Hi all,
I promised a short trippie so I best give.
We left Friday after an inch of snow had come and gone with more predicted. BG got 5 inches, our biggie for the year. But we were sell south by then. We decided to push to make sure we stayed there and, with a quick wave as we passed Athens, drove past Decatur and ate at Baxter's Family steakhouse. Excellent food, but with the 'winter storm warning' the place was deserted on a Friday. We pushed on to Montgomery, where we stayed in a one star dump. Which seem to dominate Montgomery. We used to stop here often, but stopped. Now I remember why.
Saturday we drove on to Mobile with a stop at a Shoney's breakfast bar. It was much better than the one back home. They had sliced polish sausage that made my day. The game was at 12:30, and the LadyTops put us throught he ringer before finishing the game with a 14-6 run to win by 8. We watched part of the next game, then headed to dinner. We wen t back and checked in at the La Quinta. There was a problem with our room, and they mooved us without hesitation. The room they put us in was a single, and Bob and I don't swing that way. Well, we barely swing at all, just sway a little. The room was clean and fresh, and everything worked. I will stay with them again.
When we went back for the evening games, we stopped for dinner across the street from the arener at a place called Pickelfish. It looked awful on the outside, but came highly recommended, so we went in. Inside was clean and full of hotT college chicks. Or at least wannabees. Martha and I split a pizza the size of a football field that was the best I'd had since college(30 years). Bob raved about his burger. At the games we made friends with the players from Ark-Little Rock. They won the first game and ate their postgame meal in the stands near us. We spent the game making fun of our archrival, Middle TN, who apparently is hated conference wide.
Sunday morning the schools hosted a champagne reception on the USS Alabama. Ain't we high class? The temperature was over 70, where it would stay all week. They had a folk singer who performed for 4 hours. We had the run of the ship-free tours, food on a biscuit, and drinks. Ok, the only alcohol was the drop of champagne they would put in a mimosa, but oj, soda and water. And it was all free! About 1500 people showed up, and the food ran out, but it was a great party.
We left the shop hungry and knew there were great seafood restaurants all around us. There's our old reliable, the Original Oyster House, Eddie's, and a new for us place. I now have a new favorite seafood restaurant, the R&R. We had gobs of great food. I had the shrimp, and they offered a side of sausage. This was a goog day. Bob said his oysters were the best he'd ever had. The service was order at the counter, then they bring your food. Sidenote, this place is known for its crawfish, and we watched as several people left with 5 gallon buckets of them.
We arrived late for the games, but saw part of the first and all of the second. There were 14 games in 4 days, and we saw parts of all of them. And at this session, I had the only alcohol I consumed all week, a coupla beers with old friends. After the games, we headed for dinner. We tried the Brick Pit for BBQ, but it was closed. So we headed toward town to aplace called the Dew Drop Inn, which Jimmy Buffet swears has the best cheeseburgers in the world. Alas, we didn't find out. Being Sunday, they were closed, too. So we ended up at Dreamland, a BBQ chain with little charm, just lots of dark and tvs. It was all right, nothing special.
That night the men played and won(tmi? cel). We went to Denny's to celebratewith dessert, a hot fudge brownie and milk for me. Yummmie.
Monday we got up fright and early(ok, not that bright) and headed to our favorite chain for breakfast, IHOP. I resisted the chocolate chip pancakes and ate the special, sausage, bacon, eggs, and pancakes. Goog. On to the games. We were playing a team that always gives us fits, but today we just buried them. We trailed once at 8-7, but went on a tear and won by 14. We stayed for the whole second game, cheering for our Little Rock friends, who gave Middle a goog tussle, but couldn't finish. But they ran them to death.
Dinner was to be our old favorite, the Original Oyster House. Last we were there, it was 2 restaurants in one, downstairs was a dive and upstairs was a fine restaurant with a view of the battleship. Katrina destroyed this placed, and they rebuilt about a mile further out. Just one nicer place now, but on stilts and a little open.

They had an elevator, though, wo we managed.
The menu had no mention of scallops, so we asked. Scallops are my favorite and also Martha's. They said they had them, just didn't put them on the menu. Huh? Well, they were wonderfu. Ten huge meaty hunks of white and cooked perfectly. If you are ever in Mobile, the seafood is better than New Orleans, especially on Battleship Parkway.
Back to the arener for the men's games. We got there late late late for the Middle game against the host, South Alabama. And it was a war. South Al was the favorite, and had beaten us for our only 2 losses in conference. It was hard cheering for Middle-not out loud- but they won, so all we had to do was beat Little Rock. Which we did, setting up a game with Middle, a team we bedat both games in the regular season. So both games on Tuesday would be WKU v MTSU or MUTS as we like to call them.
Tuesday started with a WKU party at Wentzell's a local chain in Mobile featuring oysters. About 100 people showed up to shell out 25 bucks with tip for a buffet of oysters, shrimp, chicken tenders, crawfish etouffee, salad and a very few veggies. And the worst hushpuppies this son of the south has ever eaten. Not the best start. Service, however, was great. But you can't eat service. The company was great, all us Hilltoppers in one place and all.
In cel and Wendee's honor, we will just say that neither game was close and WKU came home with 2, count them, 2 Sun Belt championships. Both teams commented that our group of fans was so large, it felt like a home game. We ate between games at the Brick Pit, and had the bedst homestyle ribs on the planet. The theme of the trip could have been too much food. Definitely a step up from Dreamland.
After the men's game, we went to Krispie Kreme to celebrate. This was miles from the arener, almost downtown, and we were surprised to see other Topper fans there. About 30 showed up by the time we left. Do we know how to party or what!
We headed back in the morning, stopping at Whataburger somewhere in the suburbs of Birmingham to eat. Then on, with another wave toward Athens. Except all of Bama was suddenly under construction, so it took about 2 hours longer than expected. We got to Nashville, and stopped in the Pied Piper Creamery for ice cream and a big dose of Glancy. Can you imagine being raised in an ice cream shop? He's too young to sample, but he is constatly cooed over and people are always stopping by to see him. Three friends of Jenny's showed up just while we were there, so I had to share. But hey, he picked me to beurk on. And, on a 74 degree day, ice cream was the thing to eat. A great ending for an incredible week.