Trip Report: Fayetteville, Arkansas

Every year two friends and I from college travel to a South Carolina SEC away football game. We call this our "Tour of the SEC Stadiums." When we started, there were only 12 teams in the SEC and now there are 14 and I imagine by the time we are done there will probably be 16. Which... is a ridiculous thought to me. ANYWAY, this year was The University of Arkansas.

Now, I'm going to be honest with you. We initially planned on doing Arkansas last for a couple of reasons... because it was the furthest away (although now Texas A&M is) and because none of us wanted to go to Arkansas. I seriously pictured the most podunk/piece of shit place on earth. But once the SEC expanded and switched the schedule around, we knew we had to go to Arkansas this year or run the risk of screwing up our remaining schedule for the next few years.

So, plane tickets to Northwest Arkansas were booked.

And let me just tell you... I've never been more wrong about a place before. I LOVED Fayetteville. It was beautiful, the people were friendly, and we had a great time. I ended up doing my long run on that friday (15 miles and I thought I was going to die. It was terrible) and then Saturday morning I got up and got in a 9 miler before we headed off to the game. You know I'm serious about training when I get up in time to run before an 11:22 kickoff.

This is where I got my coffee before my afternoon 15 miler.

I'm not even going to say anything....

 

Hoodgating. Flying to football games is the worst.

No chairs, no Cockmaster 3000...

We stopped at Chick-fil-a and the gas station for our 

hoodgating needs. I'm a lady, so I drink my Beast Ice

Tall Boy discretely from a chick-fil-a bag.

This is what my friend Jeff bought at the gas station for hoodgating.

Seriously, he's 33 years old. Not 83.

Obligatory outside of the Stadium photo.

Our boys are in white. I was nervous about this game,

but, we easily throttled the Razorbacks.

Creepy stalker photo warning: So, this bitch sitting in front of us

looked EXACTLY like January Jones. This isn't a good photo

of her, but it's hard to take a creeper photo.

This is a terrible picture of January Jones

but, she is wearing glasses here.

DEAD RINGER.

Can you see in there? That's the mascot of the

University of Arkansas: Tusk IV.

He's a razorback and he stays in this trailer on the sidelines

during the whole game.

 Here he is getting carted away.

DO YOU SEE THIS? 

HE HAS HIS OWN MINI-SEMI!!!

That's probably nicer than the bus our team

took from their hotel for chrissakes.

Post game shot.

Please note the scoreboard.

BOOM!

After the game we hit up Dickson Street for

some beverages, some food and some

rebel rousing.

The Rebel Rousing quickly turned into...

I'm tired... let's get some coffee and walk

around campus because 7:00pm is too

early to go to bed.

I've seen a lot of pretty college campuses.

But, I think University of Arkansas is one of the

prettiest I've ever been to.

WHO WOULD HAVE THOUGHT IT????

HAVE YOU EVER BEEN TO LITTLE ROCK?

IT'S A FUCKING DUMP.

The only other college campus that comes close

would be the University of Oregon.

But that's not really fair...

because... it's OREGON. 

Everything in Oregon is green and gorgeous.

I can't really describe it, except to say that

instead of trying to make all the buildings look 

exactly the same (like fake old gothic)

They've successfully mixed new and modern

with old and traditional.

Razorback statue on campus.

Hard to say who's the bigger ham here.

So, as it turned out... the one trip I was least looking forward to, ended up being my favorite so far! I loved Fayetteville! And it didn't hurt that we won the football game. Next year: Gainesville, FL.

Previous Tour Stops:

2012: University of Kentucky

2011: University of Georgia

2010: Auburn University

2009: University of Alabama

2008: University of Mississippi

2007: Louisiana State University

2006: Vanderbilt University