Thanksgiving Break

No turkey here. Thursday we drove down to St. Augustine, FL and spent the afternoon on the beach and wandering the streets. St. Augustine is the oldest city in America and site of the fountain of youth. It was very cool. We found all these dead sharks on the beach which was kind of freaky. In the city, we walked around the old fort (because we're too cheap to pay to go in the fort), ate dinner at and English pub, and had our picture taken by a homeless man in the park. (The whole time I'm thinking, "please don't run away with the camera". That's the Thanksgiving spirit, Sarah...)

Friday we went to 3 parks at Disney World: Animal Kingdom, MGM Studios and Epcot. We love Disney World. It was the funnest day. Devin knew exactly where to go and what to do since he's a seasoned Disney World vet. I loved the new Everest ride and the Tower of Terror.

Saturday we got up early and drove to Crystal River, FL. We hopped on a boat and went out snorkeling with the manatees in a spring. During the winter, manatees migrate from the gulf to warmer waters inland where the springs keep the temp around 72 degrees. The manatees are these giant, blubbery, sea creatures that act like little puppies. They'll come over to you and roll over so you can scratch their bellies. It's the craziest thing. They were all around us. We had the time of our lives. We also came face to face more than once with these scary looking tarpon fish. They're about 4 feet long and don't mind coming up close. That was wacky. Then we went back to Gainesville and watched the Cougars beat the Utes, the Tigers beat the Gamecocks and the basketball Cougs put up a pretty good fight against the Tarheels. It was a nice way to relax after so much action.

Funny Guy...

I don't know what it is about guys. Is it so bad that we want to document our vacations and share our memories? Devin gets so sick of me trying to line him up in front of every landmark we see. So in rebellion he has started making goofy faces at me every time I try to take his picture. Then he laughs his head off when I look at the picture afterwards and see his "smile".
Running away from me so I can't retake...
Laughing at me for being so determined to get the shot I want...
I give up.

Biltmore

So pretty much anyone that comes to visit from now on will get a trip to the Biltmore. Cousins Justin and Kira, as our 1st guests, we able to go with us this week for our first look at the mansion. This place is amazing. It is the largest private residence in America. It was built by a Vanderbilt around the turn of the century and has been fantastically restored. I'm sure that place has payed for itself 1000 times considering what they charge to go in there. But it was worth it. We went on a candlelight tour of the house. They had live Christmas music performances, Christmas trees, blazing fireplaces and yummy wassail samples (a privilage we grossly abused, did you have to ask?). The drive up was incredible. The pictures don't do it justice (sticking my camera out the window as we drive by at 80mph). The mountains looked kind of like a giant head of brightly colored cauliflower. Full album.

A Match Made In "Heaven"

Shock. Disbelief. Incredulity. All good words to describe the collective mood of Clemson fans as we somberly filed out following a gut-wrenching 20-17 loss to Boston College Saturday night. Fortunately, I've been here before... lots of times. Game 6 of the 1998 Finals, who can forget Michael Jordan's last great act? I certainly can't. Game 6 of the 2003 NLCS, does the name Bartman ring a bell? Those are perhaps the most famous (or infamous) examples but I feel like I've been a part of more heart-breaking losses and catastrophic collapses than the average sports fan should have to endure in one lifetime. Yet here I sit, reflecting on yet another cruelly disappointing hand dealt by the sports world. Left to wonder if the "thrill of victory" will ever feel quite as sweet as the "agony of defeat" does bitter. And yet like a lemming making his annual death march to the sea, seasons pass and inevitably my "hope springs eternal." Well, enter Clemson. For those of you out west, you probably aren't aware of this but here is a brief resume of Clemson's football over the past few years as told by a local beat-writer.

"But as great as life must be for Boston College right now, the bigger story in this game has to be a Clemson crew that, once again, saw its stomach punched, its emotions gutted, and its heart crushed by yet another late-season mindbender of a loss that leaves souls numb and leaves grown men shaking their heads in disbelief.

It would be cold and merciless to catalogue and list the many miserable moments that have enfolded Clemson football during the Tommy Bowden era. Like clockwork, the Tigers annually display their considerable talent and show just enough to offer the promise of something special, only to become Charlie Brown to an opponent's Lucy at the precise moment when a conference or division crown is there for the taking. Saturday night against Boston College--another program with an uncanny knack for failing to grab the brass ring once it appears in plain sight--Clemson found itself in a test of nerves against the equally sweaty-palmed Eagles. Two teams with tortured gridiron histories traded special teams adventures; bad sacks taken by quarterbacks; untimely penalties committed; passes dropped; and all manner of other football foul-ups. A Clemson team that had been so thoroughly dominant and devastating over the previous four weekends suddenly played tight and tense when a big prize came within reach. Boston College--who started the season strong but then drifted into mediocrity over the past one and a half months--didn't fare any better than Clemson for most of the night. This contest would come down to the final, fateful, fear-filled minutes. One team would try to lose and fail; the other would try to lose and succeed.

Clemson proved to be the more "successful" team.

Forget the last-second sack on Clemson quarterback Cullen Harper, which knocked the Tigers out of comfortable field goal range with just five ticks left in regulation and the home team trailing by three. The moment when the Tigers lost the division title came a few plays earlier. Harper--the author of a storybook season under center--threw a letter-perfect long ball to veteran receiver Aaron Kelly with 42 seconds left. Kelly--open at the goal line--saw the ball clang off his hands. In a game that wasn't won with excellence so much as it was lost by failing nerves, Aaron Kelly made the "big play" for Clemson. But don't blame Kelly too much. An entire Clemson team that had been steamrolling ACC opponents played emotionally straitjacketed football the entire night. BC did so as well. The actual victim of a late-game mistake was irrelevant on this night, because in a flop-sweat festival such as this one, someone was likely to lose this nailbiter before anyone won it.

College football's eternal ability to provide the cruelest and most heartbreaking moments in sports became all too apparent once again on a sad and sorrowful night in Clemson. In a mystery that defies all logical explanation, the fickle finger of fate once again ambushed a team of Tigers that deserves a great deal of empathy and compassion after another gridiron nightmare unfolded before their very eyes."

No wonder I feel so at home here, this team is perfect for me.

Final Score: CURSE 27 (years and counting) DEVIN 0

Kickin' It On The Hill

Hi y'all, it's me...as in blogger me. Yes, Devin too has a cyber-identity. So I've been asked by my wife to make my "first contribution" to the blog. We'll see if this gets a very good response from the web-masses out there, but I'd say the chances are that Sarah will be posting again soon. So the moral of the story is don't get scared away by my ramblings here.

ANNNYYYWAY, so we went to our second to last Clemson home game today. We've been hearing from some our friends who were Clemson undergraduates that to truly experience a home game you had to sit on "The Hill" for at least a quarter or two. Being the adventurous peeps that we iz, we tried it out for a change today. It was fantastic! We got to see the players line up at the top of The Hill prior to the game and then rub the rock and run down onto the field. We were close enough that we were able to smack them on their helmets and shoulder pads as they ran past us onto the field. You know, football stuff. It was fun, you wouldn't believe it but Sarah was really getting into it. She was yelling at some of the Clemson players, trying to get them all fired up. She's quite the closet sports fan. I believe there will be some pictures of all of this posted with this entry, so hopefully that will illustrate what I am trying to describe here. We spent the whole first half on The Hill with all of our freshman friends before heading up to our normal seats for the second half. I would have stayed longer, but I lost feeling in my lower back from standing on an incline for an hour and a half. It was fun to chat with my MRED buddies in the second half, but I did miss hearing about all of the latest fraternity pranks and sorority gossip that we got all caught up on in the first half. Oh well, maybe we'll be so bold to try it again next week. Speaking of which, Clemson gets Boston College at home, winner goes to the ACC Championship game. I'm soooooooo excited! Rumor has it that College Gameday is going to be coming to Clemson for the game, since the Michigan/Ohio State game lost all of its luster courtesy of Wisconsin and Illinois. We'll see what happens, but I've decided that if Gameday comes, I'm going to make a sign that says something cheezy like "Nothing Could Be Finer Than Gameday in Carolina" with a big ole Tiger Paw on it, or maybe "BYU Fans: So This Is What National Exposure Feels Like!!!" or something like that. Send along any suggestions you might have and watch for Sarah and me next Saturday morning. That's right, I'm sure Sarah will be there right alongside me, closet sports fan, remember? You know what the funny thing about all of this is? I can see exactly what's gonna happen before it even does. I'm gonna get all of my hopes up and Clemson is gonna lose on some heart-breaking play next week. But then again this has been a pretty wacky year for college football...maybe all of these upsets have reversed the biggest curse of them all, THE DEVIN CURSE.

But even if all else fails, at least the Gators can't repeat as champs. Ha!

GO TIGERS!!!

Tea Party! Happy 22, Nat.

One of my favorite places to celebrate is at the Grand America Hotel in Salt Lake City for their afternoon tea. My mom and I timed our trip to Utah last month to fall on Nat's 22nd birthday. We decided a tea party would be the perfect way to celebrate. For those of you that haven't been there, it's the best. They have a spot set aside for you in their front lobby, set with china and silver. You pick out your flavor of tea or hot chocolate and they bring it to you in your own teapot. Then they bring out a tray full of little sandwiches and scones with creme and jam. Then they wheel out a pastry cart and you get to choose 3 pastries for dessert. You're pretty much stuffed by the end. We had a great time.

Love this picture? The waiter brought out a little ball and put it in this glass then poured water on it and it turned into a little flower. It acts like a green tea bag. Does anyone know if green tea is "legal"? Please say yes because as you can tell from the picture, it's a little too late.