Air Force Trip

David, Austin, Dad and I drove to Colorado Springs last weekend for the BYU vs. Air Force football game. I had only driven by the stadium once many years ago, and we figured it may be the last time in a very long time for BYU to go to Air Force (considering BYU's move to independence in football next year). We met Dion, Daren, Daniel, and Jared there.




On Saturday morning, we went to the visitor's center. There was informaiotn and memorabilia and a video describing life for AF cadets. Also a lot of AF gear to buy (like a campus bookstore but no books). We hiked over from the visitor's center to the chapel you see behind us. It had 2 levels, one for use by all Protestants, and one for Catholics (and Jews?). The courtyard and classrooms have been fenced off to visitors since 9/11, but you can look at them. Beautiful setting for a campus in the foothills of the mountains. Looks like the campus is thousands of acres.


I had talked to my favorite seminary teachers from ABQ, who were also planning to go to the game. Ty & Joan Kattenhorn. They were the best. I still remember now many of the mnemonic devices they used to teach us the scripture mastery references (Examples: Hebrews 5:4 - no man taketh this honor unto himself, but he that was called of God - the mnemonic device was a picture of man "brewing" up a batch of priesthood. "he brews up a batch of priesthood = Hebrews 5:4; another one, D&C 25:12 - The song of the righteous is a prayer unto me - the mnemonic device was "songs, you can get 2 cd's for $25, 1 for $12."). They had a mnemonic device for every single scripture mastery scripture, and every kid in the class knew where to find every reference when they were done. It was amazing. They were tailgating with family from Denver and with lots of other ABQ folks. Ty was cooking pork loin, brauts, and hot dogs. Then there were ALL KINDS of amazing fixings on the table. We stuffed ourselves and really enjoyed visiting with the Kattenhorns again and some other ABQ folks (like my first boss at Jiffy Lube many year ago!).




After tailgating we made our way to the stadium, and David attempted to "fight the falcon."



We went into the stadium and they handed everyone a flag (it was 9/11).



Before the game began they lined up all the 40 AF squadrons, it looked really neat. When we finished the national anthem, they all took off running to their seats, hopping around while they were at it. I should have taken a video, it looked so funny!





The game was a dud, but the experience was great. David was quite upset by the time the game ended (and it was 35-14). He looked up at me with quivering lips as we walked out and said "Dad, I don't mean to offend you, but this was the worst vacation you've every taken me on." Luckily after dinner and a swim in the hotel pool, he was enjoying himself again.

Unfortunately, I didn't take any pictures of Daren and Dion (I was lucky to get any pictures at all, I forgot my camera and only used my Blackberry). We drove there on I-80, but went home on I-70. I-70 was beautiful. Drove through the Eisenhower Tunnel at over 11,000 feet (the tunnel is like 2.5 miles long)