our burning question has been how to spell the mascot's name. Some places spell it Ramses and some places spell it Rameses. I did some research and concluded most of the official places spell it Rameses. Don wrote the university - someone he knows there - and Rameses is correct. The keeper this week told me we are on Rameses XVII. Maybe I'll research that too since the same guy told me the spelling is Ramses and now I know that isn't right.