At Least the Weather was Nice

It is fall and that means trying to see as many college football games as we can squeeze in.  So, we traveled to Champaign, IL this last weekend to watch our Illini take on Minnesota.  We joined John and Linda and had a lovely trip down from the Chicago area as traffic was actually manageable for once in Chicago.  Friday afternoon, Jo spent some time at the local Champaign Northwestern Mutual office visiting and getting to know some of the representatives working from there.  Afterwards, we joined a few of them for cocktails and got an update on all the changes happening around the campus area.  Most of which seemed to building a large number of apartment buildings or planning to build more.  We couldn't figure out where all the students were coming from to fill all these new buildings.

After cocktails we headed over to the homecoming parade.  John and Linda's youngest daughter is in the Marching Illini so we walked along with the band for a while before heading over to the pep rally on the Quad.  I use the term pep rally loosely since it wasn't really all that peppy or interesting.  We quickly decided that dinner seemed a better use of our time and headed to Papa Del's for our fix of our favorite pizza for this trip.  The pizza didn't disappoint although the Cub's game playing on the TV's in the restaurant certainly did.

Saturday morning we headed over to Memorial stadium for an early game.  When we planned this trip earlier this year, we were a bit concerned about a late October game and staying warm in the stands.  However, the football gods brought out temperatures in the mid-70's so there were no concerns about having enough layers, but rather would we all be sun burnt.  Unfortunately, the only nice thing about the afternoon was the sun and temperatures as our team didn't look to good on the field.  But we still had a positive buzz from the pizza the night before and how can you not enjoy an afternoon watching college football catching all the energy the students bring.  A quick afternoon nap after the game got us all refreshed for a excellent dinner before we got to see the newly renovated Assembly Hall (sorry, State Farm center - but the Assembly Hall to all of old timers) for a concert by Pentatonix, an acapella group.  It was an enjoyable concert and the revamped Assembly Hall looks ready for a season of Illini basketball.

Sunday after brunch to make sure John and Linda's daughter had a good meal before we left, we headed back home and a 20 degree change in temperature.