Labor Day Trip - Day 2

Mollie and I were both up by 0630 and we ate breakfast (cereal, yogurt, waffles) at the hotel.  We checked out soon afterwards and drove north on US-31.  We got gas just before we arrived in South Bend (0935) and then, after getting disoriented, parked at St. Mary's (0930).  We walked to the campus and spent several hours exploring the quads.  We even watched a performance of the Bagpipes and bought our lunch (burgers and brats) from the Lewis Hall fundraisers at 1145.  After that, we walked to the Athletic Center and toured the Monogram Room.  We also watched the Women's Basketball Team practicing.  At 1330, we tried to meet up with some of my college friends (unsuccessful) and then walked around in the tailgating area.  We returned to the Joyce Center (cooler inside) and ate snacks we had brought.  By 1415, we were ready to go inside Notre Dame Stadium.  It had been almost exactly 30 years since my first game there. I have great memories of coming here when it was smaller and my life adventure was just beginning.  It wasn't too busy when we entered so we quickly found our seats and watched the team practice.  We also saw several interesting videos on the Jumbotron.  The Notre Dame versus Temple game started at 1530 and it ended up being really exciting to watch. Mollie bought a pretzel after Half Time. We enjoyed the pleasant Northern Indiana weather and both agreed that it was better than last year's hurricane game in Raleigh... Game wasn't a nail biter but was definitely entertaining. We cheered a lot (Go Irish!).  The Domer Game Day experience was fun to share with Mollie for the first time. We had planned to go to Mass afterwards but Frank and Stephanie asked to meet us as we were leaving the stadium (1900).  It was nice to visit with them but we missed the services.  Instead, we walked back with a big crowd to our car.  We had to navigate through some traffic to get to back roads but ended up on US-31 eventually.  We headed north to Benton Harbor, MI, and then it started raining.  I spent the next several hours checking for vacancy at hotels all along the road but all of them were full.  When we reached Grand Haven (2200), I finally figured out that there were rooms available to the north; but cost was prohibitive and I considered heading inland (towards Grand Rapids).  Mollie was so tired that she suggested staying at a rest area or Walmart for the night.  I was hesitant to do this but, because I was tired, we stopped at the Walmart in town (in their parking lot, near the RVs).  We cleaned up at their bathroom and went to bed at 2245 and no one hassled us all night long.