Fabulousi-TEA

Applause, applause.... Because this Pre-Season Tea to kick off the upcoming football season was fantastic. Enjoy the photos. Tablescaping by The Tent Man Party and Event Rentals

and P.S. everyone had a chuckle about our tailgating theme for the Tulane v. Tulsa game. Cause lawd, exorcise the demons....ha!

and PPS please support some of our generous sponsors of the silent auction: Campus Connection, home for all of your Tulane Gameday needs and Mignon Faget, because well she's fabulous, and plus she's a Newcomb Girl, and she made this rad gameday bracelet for us Tulane Fans. Roll Wave!

The Ernge

One of Mrs. Dr. Hullabaloo's favoritest American states is Puerto Rico (yes. because we can't wait for it to become the 51st state!). A day without mofongo is just...a very sad day.

So when I decided to start these road trip profiles, I turned to my Puerto Rican friend, Ricardo, who is a Syracuse alum. Or as I am calling them The Ernge. That's Nola-speak for you newbies out there. Ernge like the color of our parking tickets.

I have been unable to properly thank Ricardo for introducing me to his wonderful island home of Puerto Rico which Coach Hullabaloo and I absolutely love LOVE to visit. And because of Ricardo's excellent taste in hometowns, and the fact that he bee-lines to Acme Oyster house when he comes to Nola, He was naturally the very first Ernge fan I consulted about my first ever trip to Syracuse.

I also consulted Syracuse Fan Mike who has a very extensive blog about Syracuse tailgating. He actually formally goes by Texan Mike. Well, Texan Mrs. Hullabaloo thanks you for your expert introduction to Syracuse!

So getting down to business....

Syracuse Road Trip: Mrs. Dr. Hullabaloo-style

About Syracuse:

It is located in what is called Central New York. The closest I have been to the area has been to Albany, Saratoga Springs and Buffalo, which I loved. So beautiful and the people are very friendly. So I am making an assumption that Syracuse will be nice to visit as well. Did you know Syracuse also has French and Acadian influence like Louisiana? Jesuit Priest Simon Lemoyne was an early settler.

A picture of the Carrier Dome where the Ernge play


How to get to Syracuse:

DELTA! Delta has flights through Atlanta and the prices seem to be around $300ish round trip. Although I have to warn that Hartsfield airport in 'lanta is such a nightmare, especially if there are delays, so you might want to consider alternatives. JetBlue also has flights that connect thru LaGuardia in NYC, but the prices were steeper.

Where I might stay:

Honestly, wherever Coach Hullabaloo is able to land a juiced in work-related deal. It is very handy to have connections in the hospitality industry, so yay for friends and family rates.


But my top recommendations based on internet research is the Sheraton University and the Hotel Skyler which seem to be the most convenient to the stadium, campus and downtown.

Where I will be stuffing my face:


Dinosaur BBQ

Ricardo emphatically sez to go to Dinosaur BBQ near Armory Square for the best ribs. Well. We shall see if these may be on par with The Shed in Ocean Springs or The Joint in Bywater, or the red shack on the side of the road in Memphis that Coach Hullabaloo waxes poetic about after a business trip he took 10 years ago, but which we can sadly never find when we go back. Can you believe we can't find it? I mean we are armed with this very detailed description and name ("red shack on the side of the road"). I don't understand how everybody he asks in Memphis can't automatically tell us where to find it. Or that Siri can't tell us where to go.

Anyways. The menu for Dinosaur BBQ sez they have fried green tomaters, collard greens and deviled eggs. So I will judge and report back to you about it's authenticity.


BC Armory Square

BC Armory Square looks to have an excellent menu. Watermelon and beets salad, followed by wild mushroom risotto with truffle oil? yes please!


Pastabilities

Ricardo also suggests Pastabilities, which I see is similar in concept to Semolina's in that you have different sauces you can match with your choice of noodles. Remember when Semolina's was awesome? Oh, the memories. Anyways, Pastabilities has duck bacon and that's all I need to know right there.

Sightseeing on and off campus:



Ricardo insists we must visit Crouse Hall and Hendricks chapel on campus.


And Ricardo also suggests that we should set aside time to hike in the Adirondacks, which I will gladly let Coach Hullabaloo do while I find some shopping to keep busy. There's also an Indian casino down the road from Syracuse if that's your thing.

Parking and Pre-Game Festivities


Texan Mike suggests Sharkeys, which appears to be a typical middle America-type suds joint. Sharkeys even has a drunk bus that deposits revelers within stumbling distance to the stadium. Much like the Rendon Inn shuttle bus. Remember that little shuttle? Ha!

For some reason, Syracuse does not encourage on campus revelry.


Perhaps at some time in the past it may have taken a turn for the worse like it recently has at UGA where they are outlawing tailgating on certain parts of campus.

So it seems that fans of the Ernge tailgate in and around the urban areas and parking lots close to the stadium.

Visitors without parking passes are encouraged to go to the Skytop Athletic Field which is about a mile and a half from campus near the Manley Field House.



Syracuse provides shuttles from Skytop and Manley Field House to the games.

Seating

Bring your seat cushions!


Texan Mike indicates that the carrier dome is mostly aluminum bench seating, as you can see in this pic.


Visiting fans are given Section 111, which is corner endzone. Texan Mike also suggests that is very easy to improve your seating zip code like how we are used to. So we should feel right at home. However, Ricardo feels that the intimate size of the stadium allows for all the seats to be good, so we may just be happy wherever they end up putting us.

College Grub

Ricardo also suggests that near University Hill is Varsity Pizza which might be good late night, or whenever the urge arises for a dose of greasy spoon. I can never turn down good New York pizza.

Shopping!


I'll be popping in to Modern Pop Culture fo' sho'. It looks to be like a neat vintage-ey shop with unique items on West Jefferson Street in the Armory Square area of downtown Syracuse, which seems to be where a lot of the other restaurants are. So that's where you'll find me.

One of my tailgating gals, whom I'll call Bubbles, actually went to Syracuse to watch the Wave play in the 1980s. And y'all: we won! She said it was a very exciting game and I hope to post an update about her experience at that game, because it sounds like she had a ball.

ok, next up is Monroe - and y'all I'm planning a road trip with some of my tailgating gals who have already done made hotel reservations. Can you believe we are actually getting pumped about hitting the road for Mon-row? ha!

When Life Hands You Peaches

No more Mad Men on the tee vee. Bachelorette this season totally sucks (the reality show, not Bachelorette the movie which I love and am absolutely obsessed with). and No football. of any kind. Booooooo. Remember when the Cox Sports TV would air classic Tulane football games? Yes. I think the last time they did was 2 or 3 years ago.

Haters.

Speaking of Bachelorette..... Mrs. Dr. Hullabaloo is FBF's with a former Tulane quarterback and we message back and forth about episodes of Bachelor/Bachelorette. It's all in fun, and I have very much been enjoying discussing the finer points of reality television drama with him. He is a Desiree fan, but I, unfortunately, find this Bachelorette season SOOOOOO BOOOOOOORING, the dates have been laaaame and while the potential candidates are all reasonably attractive, the only drama are the loads of guys swarming on the show with ulterior motive of becoming famous. It all makes me roll my eyes. Plus I read Reality Steve and Desiree picks Brooks in the end. Shocking. I know.

Anyways, so to occupy my time for the next 8 weeks, I decided to start just dealing with this Swan Song of a football schedule. I've decided to post once a week ideas of where to stay and what to do in the random locations the Wave will be road tripping to next season: Ruston, Syracuse, Monroe, Boca Raton, San Antonio, Houston. So each week between now and the beginning of the season I'll profile a new hamlet and What Mrs. Dr. Hullabaloo would do there.

But before we get started, I am SO excited! One of Mrs. Dr. Hullabaloo's sorority sisters from my days of yore at Newcomb just got voted on to the Executive Board of our international NPC sorority (we have Canadian chapters, hence our global designation). Miss Amber (she's married, but I'll always call her Miss Amber) is now International Vice President. It's like omg! Because I RUSHED her! Yes, me! I still remember picking her up on the porch of our house and chatting her up.



Miss Amber had a car, and I did not. I was an upperclassmen, so I would call her up and as a bossy older sorority sister ask her to take me to go get daiquiris. She would oblige and she would drive my carless tush around New Orleans jamming to pirate radio and such. Amber is also from a smaller hamlet than Ruston up in North Louisiana. After my graduation I snagged her as my co-pilot for my very first trip north of the Mason Dixon line. Lots of wonderful memories with Miss Amber. And now she's a Very Important Person.

So speaking of important people from North Louisiana, our first road trip this season is to RUSTON. Ruston is hometown to our very own Patrick Ramsey! Roll Wave!


Oy, Ruston! Just kill me now. Of course, adding fuel to the fire is that the game is on a -shaking my head- Thursday. Life has handed Greenwave fans peaches, so below is where my snobby self would pitstop in Ruston. These are potential Hullabaloo Huddle-worthy recommendations.

About Ruston: Home to Louisiana Tech and Grambling. Peach Capital of Louisiana. Population 46,000. So smaller than Algiers. Ruston is where Tulane Football resided during the Katrina season. Your Summer Reading/Homework Assignment is to read "Fourth and New Orleans." I am serious. If you consider yourself a true Greenwave fan and you have not read that book, then I will look down upon you. Of course, I wish that Scott Cowen hadn't acted a fool and that Rich Rodriguez had been the author. But be that as it may, read it.

Where I Might Stay

lawd y'all! This is the crazy part.

The Sleep Inn is the highest rated hotel according to trip advisor and hotels.com and is $118 (!) a night. That is crazy. This I gotta see. I'll worry about booking a place when it gets closer though. There's a Holiday Inn, a Days Inn and a Hampton Inn. and an RV park in Lincoln City Park.

Where I Might Dine



Portico
Portico looks like contemporary comfortable bar and grill. Burgers, Steak, Fish, Gumbo. Some of the trip adviser commenters categorize it as fine dining (snicker). But the menu looks decent. So on the recommend list it goes.



Blue Light Café
Blue Light Café serves southern, soul comfort food: Chicken, Pork Chops, and the Thursday veggies are: Rice, Corn, Yams, Black Eyed Peas, Butterbeans, Turnip Greens, Mashed Taters, Squash, Pinto Beans, and Cornbread Dressing....mm-mmm! These are my favorite kind of places. Unpretentious and keepin it real. As a properly raised Texas girl, I have this one highlighted and underlined.

Where I Might Shop (very important)


Beehive Outlet.
Beehive is a wholesale distributor of gifts, women's shoes and accessories. And they started up in Ruston! So they have outlets in Ruston, Texarkana and in Tennessee. Bless our hearts!

Now, the Ruston Visitor's Bureau and the Ruston Chamber of Commerce both tout 18 blocks of historic shopping in downtown Ruston, but I will need to see about that.

How to actually get to Ruston
There's three ways to get there from Nola. Well, four if you take a private plane straight into the Ruston Regional Airport. A plane flight will take you anywhere from 30-45 minutes out of Lakefront Airport. If you take a personal jet, it will take no more than 30 minutes. I know this because I had to fly to Monroe weekly when I had a corporate job.

So driving is probably what most of us will do. It's a 4.5-5 hour drive from Nola. So as I was saying: there are 3 different suggested routes.


Option One is to take 55 North to Jackson and then swing west on I-20 to Ruston (317 miles). Simple. Option Two is to take I-10 west to CorndogLand/Bataan Rouge and then exit and take rural Highway 61 to Natchez, Mississippi stop for lunch and then continue on via Highway 425 thru Ferriday to Interstate 20 and bypassing Jackson entirely by swinging out to the west (300 miles). Scenic Route. Option Three is to take I-10 West to I-49 North and then exit in Alexandria, stopping at Joe Muggs for a chai latte and then continuing north on US Highway 625 thru Winnfield and straight into Ruston.

How to get to the Stadium



Joe Aillet Stadium is a straight shot from Interstate 20. Take exit 84 from I-20 if you are heading in either direction, and head SOUTH on Cooktowne Road until it forks with Tech Drive. The Stadium will be to the right (west) of Tech Drive.

Tailgating at Joe Aillet
There are reserved tailgating lots that they sell spaces for $1000 per space for the season, or $100 per game. There are also "open" tailgating spots that are west of the blacktop lots around Joe Alliet Stadium. If I find out about any Tulane tailgating functions for a Thursday afternoon in Ruston, Louisiana - you will be the first to know.

Visitor Seating at Joe Aillet


I'm not sure where they will seat the football families, but Visitors' seating is on the WEST side of the stadium by the endzone. Section "i" noted below. It is surrounded by reserved season ticketholder seating and on the opposite side of the stadium from the student sections and band.



So next profile up will be Syracuse!