My experience traveling with my 19-year old son and 15 year-old nephew:
- Had to work Friday, so we drove down a little more than half way to Blacksburg on Friday night and stayed at hotel in Winchester, VA (4 hour drive).
- Left 8:30 am on Saturday so we could avoid stadium traffic. There sure are a lot of 18-wheelers traveling on Rte 81. But it’s a very scenic drive with the Blue Ridge Mountains in the distance.
- Arrived in downtown Blacksburg around 12 noon and parked at the brand new midtown parking deck just off of Main Street. No tailgating allowed there.
- Walked a short way down Main Street while chatting up some VT fans - nice folks that we were talking to, but got a few “Rutgers sucks!” comments from passing groups of students. All in good fun, and part of the experience, and offset by the, um, “scenery” on Main Street and on the walk to the Stadium.
- The people we were talking with recommended Cabo Tacos on Main Street, which I had also heard about when I googled restaurants, so we went there for lunch. The waitress was super friendly and bubbly and recommended the bear battered shrimp tacos with bang bang sauce — they were absolutely delicious.
- we then made the 20 minute walk over to the stadium area, took a few pics in front of the Lane Stadium sign, and then just chilled out in the shade talking with a couple who were VT fans, but the wife grew up in Livingston, NJ.
- We went into the stadium pretty early and just hung out. We were seated in section 135, below the Rutgers section but much further down. Very good view at the goal line.
- It was pretty impressive that the end zone portion of the student section was filled an hour before kickoff, and then the two large sections along the sideline (but immediately adjacent to the end zone) were completely filled probably 20 minutes before kickoff. There must have been 20,000 students there.
- Enter Sandman exceeded my expectations. It was fracking AWESOME, with the entire crowd totally into it and singing the lyrics. The entire student section and most of the crowd were jumping in unison. I have an awesome 2+ minute video, and would love to post it here (but don’t know how to do so).
- The people around us were extremely nice and welcoming. I was talking most of the game with a couple in their 50s (same as me) and their son (who is a sophomore at VT) and daughter. They asked us to take a family picture, and of course we obliged, which they appreciated . Also struck up conversations with guy next to me and couple behind me. Another lady two rows ahead was a VT fan but is from NJ — I asked her “what exit?” And she said “109.” Posters who go back to the original Scarlet Nation days with Big Dog, Mike Fasano, and then John O will understand the coincidence of her saying “Exit 109.”
- I actually caught a tee shirt in the tee shirt toss. Cool white tee with VT logo that says “This is home.”
- Lane Stadium is LOUD. Even after half of the students left, the place got really loud when the Hokies had the momentum in the 4th quarter. That INT by Longerbeam was something else, and immediately quieted the crowd.
- When the game ended, we walked down to the railing where the team, the Scarlet Knight, and cheerleaders were congregating. Greg pointed up to section 235 and said to the team “You see all those people? They came here to cheer for you. Let’s sing the Alma mater for them!” And then Greg led the team in singing the Alma mater, and there were about 50 of us at the railing singing along. I recorded video of that too.
- I wore my Insight Bowl tee shirt to the game. On the walk back to Main Street, a guy walked up behind me with his young son and pointed to my shirt and said “I played in that game,” and I asked him his name and he told me “Brandon Wood.” I said “I remember you. You were a DB, right?” And he said “yeah!” Funny little moment.
- Got to our car and started driving down Main Street to Rte 81 but decided to stop for dinner at McClaine’s, one of the many nice bars/grills in a large strip mall. This one had a game room and a bowling alley (yes, a bowling alley). Excellent Buffalo chicken dip and burgers.
All in all, it was a terrific experience. The folks who run game day at SHI could take a few tips from the Lane Stadium folks.