<p>Great post TXArchitect!! Your husband and I would get along great. I just hope he’s a Cowboys fan as well.</p>
<p>Draft on at my house the past three days as well!! We have had our hotel room for the Ole Miss game since January :)…regular price $112 a night…no minimum at Country Inn and Suites.
On a football note…We in KC would like to graciously “WELCOME” Mr. Dequan Memzie to our fair city…lord knows the Chiefs need him :). Now Javier has a friend …and someone to share a steak dinner at Fox and the Hound when he comes out to watch Bama football with us :)… Javier was a regular all last year …we are now looking forward to have to Bama football alums to share Game Day with! Roll Tide!!
One final tid bit…they will join a youung man named Donald Stephenson OL left tackle from Oklahoma. Donald played high school football with our son and lived with us his senior year of high school…When he got the call last night her was here in Blue Springs…needless to say it was VERY EXCITING for all of us…We wish all of the 2012 NFL draft class well…</p>
<p>Great post TXArchitect!! Your husband and I would get along great. I just hope he’s a Cowboys fan as well. Well, he can be your new BFF!! </p>
<p>We are ex-DFW’ers so the Cowboys will always be our team, but since the move to Houston, he is a Texans banwaggoner bigtime.</p>
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<p>Congrats to Donald and your family. I know all of you are thrilled he will be coming home to play for the Chiefs. Hopefully he’ll have a long prosperous career.</p>
<p>Thanks casinoexec…we are thrilled! It’s will be very nice to have him home. DH does sports photography as a hobby. He is over the moon because he has been told he will be given a field pass for all Chiefs games. He is still trying to wiggle his way onto the Bama sidelines…he is hoping this year :).</p>
<p>Ahpimommy,</p>
<p>My DH has heard me nattering on for DAYS about my new CC friends and the posts and calls that have so fascinated my DD and me. All I ever got in response was an annoyed “we’ll see after we visit the campus.”</p>
<p>UNTIL a few minutes ago when I said the (apparently) magic words DONALD STEVENSON.</p>
<p>As a Sooner, he knew EVERYTHING (almost) about Donald and NOW the fact that I actually have a Donald connection (through you!) has completely changed his interest level in my natterings about CC and the wonderful things I am learning about the University of Alabama.</p>
<p>FOOTBALL !!! Gotta love it.</p>
<p>TXArchitect…Come to KC and visit…will be happy to introduce Donald to your husband…word of warning …stay out of his way when he’s eating!!! Kid puts a 9x13 cakes away for dessert at one sitting. When he lived with us the local grocery store used to send me roses at Christmas for having the biggest food bill at their store…no kidding!!! At 6’6 312 (that’s he’s listed at at the combine) he could really put away a lot of food. I did watch Javier Arenas (who is about half his size) eat 2 rib eye dinners one night at The Fox and the Hound…when we were planning Run For Tuscaloosa.</p>
<p>I know, I know, football is a religion. I just feel bad that I can’t go see him. I will know to plan ahead next time. He’s not coming home for Thanksgiving so I won’t see him till December. It will be very very hard for me. We are from RI and very far away. I think kids who live in apartments should rent their rooms out for game days. They’d make a fortune!</p>
<p>Proudmama3…we went through this with DD this year. Moved her in the first week of August. We did go down for the Arkansas game but she went to her boyfriends for Thanksgiving (they had tix to the Auburn game) and so she didn’t come home until the week before Christmas. Even with the visit for the game I missed her terribly. I would suggest going for a non game weekend or looking on Craigslist for some place to rent for the weekend. Yep…football weekends are a money making extravaganza. I think you might have hit on something with the kids renting out their rooms (DD was actually living in an apartment at that time and so we stayed with her…huge $$$ savings).</p>
<p>Proudmama…</p>
<p>Some people who come in from B’ham book a hotel there, spend the night, and then drive to T-town for game day and spend all day there. You can save a lot that way.</p>
<p>Proudmama, like others have said, look at a non-football weekend! That’s what I did last year. I felt that Parents Weekend was a little too early in the semester, so I went in October. Just in time to take her shopping for winter clothes!! We’re from Hawaii, so I know all about living VERY far away. D only came home at Christmas. No Thanksgiving, Fall Break, Spring Break 
I miss her terribly, but she’ll be home in 3 days!! Yay!!! Can’t wait.</p>
<p>Now, my husband wouldn’t dream of going to visit without being able to go to a football game. Not that visiting his D isn’t a priority, but Bama football has been his religion since he was a kid, so he’s living his dream through her lol! He visited last year for the LSU game. He stayed in Birmingham for a few nights, stayed at the Greystone one night (the hotel that malanai recommended you look at), and then once the crowds cleared, stayed in T-town. The drive from the Greystone is pretty short. He didn’t even mind the drive from Birmingham.</p>
<p>Keep your eye out for deals and try and make at least one trip down there. You’ll love seeing your S in his new home away from home!!!</p>
<p>Someone mentioned a parent club for the capstone inn, how do you apply for that? Is there a cost for membership? We are staying there for orientation.</p>
<p>Yes any leads in the capstone parents club or is that the UA parents club and they have a discount code?</p>
<p>I was researching hotels and looked at the Greystone, which is a great price. (20 min. away, correct?) Also found the Microtel Cottondale very reasonably priced and it is much closer. Any reviews? I have no idea about the area, so I don’t know what is a good area and was it so called “bad” or “scary” in and around T-Town.?</p>
<p>I’ve never stayed there but the Greystone gets solid reviews on here. Tripadvisor doesn’t rate the Microtel in Cottondale very high. I’d book the Greystone and be happy with it especially for that price for a busy football weekend. It’s 20 mins or so from campus but that’s a lot better than the 50 mins staying in Bessemer or B’ham. You won’t find anything cheaper.</p>
<p>I’ve stayed at the Greystone. It’s plain, clean, not in a scary place, and the staff is super nice. Very easy drive via the Interstate to Tuscaloosa and area restaurants. If you’re looking to save money, you should be fine there.</p>
<p>To join the parents club at the Capstone you’ll need to request a brochure when you check in, complete it, and return it when you check out. The benefits are: 10th stay is free, 1:00 p.m. checkout, free upgrade to club level room (when available and requested at check in). The downsides are: you REALLY need to check your rates yourself online. Don’t ever make reservations by phone without doing this. You’ll save as much as $40 per night in some cases by booking from their site directly online rather than calling. The rates they offer you as “standard double” are often NOT the lowest price, so you’re actually paying for the club upgrade in some cases. The location is great, but the service can either be either exceptional or terrible depending upon the staff on call at the time. In our experience, the room conditions can also vary. Our last visit was great though and we will either be there or at the Hilton for move in.</p>
<p>Thanks y’all! :-)</p>