travelling, we were both exausted.1/7 Kristen and I woke up around 8:30 and started to try and plan a trip to Scottsdale (30 miles) on the Pheonix bus system to save some cash. The ride was suppose to take two and a half hours, but it would have only cost us $1.25 instead of $55 for a cab. In the end, the bus never came ... and we took a cab to the Fiesta Bowl offices in Scottsdale to pick up our tickets. We got there, picked up the tickets, grabbed some more coffee, and hopped on a bus to "Buckeye Bash" in

downtown."Buckeye Bash" was awesome. There were 30,000 Ohio State fans in the Arizona Diamondback's stadium, the Ohio State marching band playing, and speeches from Tressel, some players, and alumni. The only bad thing was beers were $10.50 each for a double, and between Kristen and myself, we drank about

$150.00 worth by the end of the day.Across the street from "Buckeye Bash" was a bar, which of the name I can not remember, but everybody went there straight to party. Kristen, myself, and a group of her friends were no exception. We drank more, took shots, the girls danced on the bar, and everybody got nice and drunk. In fact, when we left I had forgot my backpack in a commotion of Jagerbombs, and we had to get the

driver to spin around and pick it back up.On our way back to Scottsdale for an all night Buckeye Party, with twelve people shoved into an SUV, and myself in the trunk ... Kristen got sick. I can't blame her, we really had only eaten lunch and been drinking since about elleven. The guy driving pulled over, she got it out of her system, and when we got to the parking garage I called a cab to take us home. Made another pizza, ate some cheezits and wings, and passed out on the couch. All before midnight. 1/8 The day of the big game and the whole reason we came to Arizona in the first place. I finally met my host, Tony, and his mom and dad, Ken and Gerri. Gerri is Kristen's mom's best friend, and they flew in from Cleveland for the game. I believe around noon they picked us up in a Cadillac SUV, and we made our way down to a tailgate party at this brand new mall next to the stadium. Ken and Gerri took care of us the entire time, no matter how much we protested. They covered the $20 each to enter, bought us food, beer, and even tried to pay for souveneers. Genuinely awesome and generous people. The party had its own Varsity Club, where the Ohio State Alumni Band played for a bit, and then moved onto the main stage where some coverband and Shinedown were playing throughout the day. There was a ratio of atleast 20:1 Ohio State to Florida

fans, and we were pumped for the game.We made our way to the stadium around 5:00, and sat down on the parimeter of the stadium to rest a bit and let the check lines die down. Out of the blue, some random kid came over with a case of beer, sat down next to us, and started to shoot the shit with us while we drank his ice cold Bud Light. Cops were everywhere, drug and bombdogs walked in and out of the crowd and parimeter, and here we are in the middle drinking beer underage and in the open. It was awesome how cool the cops were. After the kid snuck into the stadium, we finished five more beers from his case, and then squeezed through the fence

ourselves.When we got to our seats I was going nuts. The game was about to start, and we were there, decked out head to toe in Buckeye stuff. The "Buckeye Nation" was in full effect, and the sadium was about 75% Ohio State fans. The game started with Teddy Ginn's kickoff return for a touchdown, and the stadium went nuts. We were in the student section in the endzone, and we all went crazy ... Im pretty sure I picked Kristen off the ground and over my head in happiness. As everyone knows ... the rest of the game was pretty much a flop. I was not happy with my Buckeyes, and the Florida fans just fueled off of our dissapointment. When the game ended, instead of partying and celebrating all night, we met up with our hosts, piled into the SUV and went home

and to bed.1/9 We woke up, had some Cheerios, and Tony took us to the airport. We had about thirteen hours of travelling coming to us, so we just relaxed and munched around Pheonix airport. Got into Washington D.C., and got burgers and icecream and just hungout during out two hour layover. We finally got back into Pittsburg around 11:00, welcomed by the snow and cold. Problem was I had shorts and sandalls on, and when my bag never showed up on the claim rack. Pissed off, I talked to the lost luggage lady, who told me they had left my bag in D.C., so i filled out a report and we trugged on to the car. By the time we made it through the random backroads MapQuest gave us, to the highway, and back to Columbus, it was almost 3:00am. Exausted and gross, Kristen and I showered, cuddled, and hit the sack.

Overall, it was a great trip. The chances of me ever going to another Ohio State BCS Championship game are slim to none, so really was a once in a lifetime trip. Everything was so nice, the weather, the parties, the company, all except for the damn game. If nothing more it was worth it just to have such a good time with great people. Except for the fact that when I finally got my back last night, its totalled, torn to shreds and has a huge circle dent in it like it it got ran over. I also gained ten pounds from eating so much AMAZING food, and drinking no fluids but beer for a week ... which I've almost got off anyway now. But in the end, the grand I spent on this vacation was well worth it, and I'll never regret my trip.