Road Trip to Notre Dame

It was Julia’s idea.  She heads up our photo department here at Subway Alumni Station.  Running down the hall she yelled “Road Trip” into everyone’s office and declared that the Yellow Line Train was leaving in ten minutes.  What’s a fellow to do?  It’s only nine hours one way at 80 miles an hour to South Bend by car.

The objective was to take pictures of the foyer of the “Gug” (formal name – Guglielmino Athletic Complex).  Julia heard about some recent changes and decided she needed pictures for a story.  We ended up writing two posts, what the heck, might as well get our monies worth out of gas at $3.79 per gallon.    

We posted some of the best ones at the bottom of the Blog along with those we took during last year’s road trip.  Enjoy.

If you are ever within a hundred miles of South Bend and Notre Dame, you must stop and see the Gug, Grotto, inside the administration building (Dome), a walk around the Stadium and the Hesburgh Library at a bare minimum.  A photo standing in front of Touchdown Jesus is mandatory as well.  Just ask a passing student to take it for you; it’s a very friendly campus.

For those unfamiliar with the “Gug” the official Notre Dame website has bragged it up rather nicely.  Check it out here.

Basically Notre Dame has consolidated a number of trophies and awards and placed them in one location.  Previously, some were housed on the second floor of the JACC or not even displayed.  Now Coach Brian Kelly can take a prospective recruit out by the receptionist and say “son, we want to put your name on the list here below Golden Tate’s on the Biletnikoff Award”

 or maybe “son, how would you like your name on the Golden Arm trophy next to Brady Quinn’s?” I could go on, but you get the picture.

Here is the last National Championship Trophy from 1988.  Way long overdue for a new one.  Speaking of trophies we did not see the 2011 Sun Bowl Trophy or the one Charlie got in Hawaii in 2009.

They did a great job with the Heisman Trophies and the picture on the wall of the Notre Dame recipients.

and the picture on the wall of the Notre Dame recipients.

It appears they ran out of space and even used the ceiling.

During the summer if you go really early to the "Gug" you can run into players coming and going from working out in the training and weight rooms.  Same thing early Friday of game weekend.  Players are coming and going from meetings and last minute preparations before heading to the hotel for the night.  It's one of the better secrets of Notre Dame Weekend.

Just inside the exercise room in the Loftus Center they have set-up a snack/nutrition counter with fresh fruit, power bars, and special drink for the athletics.  Nothing too good for these men and women of Notre Dame.

Check out the rest of the Road Trip pictures at the bootom of Blog and don’t forget to add us to your favorites list: http://subwayalumnistation.blogspot.com