The Savage Traveler: A Special Trip to the Cotton Bowl

Tue. Dec. 30, 2015: We had to be up early to drive to the Lansing Airport by 8:00 to catch our plane. We had considered making our own arrangements but when we realized all that was included in the Alumni Association trip, we decided to spring the extra money for the convenience, and from the very beginning we were glad we had. We bought our tickets for the game ahead of time through MSU ticketing office so we could get 4 together to sit with Rick and Lynette, my college roommate who lives in Dallas. We flew in a 50 passenger charter jet that left from the small building next to the main Terminal. On arrival they took our bags and offered us a hot beverage while we waited for everyone to check in. We showed our ID to get our Boarding pass and then walked a few yards to the jet. On our seat there was a nice box lunch and a bottle of water. We got underway and they served beverages to go with the lunch. We had a quick stop in Columbia, MO to refuel because of a stiff headwind. Back in the air they again offered beverages and by 11:30 Central Time we landed at Dallas Love Field. Our shuttle buses pulled up a few yards from the plane so we climbed aboard while our luggage got loaded for us. The Anatole Hilton was about a fifteen minute drive. We were given our packet at the Cotton Bowl Hospitality desk and told we could go ahead and get in our rooms and our luggage would join us soon. There were cookies and fruit and cold beverages at the desk and our packets included MSU popcorn. We were clearly not going to go hungry this week!

In our room, 1961, we unpacked and finished our lunches before getting information and the link to take a one mile “Art Walk” highlighting 100 of the 1000 pieces of (mostly) Asian art at the motel. This also gave us a good chance to explore the layout of the large multi-building hotel complex including the outdoor Sculpture Park. Afterwards we went to one of the bars downstairs where the Dallas Alumni Association was hosting a basketball game watch for MSU’s Big 10 season opener against Maryland. While we watched, the football team came in through the lobby so everyone stood and gave them a rousing “Go Green! Go White!” as they passed us. We had to leave before the game was over to dress for the President’s Dinner, one of two activities to which we were invited at no cost because of our Scholarship for the College of Education. The dinner was held at the highly exclusive Petroleum Club in downtown Dallas. There was an hour long reception with waitpeople walking around with trays of hors d’oeuvres and several open bars in a wood paneled room on the 27^th floor with an expansive view of the lights stretching across Dallas. We didn’t know anyone else there but fell into easy conversation with other folks. Many people were keeping track of the game, which MSU lost in double overtime. Then we went upstairs to a very modern room with several floors of interior windows looking down on us for a delicious dinner of salmon and filet mignon (and plenty of wine), again chatting with complete strangers with whom we shared a love for MSU. That became the pattern for the week. There was a short presentation by Alumni personnel and then President Lou Anna Simons before we were shuttled back to the hotel, where we climbed into bed feeling quite feted!