The next Pavarotti?

This is neat-o!

Courage Reins

Hunter got to go to his first horseback riding session at Courage Reins today. It went really well. I think he enjoyed the experience, although he was very tired afterwards. The people who work there and who helped Hunter ride were great! We get to go every Friday morning for the next few months. I think it will be great for my little guy.

Sunday visit

Hunter and Grandpa Durrant

K-ville

Note: Read the previous post or this one won't make any sense.

In simplest terms, it is the line for students wishing to gain access to the designated tenting games. It is often mistakenly referred to as a ticket line. However, there are no student tickets; students are admitted from the line one and a half hours before each game.

There are usually two tenting games per season, one of which is the game that pits the Duke Blue Devils against the NC Tar Heels. Months before the actual game, students begin to put up and live in tents outside Cameron Indoor Stadium. As many as twelve people can occupy a specific tent number (many "tents" contain more than one physical tent). As regulated by Duke Student Government, there must be a certain number of students in the tent at regular, periodic checks.

From the beginning of tenting in early January (although the first tents usually appear between Christmas and New Year's) until one week before the game, tents generally must have 1 person in the tent during the day and 8 people each night. For the week before the game, only two people must be in the tent each night. The two weekend nights prior to the game are personal check nights, during which each of the twelve tent members must be at the tent for 3 of 5 personal checks spread over the two nights. If a tent misses a tent check twice, it gets moved to the end of the line (assuming availability). If K-ville is at full capacity (100 tents) and a waitlist exists at the time of the second miss, the tent gets removed completely.

Krzyzewskiville is named for Mike Krzyzewski, often called "Coach K", the much loved coach who has helped make Duke's basketball program one of the best in the nation. He has been known to buy pizza for the K-ville residents from time to time and has held open-forum "team meetings" with the Cameron Crazies before big games.

Duke game

We had such a great time on our trip! Bry and I flew in to Durham Wednesday afternoon. After several long hours on the airplanes (especially for the pregnant lady) we cruised to the hotel in our rental car, a red Mustang, and took a nap. That night we had dinner at a TGI Friday's near campus. After dinner, we drove a few blocks, parked and walked to Cameron Indoor Stadium. It was very cold! We were following the crowds, since we didn't really know where we were going, when suddenly we found ourselves in front of the arena. I never would have guessed in a million years that a basketball gym could be found in that building. It is very small inside and only holds 9300 fans. However, I feel like I can guarantee that the opposing team feels as though it holds 3x as many Cameron Crazies as that. The students are a riot! The game ended up being pretty close but my Blue Devils came away with the victory in the end, 71-58.

The next morning, before heading to the airport, we drove around the Duke campus a little and discovered Krzyzewskiville. (That's what the last picture of the tents is of in the next post.) I did some research and found out what it is all about and I have posted more info for those interested. After we took some more pictures of the campus we drove back to the airport. It was a short trip, but one I will never forget.

Cameron Indoor Stadium - It looks like a castle!