Jacksonville: GA vs. FL

This past weekend was the big rivalry game, Georgia vs. Florida. It's also known as the world's largest cocktail party. People from all over gather for a weekend of fun in Jacksonville, Florida. 

The Jacksonville Bride is pretty at night. The bridge lights up with royal blue and aqua blue lights. This river is a popular area for boats to pass by so we watched the bridge shift upwards to allow for a tall boat to pass under.

Friday night, we ventured out to The Jacksonville Landing. We enjoyed a family dinner at Hooters together. I got down on some lemon pepper wings. Delicious, as always. After dinner, we found an empty space in the landing and listened to live music for a little bit. 

This year, the Jacksonville PD was out and present. Jacksonville does a really good job of managing and maintaining the crowds throughout the city so the area feels safe and secure. 

By midnight, the Jacksonville Landing had gotten pretty crowded. The drunks were getting drunker and people were getting sloppy. They were quite a few people dressed up for Halloween, as Halloween often falls on the weekend of the GA-FL game. 

It was pretty ironic when a lady dressed up as Flo from Progressive Insurance tripped and fell on the ground. The guy who helped her up was dressed like an insurance salesman from Allstate Insurance. We got a good laugh out of that! Someone yelled, "Switch to Allstate because they'll be there to pick you up when you fall." We called it a night and headed back to our hotel to get a good night's rest before GAMEDAY! 

Gameday morning, we got ready and left the hotel to meet up with my Dad, who was staying in the RV. My parents brought the RV down to tailgate, but last year but Mom complained that the music surrounding us was just too much. She was right! The music plays so late into the night that it's hard to get a good night's sleep. This year, she booked a hotel for everyone to sleep in instead so we'd all feel well-rested. Good looking out, Mom! <3 

Later in the day, we walked over to the sponsor's area. Victoria Secret had their "Pink" merchandise bus out and they were selling UGA and UF gear. 

Tim Tebow along with the other sports anchors from "College GameDay" were broadcasting live from Jacksonville. It was neat to see their process and watch them set up and break down for a live show. The anchors even changed suits a couple of times. I can imagine why! The weather was 85 degrees with 90% humidity. It was hot! I bet their suits were wet. Yuck! I imagine that feeling like being stuck in a pair of wet skinny jeans lol. No thank you! 

Walking around Jacksonville, you'll find some pretty awesome tailgates set up. 

This man was offering samples of his "Gator Killer Punch". Wowzers! This punch contained 17 different liquors!! It went down smooth but had quite the after punch. Lol, pun intended! 

Kickoff was at 3:30pm, so we began to make our way to the front entrance. At one point, everyone was stopped and it felt like one giant traffic jam. Foot traffic wasn't moving and I was starting to feel real claustrophobic! Finally, the lines started flowing and we reached the front gate. 

Once inside the gates, we climbed four flights of stairs to get to the top platform, only to realize there was a damn elevator hiding beside the stairs. My legs were on fire! Phew. Consider that my workout for indulging in Hooters wings last night. 

We made it to our seats just in time for kick-off and enjoyed another year of Georgia vs. Florida football. Our seats were scattered all throughout the upper level so our group was broken up into groups of 2 for the game. Zac and I were lucky enough to find a scalper, just an hour before the game who was looking to get rid of his tickets for just $100 total. What a steal! Face value was $70/each, and our seats ended up being pretty decent seats. We've never had a bad seat at the EverBank Field Stadium, but we were really excited over this particular location. 

During halftime, I got in line for concessions. I'm standing in the long line, hoping it's going to move along, when I witness a security guard and what I would guess to be a boyfriend, literally carrying his girlfriend out of the tunnel from the stands, by her arms and legs. Her boyfriend was carrying her upper half and security was carrying her lower half. Lol, poor girl! Jacksonville got the best of her. 

Fun fact: While waiting in line, I also learned that the custodians use kitty litter to clean throw up. They pour kitty litter on the area of interest, sweep it up, and move along. 

Like I said, this line was long!  

I returned to our seats with a bucket of popcorn for the grand finale. Final score, Florida: 24 Georgia: 10, bringing our season record to 4-4. 

It wasn't our year boys, but there's always next year! 

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