FB: Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[Kilted Rat]

I won't be going for John's swearing in, however I will be in South Bend at St Mary's for a wedding July 15th.

We're planning on driving part way Friday so we can have time to look around at the other Catholic school with a good football program. Fortunately the wedding doesn't start until 6:30, so we'll have lots of time to look around.

Tmerton,
Any advice on where to start/what route to follow to make the most of it all?
Any chance we could talk you into flying in to SB to give us a personal tour?

[tmerton]

I won't be going for John's swearing in, however I will be in South Bend at St Mary's for a wedding July 15th.

We're planning on driving part way Friday so we can have time to look around at the other Catholic school with a good football program. Fortunately the wedding doesn't start until 6:30, so we'll have lots of time to look around.

Tmerton,
Any advice on where to start/what route to follow to make the most of it all?
Any chance we could talk you into flying in to SB to give us a personal tour?

I don't envy you driving down there - the drive through Chicago is a bitch.  When we took #1 son to school in the summer of 99 we took the I-94 from O'Hare when "construction work" had the I-94 pared down to 2 lanes (I use the term "construction work" advisedly as we did not see a single friggin' construction worker on our entire drive).  It's the closest experience I've ever had to driving in a 3rd world country. 

The main entrance to the ND campus is from the south, on Notre Dame Avenue.  There is a visitor's center right at the entrance to campus - adjacent to the world's largest souvenir stand (i.e., the ND bookstore).  A friend of mine is the assistant to the president, and I'd be happy to see if I could set up a guided tour or something.  (I'd be happy to do it myself but we're leaving a few days later for my first cruise since I was in the Navy.)  Where are you staying in SB?

[tmerton]

Any chance we could talk you into flying in to SB to give us a personal tour?

My personal tour

[Kilted Rat]

I don't envy you driving down there - the drive through Chicago is a bitch.  When we took #1 son to school in the summer of 99 we took the I-94 from O'Hare when "construction work" had the I-94 pared down to 2 lanes (I use the term "construction work" advisedly as we did not see a single friggin' construction worker on our entire drive).  It's the closest experience I've ever had to driving in a 3rd world country. 

We're coming from Iowa so it's I-80 all the way which pleasantly goes around Chicago.

Being from Ohio and going to SJU, I made the 840 mile trip between the two somewhere in the 12-14 times each way neighborhood which included going straight through Chitown.

The best memory of this was from the 3 car convoy to the Stagg in 2003 lead by yours truly transporting Johnnies, Bennies, Beer, and most importantly Stiftungfest burgers. One of my buddy's car ran out of washer fluid in the heart of Chicago about the general area of Comiskey at 3AM when the roads were covered with salt and grime. We pulled off and found a gas station (the lovely type with bars on all the windows with bullet-proof glass protecting the worker from the outside. Long story short- 3 homeless guys with spit rags start washing our windows and asking for monetary compensation for the grease smear they left on our windows. Being the intelligent college students we were, we gave them each a beer and continued on our way.

I've driven in a 3rd world country, at least there people sometimes use turn signals before they do something stupid.

The main entrance to the ND campus is from the south, on Notre Dame Avenue.  There is a visitor's center right at the entrance to campus - adjacent to the world's largest souvenir stand (i.e., the ND bookstore).  A friend of mine is the assistant to the president, and I'd be happy to see if I could set up a guided tour or something.  (I'd be happy to do it myself but we're leaving a few days later for my first cruise since I was in the Navy.)  Where are you staying in SB?

They have a block of rooms at "The Inn at St Mary's." We have been promised by the groom that the hotel is stumbling distance from the reception where like any good Catholic gathering, booze will be flowing and women instinctively flocking like salmon to Capastrano.

I'd hesitate to set up a tour since we don't know when we'd be there, do you think we could do an adequate job by ourselves with a map from the souvenir stand?

[tmerton]

They have a block of rooms at "The Inn at St Mary's." We have been promised by the groom that the hotel is stumbling distance from the reception where like any good Catholic gathering, booze will be flowing and women instinctively flocking like salmon to Capastrano.

I'd hesitate to set up a tour since we don't know when we'd be there, do you think we could do an adequate job by ourselves with a map from the souvenir stand?

The Inn is a nice spot, though it's on the other side of the north/south road that separates St. Mary's and ND so make sure you're sober when you head over to ND for your self-guided tour.  ND is still a pretty small campus and most of the places to see are close together so a self-guided tour with a map from the visitor's center or souvenir stand should be no problem.  

[Kilted Rat]

Sounds like a plan.

Don't plan on drinking before the tour, I only drink before noon on special occassions like football games, bachelor parties, vacations, Saturdays, family get togethers, hunting trips, fishing trips... maybe I'll have Mrs KR drive



Enjoy your cruise! My grandparents took the whole family on one last Xmas and it was a blast!

[johnnyadmit]

KR, seeing as how those flocking women are worthless to you now-you'll have to give em all my number! 

[tmerton]

Don't plan on drinking before the tour, I only drink before noon on special occassions like football games, bachelor parties, vacations, Saturdays, family get togethers, hunting trips, fishing trips... maybe I'll have Mrs KR drive

Good.  Don't want this to be you.   

[tmerton]

Enjoy your cruise! My grandparents took the whole family on one last Xmas and it was a blast!

I probably won't enjoy it as much as #2 son who I suspect will enjoy it a great deal since the drinking age is 18 on the cruise ship. 

[Touchdown Tommy]

tmerts-

Where are you taking the family? Alaska? Mexico?

[finsleft]

Veek, Ritz- Looks like life, as we know it, in Morrison County will never be the same.

http://sctimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060615/NEWS01/106150044

Loved this reader comment:

JamesK from Waite Park
Posted: Jun 15, 2006 at 1:35 PM

Those poor little girls. . .tossed out onto the street. . .and with barely a stitch of clothing. Lucky it's summertime out.

[tmerton]

tmerts-

Where are you taking the family? Alaska? Mexico?

The Baltic!  I was always trying to get the Navy to assign me to a tin can out of Bremerhaven.  Anyway, it's Copenhagen, Stockholm, Helsinki, St. Petersburg ...  We're doing it with my mother (age 89) so hot weather didn't seem like a good idea - otherwise I'd have done Italy, Greece, etc. - and she did the Alaska cruise a couple of years ago.  

[Whoa Nelly]

Those whacky cheeseheads are up to their fun and games again...

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060615/od_nm/life_nazi_dc;_ylt=Akbd2OvJcAZtPo1xO0MxY56s0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTA3NW1oMDRpBHNlYwM3NTc-

[ritz72]

Veek, Ritz- Looks like life, as we know it, in Morrison County will never be the same.

http://sctimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060615/NEWS01/106150044

Loved this reader comment:

JamesK from Waite Park
Posted: Jun 15, 2006 at 1:35 PM

Those poor little girls. . .tossed out onto the street. . .and with barely a stitch of clothing. Lucky it's summertime out.

and those are the weekend girls...most of the regular girls are just trying to scratch enough money together to pay for some dental work!   

[Touchdown Tommy]

Ritzy it sounds like you spend a lot of time on Sniffer's row.  Can you confirm or deny this?  For some reason TDT can picture you and Veek slamming beers while taking in the "entertainment".