[Haynr8dr]

In the summer of 2005, I was on a mission from Hawaii to NY to purchase a wheel-chair van for my mom in Bethlehem, PA. My son and his girlfriend came with me.

We purchased the van, and then we drove it cross-country to Oakland, CA to be shipped back here to the Islands. Leaving Bethlehem, I targeted South Bend as our stop for that night. We hooked up with one of my son's friends at Sharon, PA for dinner. When we left Sharon, my son's friend told us that we wouldn't make South Bend until midnight. He was right.

We arrived at South Bend at about 1 in the morning, and promptly went to sleep. Part of the plan was to visit the ND campus when we woke up, so we did.

It was AWESOME!!! We did the whole "tourist" thing, check it all out, went down to the Grotto, inside the Golden Dome, the whole nine-yards. We took some pics in front of TD Jesus and we were on our way out. When suddenly, my son remembers that we didn't get any pictures of the front of the stadium so, I circled back around. When we arrived, there was lot's of traffic so, I dropped my kid off and told him I'll circle back around. Meanwhile, he was to take the pics.

Anyhow, as I was coming back around, I seen my son waving his hands frantically, telling me to pull right on up to the sidewalk fronting the Stadium. Of course, I was really hesitant but, I don't know why, but I did. My son comes up to my window and he says, "Dad! I just bumped into a grounds-keeper, and he said he'll let us in to check out the stadium if we buy him lunch. He's about to go on his lunch break". And my son was telling it like it was.

The grounds-keeper was straight out of the movie "Rudy", he even walked a little hunched. "Watch your step", he would say as he hurried us along to a side-gate and let us into the stadium.

The moment is still sort of surreal as I post about it now. Understand, I'm talking about 3 Islanders, one of whom has been a long time Fighting Irish fan. It's the middle of summer. The stadium was empty .. well .. except for us.

Initially, as I was circling the stadium, I was remarking to my son's girlfriend that it didn't look like the stadium I knew, and I wondered outloud if it was a different stadium. When I got inside, I found out why. For those that aren't aware, the 'new' stadium is built over the old stadium. The old stadium is still preserved on the inside - it was awesome - again. The grounds-keeper took us to the press-box level, and even into the school's President's personal sky-box!

It lasted about 15-minutes. We took mulitple pictures. I slipped the grounds-keeper a $20. But the experience and pictures are priceless! Maybe there was only one diehard Fighting Irish fan going in but, there were 3 of them leaving. We dropped some $$$ at the bookstore too.

My son and I in the President's skybox. Notice Touchdown Jesus in the background?

[simple simon]

thats awesome dude

truly one of the happiest places on earth

[Haynr8dr]

Originally Posted by simple simon

thats awesome dude

truly one of the happiest places on earth

Mahalo! (Thanks!) I hope you can relate: a bunch of Islanders totally in wonderment at the US mainland to begin with. But then, to wind up inside ND stadium - whoa! I'm getting goose-bumps thinking about it now.

And the campus! I said outloud, "If you can't study in this environment, then you can't study". We were in love with the campus, and I could only imagine what it looked like in the Fall, turning into Winter.

I'll probably never end up there ever again but, ... you know ... never say "never". I know this for sure, I won't ever be in the school's President's personal sky-box again, that I'm sure I can say "never".

The experience was priceless, for both the kids and I.

[simple simon]

well i hope youre still real active when the season starts ....... we have several ND fans here

[Lefty Noob]

Great story, Haynr8dr! While you were there, did you get to check out the College Football Hall of Fame? I hear it's in South Bend.

[Haynr8dr]

Originally Posted by Lefty Noob

Great story, Haynr8dr! While you were there, did you get to check out the College Football Hall of Fame? I hear it's in South Bend.

Unfortunately, we were on a 'mission' so, ... . We did however, see the signs for the turn-off for the CFHOF. It's a dream of mine that I end up back there some day, hopefully, on an overcast Autumn football Saturday. My son and I want to see a game there sometime in our life. I'd be sure to check out both HOFs should that come to pass.

[Lefty Noob]

Originally Posted by Haynr8dr

Unfortunately, we were on a 'mission' so, ... . We did however, see the signs for the turn-off for the CFHOF. It's a dream of mine that I end up back there some day, hopefully, on an overcast Autumn football Saturday. My son and I want to see a game there sometime in our life. I'd be sure to check out both HOFs should that come to pass.

Good luck. Definitely hope it works out for you and your son.

I'd love to take my Dad to a game there too someday. He's a huge Irish fan. Sadly, tickets aren't exactly easy to get, nor are they very affordable.

[Haynr8dr]

Originally Posted by Lefty Noob

Good luck. Definitely hope it works out for you and your son.

I'd love to take my Dad to a game there too someday. He's a huge Irish fan. Sadly, tickets aren't exactly easy to get, nor are they very affordable.

I notice you're from Ohio. When we left Sharon, PA, it was almost dark. So, the only thing I seen of Ohio was the I-80 in the dark. Now, that might not sound like too much but, again, it was the middle of summer (I traveled through Ohio the night of June 28th '05).

A friend of mine was a cross-country trucker. He sort of "talked" my way across the US. He told me that we would bump into some fireflies. In Ohio, it was the fireflies. They were awesome! Thousands, probably millions of fireflies lighting up the middle of the night on an empty I-80. The kids and I were mesmerized for what seemed like hours - probably was. We don't have fireflies here, and the kids never seen them. I had experienced them before albeit, 40-years or so earlier. Overall, the trip is referred to by us as "The Excellent Adventure".

[vermontBCfan]

cool story . i had one somewhat similar . in 91 a friend of mine/myself drove from vermont to south bend to see ND play. we are huge CF fans. drove 16 hours to see the irish play navy. long story-short. we had the oppurtunity to get in to the locker rooms. this was set up by a former player we had met a bar the night before. awesome . we saw mirer's, bettis' , reggie brooks locker. we also partied w/some of the players at bridget mcguire's filling station after the game. just don't tell lou his boys were out partying after crushing navy. to this day - my friend & i still talk about it. at least we have the pictures to prove it. otherwise, nobody would believe us.