Our first trip to the University of South Carolina to visit Coco was a success. Great trip, even with the rain all day on Saturday. Friday was beautiful. The most perfect weather. It was sunny. It was cool enough to walk around without sweating, even wearing jeans.
Coco really enjoyed being our guide on a walking tour of campus. He tooks us to all the buildings in which he has a class. He walked us through the Horseshoe. I asked to go by the bookstore, of course. Coco guided us into Russell House, the Circle and the Theater. He was really eager to show us his college. He really seems happy there.
Game Day on Saturday was a noon kickoff. That made for interesting tailgating. Demi and I actually slept in. I had picked a hotel about a half mile walk to the stadium. I thought I was so smart, not having to deal with parking. What I failed to realize was that the South Carolina State Fair was going on. This was the last weekend of it. Friday was a bit of a circus with the amount of traffic in front of our hotel.
Demi and I had rolled into Columbia about lunch time. We were hungry. We hit a local BBQ joint. We had called on our drive and the room was not ready yet. After lunch, we figured we would give the room a shot. At least we would leave our bags. Four lanes of dead stop traffic was in front of the hotel. The gate to the Fair parking lots had just opened recently. Poor timing on our part. We used Waze to try and bypass traffic. We ended up on a dirt road, running parallel to train tracks. It felt like part Stand By Me and part Lost Boys. We ended up getting around traffic, sure, but then we had to make a left, across all four lands of stopped cars. Southern Hospitality helped us. They parted the Red Sea, to allow us access to the hotel parking lot. No way that happens in Massholia.
Demi and I walked to the game. It was misty. A sprinkle shower passed quickly. We checked out Cock-a-boose Alley & Gamecock Park. We hit the Jameison's tent. I thought it was a standard bar at first. We got two free drinks each, but all were of course, Jameison's based. No way Demi was going to like it, right? Wrong. She really got into the Jameison's and Ginger. It is now on the favorites list. The game was a bit rainy. It actually hailed for quite a bit. But we were prepared and managed to stay dry.
We did not see Coco that night. He and his boys napped after the game and the early AM tailgate. I get it. A college kid wants to hang with his buddies. We had breakfast in the morning. It seemed clear he had been out with said buddies that night. It was a really nice trip. Can't wait to go back.
