Texas game 10: K State.

Nov. 19, 2011

Although it seemed like the season had just begun, on this Saturday we found ourselves at the last home game of 2011. And wouldn't you know it, we had such awesome fall weather:

OK, so it WAS nice. It just would've been nicer to have FOOTBALL weather in November!

For this tailgate, we had the whole gang in town, including Ron. After co-sponsoring our gathering for five years, Ron took a break from the tailgating grind so he could attend his son's football games.

It was great to see him at the stove yet again. He makes a mean sauteed mushroom!

Of course, we always enjoy getting to kick back and visit with everyone.

Mmmm... Steaks on the grill. Nothing like it!

Before heading to the stadium for our game, we watched plenty of other games under the glow of our burnt orange lights.

Because this would be our last time in these seats for a while, I took a picture of the weird "52" that marks our row in section 1. (The 5 is upside down, and yes, it bothers me!)

Some of Dede's friends found us by chance at the tailgate. Sure enough, we found them sitting across the field from us.

(There they are again!)

Longhorn Hall of Honor inductees were recognized before the game. I tweeted this photo of Cat Osterman and Sanya Richards-Ross, and both of these superstars retweeted it! (That's a thrill for an amateur tweeter like me!)

Other scenes from the stadium:

Fozzy's injury had a huge impact on this team. From all accounts, Fozzy is an outstanding young man. It's a shame his career had to end with an injury.

Understandably, Fozzy got a huge ovation when he was introduced for Senior Night. As an added tribute, a Longhorn player wore his #2 jersey for the rest of the season.

So this one didn't end the way we wanted,

but we'll still love our Horns 'til Gabriel blows his horn!

After the game, we huddled around the TV to watch the end of the ou-Baylor game. (Thanks to Bruce for the pic.) We were all guilty of schadenfreude, loving every minute of the sooners' loss. And yes, we would end up losing to Baylor, too, but hey, we were all Bears fans that night!
The next morning, Dede and I made the most of our last football weekend,

starting with breakfast at Trudy's. Dede always gets the Mexican eggs benedict, and I usually opt for the migas rellenos. Yum.

After breakfast we drove over to the Co-op and checked out the view from the garage rooftop.

After shopping to our hearts' content, we started the long, slow drive home. We ran into several accidents and traffic jams, so it took us forever. I had a raging headache, so we went ahead and stopped for supper...

at our friend's restaurant! We both had been wanting to eat there for the longest time, and it worked out nicely for us to squeeze this stop into our weekend.

And so another season of tailgating and Longhorn games has come to an end. While it wasn't nearly as dreadful as last year, this season was a far cry from the glory days of '05, '08 and '09. But honestly? My team could lose every game from here on out and I'd still want to be there, Horns held high. (But please, please, please, Mack, don't let that happen!)