The Game - In Part

Ah, yes... the Packers vs 49er's Playoff Game at Lambeau...

CLEAN: Our Play-Off Towels at first.
They were given only to the first 70,000 folks coming in the gates. Ours got a bit of Lambeau Field grime on them as they got lost now & then within our 18 inches of sitting/standing area - in which we scrunched rented seats, pink foam insulation, our Aaron Rodgers head on a stick (2), blankie, bulky clothes, bag of extra hand & foot warmers, the headgear stitched & glued by daughter, Tara, & myself, binoculars, cameras, smart-phones, 2 hot-dogs with kraut (purchased), & two cups of STEAMING HOT hot chocolate (FREE - twice!).
Note: We WERE part of a Record Attendance crowd of bring-on-the-deep-freeze 77,525. Sadly, some people probably didn't get towels. At game's end they'd have to wipe tears with something else...

HARD: Many things. Among them -
The cold metal seats - cleaned of all snow by hardy souls on Friday. Ten bucks an hours - shovels     are provided.
To believe people drove from California and Virginia to be at their first Packers game. The photo above was taken at the entrance of The Pro Shop where I waited for daughter and met the gentleman from Virginia - who was waiting for his wife.
Yes, the beer.... This frozen brew belonged to a gentleman in the row in front of us. Frozen foam in a cup. I don't know how warm-blooded one has to be to drink beer in minus 25 windchill. He appeared to be sane.

Still with the HARD:
HARD to believe that I was sitting next to a guy, ten years younger then me, who, too, had gone to Hurley High School in northern Wisconsin. His sister was in my class! The two of us sang the school song & then chanted a few Hurley High cheers to the folks around us. "We are the Midgets, Mighty, Mighty Midgets. Everywhere we go-o, people want to know-o - who we are - so we tell them..." He'd been to our family farm on school field trips. Eaten our spuds... During the good parts of the game we high-fived a number of times. He gets to games often so we followed his lead as to how to make noise. We knew to hush up when the Packers had the ball...  But "Go, Pack, go!"

HARD to believe that we never got really COLD in the minus whatever windchill- and never had to leave the stands to warm up.  Tara did make another Free Hot Chocolate run during half-time. Her purchase of MANY hand and foot warmers was over-kill, she  was kind enough to share some with a couple sitting below us. (EVERYBODY on lower level was sitting below us - we got seats in the 60th row. Yup top of bottom. We were SWEATING by the time we got to top of climb.) Not sweating soon afterward.
HARD realizing that this was one game I would not be journaling complete play-by-play. Chopper mits, frozen pens, hard-to-reach paper, and sanity? Practiced Being In The Moment. Did listen Wayne & Larry on radio headphones for most of game so that part of day was "at home Normal" - whew.

Me.... Yup, bare-handed now and then. Was channeling Wintertime Inner Younger Child from Gurney, Wis. "Wind-chill? We don't feel no stinkin' Wind-chill!"

Tara - In Happier Times  - before game's end. Yay Team!

Tara at game's-end. A long Day of Mixed-Long Emotions, and now a long drive home. We need hot food! And time to digest what just happened...

HARD to believe how quickly the game went by. Especially those heading-for-sadness last five minutes. And the PLEASE WE NEED A MIRACLE. NOPE. last two seconds.
HARD to see the crowd streaming out of the stands and into reality.
HARD to believe how many Aaron Rodgers head on sticks folks left behind in stadium. If I was Aaron's Mom this would be hard to see. I rescued one - should have grabbed a couple more. Now, I would not want to be one to HOARD football players heads on sticks, but the opportunity was certainly there...
HARD to leave the Womens' Restroom afterward. It was really nice and toasty...
HARD to say "Goodbye" and turn our backs on Lambeau's lights....

(Now it's Jan. 12th already - on to the chronicling - )

Sue and Tara with partial gear. Yup, though living in Minnesota, and with Vikes fan Dad, we raised this woman to cheer for the right team. And Tara nowowns Packers stock so she's standing in Her Stadium... yay!


FAST: how one could share the game with Facebook pals & how they replied throughout the Experience.
FAST: not how Todd was heading through traffic to pick us us. Yay, cell phones!
FAST: not how we were finding our way to a spot we decided on. An icy skim decided to cover the side-walks and my big Sorel boots said "I can keep your toes warm, but you MIGHT be taking a header or three." Baby steps baby steps. Kindly refuse repeated offers of brandy from very friendly guy, who then proceeded to weave through the very slow lines of vehicles still surrounding stadium. Good Luck getting home, guy.
FAST: how we leaped into van - to begin slow heading toward someplace to eat.
FAST: how we all decided "Culvers!"
FAST: how we removed our many layers to get down to "normal" layers. Remember, it was still heading for many-below-zero that night, but two layers felt better than five.
FAST: how I decided, oddly, that a hot-fudge sundae would be great for dinner after all those hours in the bitter cold. It was delicious. Todd & Tara ordered and enjoyed HOT foods.
FAST: How the 'Niners guy said "Thanks" and I said "You're welcome" after I opened doors for him when we were leaving Culvers. Good Luck, Niners.... You have an excellent team.  But look out Next Year!!

       Go PACK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (Oops. Yes. It's Jan. 12th already. They've already done that...)
                                                               GO PACK!!!!

Fare-thee-well -
Sue