Penn State vs Rutgers {Week Three}

How happy I was to be back in Happy Valley for the weekend and our first tailgate of the season.  The weather was picture perfect for tailgating - maybe even a little too warm.  We had some friends in town for their first Penn State experience and they had a blast as did we.  The "kids" car headed down to tailgate around 4:00 and the "parents" car headed down a little bit later after taking care of the dogs - we had our game day breakfast and some pre-tailgating snacks at home before heading down along with a trip downtown for a drink or two.

One half of our tailgate; we used the extra parking spot to hide from the sun until the second car containing the rest of the tables and supplies got there.

The tailgate crew for this game.



Each year I try to look back at past photos to remember what was on the menu so from now on I plan to document it in an effort to help remember. We snacked on "tailgate dip," ranch dip (from wegman's - the best!) and chips, a mexican platter, hummus, pepperoni bites, sausage squares and then a little bit later dug into the main course of pulled pork sandwiches with tortellini skewers and coleslaw.  Not forgetting dessert we got our traditional cookie cake and my game day pretzels.

The four of us stayed back to finish sipping, snacking and cleaning up while my parents headed in for kickoff.  It's of course more exciting to see the intros from inside the stadium but this was the first time in a while I heard them and saw the fireworks from outside and listening to it all from a far was pretty exciting as well.

Once a year Penn State does a "white out" and everyone wears white.  It was already set for another game and since this game ended up being a night game they decided to go for a "stripe out" for the first time which was pretty cool to see.  We were in a white section.

We'd been tracking the weather all day and it looked like the rain was going to hold off until overnight. It was of course a little shocking when the downpour came all of a sudden.  We kept saying it was "exciting" and didn't quite care because we were having so much fun.  Don't mind the wet mess below.



And then there were these two.  They went to week two's game in the pouring rain with my aunt and uncle in ponchos and held out until half time but couldn't take it any longer.  Mom decided late in the day Saturday that she might stay home with the dogs and we all talked her into coming.  When I felt the rain drops hit I could barely turn to look at her - I knew she wouldn't be a happy camper after the week before.  She got Steve's hat and Derek's jersey and how precious does she look in the rain?! Rain looks good on her.  And Steve.  Much better than us kids.

Other happenings of the weekend… 

Like I said Friday, I headed up early with my parents because I love helping with the tailgate prep.  We did some shopping downtown and grabbed an early dinner at The Deli before town got crowded before heading home to grocery shop and tailgate prep.  

Derek and our other friends rolled in late at night and Steve, Nash and I were up early for a walk on the trail near the house.  

Two little pups weren't quite sure why they didn't get to come to the tailgate.  Stella had escaped her "cheerleading" uniform at this point but I'll have a picture next week of that.

Game day breakfast is one of my favorites! We always have Penn State's traditional "grilled stickies" and recently we've been enjoying quiches with it.  No breakfast is complete without a bloody mary/mimosa bar.  No game day breakfast is complete without swapping out the fall placemats for team ones.

And lastly, a family photo before heading off to tailgate.  Stella will be looking next week :)

We won 28-3 and the first tailgate of the season was a huge success.  The countdown is already on (three more days) until we're back in State College and add it again.

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