It was after midnight by the time I arrived at the DoubleTree Baton Rouge so I grabbed my room keys and headed straight to bed. Friday was packed full of meetings and I wrapped up my day around 4:30p. From there, I headed over to the bar at The Cook Hotel on campus to visit with some old friends. My Arkansas buddy arrived in town just after 5:00p and he picked me up and we headed off to dinner.
Pregame
We managed to grab a reservation at Beausoleil Coastal Cuisine, a great seafood place a short drive from our hotel. The food was fantastic and we took a tour of the menu, absolutely stuffing ourselves on some delicious Louisiana seafood.
After dinner, we headed back to the hotel to meet one of our Austin based friends who made the drive to Baton Rouge after work. After dropping his bags in the room, we grabbed an Uber over to Tigerland, the LSU bar district, and headed for my old stomping ground called Fred’s. The Friday before LSU games, the bar offers free drinks from 7-9p for a $20 cover charge.
As much fun as it is to go back and visit bars from my time in college, Fred’s was just a pit stop before we headed on down the road to L’Auberge Casino. We spent a few hours gambling and, after losing what felt like a small fortune at blackjack, headed back to the hotel.
Gameday
I woke up bright and early on Saturday because it was gameday in Baton Rouge! I love college football and always get excited to go see the Tigers play. After getting the rest of the crew up, we hopped in an Uber and headed over to the north gates of campus and The Chimes Restaurant and Tap Room. Traffic was already backed up on Dalrymple Drive heading into campus. I can only imagine this’ll get worse as they start construction on I-10 through town.
We got dropped off near The Chimes and headed inside only to find a wall of people. Even though kickoff wasn’t until 7:00p, there was already a two hour wait at noon. We called an audible and headed next door to The Revelry where I ran into a few old friends from college.
We spent an hour at The Revelry before heading into campus to meet some friends at their tailgate. I’ve been to plenty of college football games in my life but nobody holds a candle to the tailgate scene at LSU. We made our way through campus and over towards the Indian Mounds where the tailgate was located.
We made it to the tailgate where the pigs were roasting and the drinks were flowing. The hours flew by as we partied and prepared for the game.
A couple of hours before kickoff, the pregame festivities started. First came the Golden Band from Tigerland, accompanied by the Golden Girls.
Once the band passed, the football team arrived on a trio of charter buses to begin the march down victory hill towards the stadium.
After the team and band cleared, we also started our way down the hill towards the stadium. The weather was amazing and even Mike was out and about enjoying the day.
Our seats for the game were located in the South end zone however, a friend had some extra tickets in the student section so we decided to watch the first part of the game there. The student section is always a rowdy, good time and today was no different. Don’t even think about sitting down if you have seats here.
After the first quarter we decided to relocate to our seats in the south end zone. The student section was fun, but I’m getting old and wanted to trade the drunk 20-somethings throwing beer and bleachers for some padded seats and no lines.
Day turned to night but unfortunately neither team was able to get any separation from the other. The Tigers were playing lights out on offense but the defense couldn’t seem to get anything going. Ultimately, it took a last second field goal for the Tigers to prevail over Arkansas 30-27.
After the game, we headed back over to The Chimes and grabbed a few beers on the rooftop deck. My travel buddies wanted to head back to the casino but, since I had an early flight, I headed back to the hotel to pack and get some sleep.
Summary
This trip, while short, was another great visit to my old stomping grounds and alma mater. The game was ugly but the Tigers managed to pull off a win and I had the chance to visit with a lot of old friends. I’ll be back next year for another game at the very least!
In This Trip Report
- Introduction
- American Airlines B737-800 First Class (AUS-DFW)
- American Eagle CRJ-900 First Class (DFW-BTR)
- DoubleTree by Hilton Baton Rouge
- LSU vs. Arkansas Weekend in Baton Rouge
- United Express CRJ-900 Economy (BTR-IAH)
- United B767-300 Premium Economy (IAH-EWR)
- Renaissance New York Chelsea Hotel
- Our Week in Manhattan
- United A319 Economy (EWR-STL)
- TownePlace Suites by Marriott St. Louis O’Fallon
- Wingtips Lounge St. Louis (STL)
- Southwest B737-700 Economy (STL-AUS)
