First off, driving was definitely the way to go.  With four capable drivers, Tom-Tom, and a Blackberry, we navigated around traffic and to the hotel with little to no issues.  On the way down, we stopped at my Uncle’s house in North Carolina and my friends got introduced to barbecue chicken with coleslaw on top.  Let’s just say their eyes were opened to a new way to eat.  We drank double-hop brewed South Paw, a Miller product that you drink in the South with your left hand.  We spent about $225 in gas to cover the 2200 miles, never paying below $2.49/gallon and always getting gas millage better than 22.  The cheapest gas was in Columbia, South Carolina, the most expensive was in Tyrone.  We stayed at The Lodge (our name for the Econo Lodge we used to make it sound nicer) for $46 a night.  It is about 15 miles from the Citrus Bowl and just a few minutes from Universal Studios.  We went to Universal’s City Walk, running into some of the Blue Band, for New Years which was an amazing decision.  The alcohol was reasonable and the atmosphere was fun.  We ate at the Hard Rock Cafe, which apparently is the biggest one in the world unbeknownst to us.  After toasting Champagne and grabbing a few hours of sleep, we departed for the Capital One Bowl.

One word best describes January 1st, 2010.  Rain.  Lots of it.  Here I thought Florida would be sunny and warm.  Somehow the crappy weather that plauged Penn State’s entire season followed us to Orlando.  Dressed in a t-shirt and without a poncho, I froze my ass off in pre-game and the first quarter.

The View from the Penn State Student Section

We sat pretty close to the Blue Band, which was nice because we could hear everything they played.  We were right at the LSU goal line, where Penn State kicked the game winning field goal.  The field was crap, the refs did their best to rival it however.  How can you say it’s fourth down after an intentional grounding on first (which was iffy at best) and a run play on second?  Then, they forgot that when the defense accepts a holding penalty the offense gets the down back so it would still be second down.  Also, Penn State’s game winning field goal was snapped from the 4 yard line when it should have been snapped from the 3.  These were Conference USA refs…what the heck were they doing reffing a Big Ten SEC game??  Give us some ref officials please!  We kept joking that they were going to call icing on Joe Paterno and give LSU 3 more points.  After a much closer game than I expected after the first half, the Lions proved to be the better team edging the Tigers 19-17.  It felt good to see Darryl Clark get the MVP after the signature win of his career.  After watching him, Sean Lee, and Navorro Bowman direct the Blue Band, our group headed to a local sports bar to catch the rest of the games.

We drove straight back to PA the next day.  Leaving Orlando at Noon and arriving in Tyrone at 8am.  I watched the sun set and rise in the same car ride.  We left 50 degree Orlando and ended in 0 degree Tyrone, a rude awakening to say the least.

Before food each person ended up paying $176 dollars, you can’t beat that for two nights in Orlando and a good football game.

So, Happy New Year and Go Lions! Beat Tigers!