SUPERBOWL LV

Devin and I had the opportunity to attend Super Bowl LV in Tampa, FL. Devin works with SiriusXM (satalite radio) and they sponsored the NFL.  Devins reps just love him to pieces and they offered us 2 of the 8 tickets that they had.

Friday morning, 02/05, we flew out of Salt Lake City.  It was a long, direct flight to Tampa.  We wore our masks the entire time on the plane and in the airport.  Because of Covid precautions, they didn’t do their usual food on the plane.  Instead, they passed out baggies that had a couple of snacks in them and a small bottle of water.  Since we flew out pretty early on Friday, we dropped Tanner of at my parents house on Thursday night and slept at one of the hotels by the airport.  

When we arrived in Tampa, we were greeted by people yelling “Welcome to Tampa! Go Bucs!” We had a driver pick us up and take us to the Embassy Suites by Hilton.  We got to the hotel around 5 PM.  We had dinner reservations at DATZ at 6, so with the traffic and being a Friday, we grabbed an Uber and headed off to DATZ.  Y’all. I ate the most fattening meal I had ever had.  I had a hamburger ... but the buns were made of fried macaroni and cheese.  YOU GUYS. It was divine. 

After going to DATZ, we went to a donut shop right next door.  Can’t remember the name though.. After that we went back to the hotel and walked around the convention center.  They had a big pirate ship that would go off with a firework show that was so much fun! 

Saturday, we woke up and went out to Clearwater.  What a gorgeous beach!! The sand seriously was the softest sand I have ever felt.  I have been to beaches in the Grand Caymans, Mexico, Oregon, California and this was by far the best sand I have even put my toes in. 

We rented a cabana and literally just relaxed and listened to the waves of the Ocean.  They were doing the celebrity flag football game behind us, so while we waited we went and got lunch.  We went the Frankies something or other and it was a dud.  We watched the parachutes bring the American Flag and the game ball from the sky.  It was so cool!  When we got back to the hotel on Saturday, we went and walked the river walk and ended up at a place called Malios.  Devin and I are steak people.  Since dad raises beefs and kills one every year, we eat a lot of steaks—this was one of the best steaks I have ever tasted in my entire life.  If you go there, be prepared to give your unborn child as payment....

Sunday morning—SUPER BOWL SUNDAY! We slept in, which was magnificent.  If you have a toddler, then you know what I am talking about, haha! I slept in until 10:30, and around 11 we went to Green Lemon.  Y’all...they had delicious tacos.  They were so good!  We had Chiefs shirts on and I was a little nervous about getting yelled at.  Where the Bucs were playing in the Super Bowl, in their home stadium, it felt more like a home game and there were some very unkind people. 

Around 3:30, we rode a shuttle bus to the stadium.  There were so many people.  If I was going to have an anxiety attack, that was when it was going to happen.  We had lower bowl tickets and y’all, it was SO MUCH FUN!!!  The people who were working at the stadium were so dang nice.  I almost have never met kinder people.  They always smiled, they were polite, they never yelled — it was wonderful!  We had a great time.  

While sitting at the game, I got cold!  You would think that being from Northern Utah, that 50 degrees would feel delightful.  The wind started to blow and I was so dang cold.  I made Devin go and buy me a long sleeve shirt.  I got back just in time to see H.E.R perform America the Beautiful.  It was electrifying! Literally.  She used her electric guitar and performed a gorgeous version of that song.  Eric Church and Jazmine Sullivan performed the National Anthem and it was gorgeous.  It gave me chills! 

Devin would be able to go into much more details about statistics of the game.  It was a good game at first, but we definitely felt like the refs were for Tampa.  Something cool about this game, is it was the first super bowl game to have a woman ref—along with two more women on the sidelines! 

There were 7500 healthcare workers that were there.  It was NFL’s way of thanking the workers who have been through so much during the pandemic.  It was fun to see them highlighted.  It was a little strange that I had cardboard people behind me, but honestly, I felt better not having a ton of people surrounding me.  

After the game, we went home and I have never seen so many drunk people in my life. There were people carrying around traffic cones, and grocery carts and yelling and falling over.  It was crazy!! We finally got back to the hotel and we went right to bed.  We had to be up at 4:30.  We got to the airport at 5:00 and safety got through security.  I fell asleep as soon as we got on the plane.  I don’t even remember take off. I woke up right before we landed in Atlanta. We had a small layover in Atlanta and ate breakfast at Chick-fil-a.  I had a delightful sausage and egg bagel.  My first Chick-fil-a breakfast! Again, I fell asleep before the plane even took off.  It was a 4 hour flight and I needed sleep!

We landed in Salt Lake and got to my car and it was a disaster.  I guess while we were gone they had a “brown” snow storm and my car was covered.  We went through a car wash and got her all nice and shined.  We picked up KFC in Brigham and went straight to Tanner!  The little turd wasn’t even excited to see us!! I walked in the room and he says “go away mom!” Haha! 

So grateful for the opportunity Dev and I had to share that experience together!