End of another season

This past weekend I traveled six hours (each way) with three other referees (Joe, Nate, and Daryl) for a soccer tournament in Richmond, VA. These will (most likely) be the last games I referee this year--a bitter sweet moment for me. I had reffed a few local tourneys while living in Rochester, but this was the first time I had traveled so far to do so. In addition to the normal game pay, there were a few extra perks. As part of the "benefits package" we were given hotel rooms and lunches for two days. Plus, the fall foliage was just past peak, so the trees were so beautiful.

It was a very full weekend. We left State College after work on Friday (6pm), arriving at the hotel just before midnight. On Saturday Nate and I each reffed 5 games in a row, from 9:30am until 5pm. The other two in our group had games spread out from 8am until 9:30pm--a very long time even if they did get a few breaks throughout the day. Being November the weather was a bit chilly (morning temp: ~30 degrees F, high for the day: ~50 degrees) so after our last game on Saturday, Nate and I decided to go back to the hotel to relax (and thaw out) for a few hours before going back to the fields to pick up Joe and Daryl. On the way we found a glorious sight...a Krispy Kreme!!! I won't claim to want to eat these doughnuts every day, but boy are they yummy after a full day of soccer! The "HOT" neon sign was aglow, so we got to eat our free glazed doughnuts as we chose the dozen we would buy. Our "official" dinner that night was at IHOP...my third breakfast for the day:)

Sunday had a lighter schedule: four games for Nate and me, three for Joe and Daryl. First games started at 8am again, but we were all finished by 3:30pm and back in the van for the return trip. Instead of using the interstate, we spent most of our time on two-lane highways up through Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland, and Pennsylvania. We had an interesting dining experience in this little road-side diner ("The Southern Belle") in West Virginia. The food was pretty good and the patrons were obviously local. We finally made it to State College ~11pm, exhausted but excited to be back home.