Armed Forces Bowl + NYE

And the reason for the Texas trip (in case anyone forgot my previous couch plea): The Armed Forces Bowl on Dec. 31st.

This was Air Force's second straight invite to the Armed Forces Bowl. I couldn't afford to make the trip last year so I was glad to be there with Matt this time. It's a beautiful setting for a bowl game:

Air Force lost a heartbreaker to Cal when their star quarterback went down in last year's Armed Forces Bowl. We were looking forward to another good match-up but were slated to play Houston, who the Falcons already beat earlier in the season--lame. Needless to say, the boys weren't as excited for the game as they could have been and it showed when they took the field.

...not that they (especially the coaches) didn't look great while taking said field :-) ...

Anyway, General Petraeus was there for the coin toss and a half-time recognition:

You would think that having him there would be some sort of a good-luck charm for Air Force but no luck there--the Falcons ended up losing by a field goal. Matt's a good sport to smile at a time like that:

After the game, we hung out with the Melville's for awhile before getting dinner at a steakhouse they recommended...

... and then freshened up for a night on the town for New Year's Eve:

That "night on the town" didn't last too long, since there wasn't much to do in downtown Fort Worth except drink. We ended up back in the hotel lobby to sip our sparkling cider and watch the ball drop. Not too exciting but hey, it worked!