AFC Championship 2012

I was ecstatic to be taking the train to Championship this year.  It was definitely one of the highlights.  Don't get me wrong, flying is great...but after a month or so of non-stop flight after flight, it can get really old.  Not to mention it's great not to have to worry about checking bags and long security lines!!  Anyway, the train was packed, but very enjoyable...

Train arriving at the station in Providence

Upon arriving in Providence I lugged my huge puffy quite warm coat, rolling luggage, and duffel bag over to the area where the cabs were waiting patiently for customers.  I have all the luggage put into the trunk and get settled in for the ride before I mention my destination to the cab driver.  He quickly informed me that the hotel is actually just on the other side of the train station...haha!  Luckily, he didn't charge me for my brief stay in his cab.  What a way to start off the week, huh?

Once I finally made it to the hotel, I checked in with my AFC team.  Our hotel was great!  We were right beside the mall which had a Cheesecake Factory and a P.F. Chang's.  That was exciting cause NY has a TON of great restaurants that I love, but sometimes you just want to go to a familiar chain :)  Definitely went to both on this trip!  The state capitol was also next door to the hotel.  It was really nice all lit up at night...

We had a lot of fun in the makeshift office on this trip.  The hotel staff dropped off some yummy cupcakes for us...

The cupcake I tried...strawberry with vanilla icing...AMAZING!!

The guys in our group went to Dave and Buster's one night, pooled their tickets, and came back with a prize for me mascot for the office.  LOVED it!! And definitely brought it home with me :)

And of course, we did some work :)  I had two main jobs for the week/game.  The first was to make sure everyone was properly credentialed and parking passes were distributed appropriately.  The second was to make sure the honorary captain and ownership of the home team were in place for the coin toss and post-game presentation.  That was a bit of a challenge this year.  Coin toss was no problem.  However, the game was about as close as it gets right at the end leading the whole stadium to prematurely freak out shut down.  This resulted in me being trapped in the Press Box...well, almost!  With 5 minutes left in the game, I head to the elevators in order to get to field level.  However, the elevators were already - somehow - on lock down.  This wasn't supposed to happen until 2 minutes left.  Keep in mind, I was supposed to be on the field at the 2 minute warning.  NOT GOOD!!  So...I got creative and ran, no really, RAN down all the ramps to the field level...in my huge puffy coat and multiple layers.  Haha!!  I only wish I had a picture of me with sweat pouring down my face to insert here, but I wasn't in the right frame of mind to snap one so please use your imagination.  It was hilarious...after everything worked out ok in the end of course :)  So after the run, I was informed the owners had refused to leave their box until the game was decided so I had a little time to cool down.  Needless to say, I - eventually - got  all the right people to the right place at the right time...which was a huge relief :)  Here's a picture to prove it...

Drew Bledsoe on the left and Mr. Kraft on the right...task complete :)

Outside of the Patriots winning and Chris (along with a lot of other people I know) being bummed about the outcome, the experience was an interesting one.  And I got to check another stadium off my list...yay!!  I'll leave you with a few more pics from the week...

Trophy still in the Tiffany's blue bag...

Steven Tyler, yes THAT Steven Tyler during his rehearsal for the National Anthem

Catching a few minutes of the game....

Andrea :)