Sunday, December 9, 2012

Football Game Odyssey

It seems appropriate to call it an odyssey on attending a football game today, Bears-Vikings at the Metrodome in Minneapolis. I started out with clearing snow off my car, then being thankful to see a snowplow arrive to make it easier to leave. I did take it slow until leaving the main road to get back to where I live. I checked the bus schedule to find out how much time I had, and as expected on Sundays the buses don't run as often, about every 20 minutes. So I checked email and gathered up what I needed like the game ticket and my bus pass and headed out. I took the bus to the airport and then transferred to light rail. I got some pictures outside the Dome of the artwork depicting the types of events held there over the years like concerts and baseball, then headed inside. It was already close to kickoff by then. I ended up spending nearly all of halftime waiting in line for food, I got a hot dog and a bottle of soda pop. I was very much thankful to the cashier when I was given some sauerkraut for the dog, as it was a packet of Frank's Sauerkraut instead of what I've seen before, a smaller amount in a little plastic cup. I did get a packet of Frank's before, when I was attending the college basketball tournament in St. Louis at the Rams stadium. Vikings led at halftime 14-7 and went on to win 21-14. Vikings were aided by 2 interceptions, one was ran back for a touchdown. The other was overturned on replay, saying the runner was out of bounds about 5 yards short of the goal line. But tailback Adrian Peterson still got a quick touchdown from it, his second after getting one early in the first quarter.
   What truly made this an odyssey was after the game. I saw the long line for the light rail, going in both directions, and said I wanted to take a bus instead. At first I didn't see buses that were running, just some that were stuck in the snow near the Dome. I walked a few blocks farther and found some heading over to downtown St. Paul. I did get on one of these. We were able to go for a while but then got stuck short of downtown, near the Capitol. So I got out and walked over to the Xcel Energy Center and found a bus that took me a little farther. After this I didn't feel like waiting long for any more buses and walked the rest of the way home. I tried to eat dinner at two places, but found out they were closed. One of them was a Burger King, where some of the staff was outside and said they were closed. I got some satisfaction out of knowing a McDonald's was still open, so I decided to eat there. I ended up at BK's competitor instead! By then I really needed a bathroom break. I had a fish sandwich there and heard a heavyset woman on her cellphone tell somebody she was at a McDonald's, basically stranded as her car tires were no good. Something about North Carolina tires, and I did see a car with North Carolina plates in the lot when I was leaving. She also said something about not wanting to get married. I had thought about getting a movie at the Redbox there, but it was stuck and the cashier said it was broken. It was stuck on 'Insert your disc'.
  After getting home I did fall asleep for a little while, then knew I needed to get up and go for my weekly grocery run. I watched the news before heading out again. I liked getting some pictures along the way to remind me of the odyssey, this included one of the McDonald's I ate at along with a snowman near my home. I said 'Hello, Frosty' before deciding to pull out my camera.

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