Trip Report From First Time Visitor

Oct 15, 2023, 10:21 PM

I sought advice for my annual college road trip to Clemson for the Wake Forest game. I'm posting to thank you all for your help and let you know how our trip went. Here's a recap of our day. We arrived in town at 10:30 AM. Campus and the town were "sleepy". We didn't know where to park so we drove around a bit and saw free parking along the road on which we approached campus (Old Stadium Rd?). We drove by the only public pay lot which was $30 and a loooong walk. We then drove into town and found residents selling lawn parking. We parked on Pine St with one of these for $60. Money well spent as we wanted to be close, have access to our car, and be close to downtown for post game exploring. First stop was the Esso Club which was subdued at that hour. Had a beer, looked around and moved on to campus. I love this kind of college dive bar and it felt just as expected. We then walked to Littlejohn Coliseum, which was open and apparently had a hoops scrimmage. Nice facility. We then walked through some tailgating area, along stadium, took photos of the rock (smaller than I expected), through Memorial Park and to Bowman Field to check out homecoming floats. Beautiful campus and the floats were pretty cool. We worked our way to the amphitheater, via Bookstore, to watch the band do their pregame show. We then worked our way to stadium, watched the band march by and then found our seats in time to watch the team run down the hill. Cool helicopter flyover during anthem. After the game, we went downtown. Spent a fair amount of time in ITSURWEINER - had a few Litchers, watched the drunken students, and watched my Phillies administer their yearly beat-down to the Braves. After that, we ate at Jimmy Johns (sad, I know...but everywhere had long lines and we were hungry and didn't know where else to go). We then finished the night with a few rounds at Nick's before going home. Those were the facts...here's some of my impressions:

1. Overall, me and my buddies had a very enjoyable day. Atmosphere was a bit subdued but that was because you guys have 2 losses and it was only Wake. I kinda expected that.
2. Tailgating was kinda subdued. Certainly didn't match the atmosphere at Tennessee or LSU. I didn't find people as engaging as other places...although nobody was unfriendly. I got several invites to tailgates via message boards in the past and that resulted in some of our best experiences. Also, we stopped to admire some groups set-up but were never engaged. Not a knock...just my experience.
3. Campus was beautiful.
4. Game was a dud. Tigers tried to let Wake win but Wake was too inept. Wake offense stinks! I was so sick of watching them run that super slo-mo option that rarely worked. At least there was excitement at the end as the game was still in doubt...but if I was a Tigers fan, that would not please me.
5. Downtown was cool. Great post-game vibe. We went to ITSURWEINER mainly by chance as we happened to end up there and it didn't have a line at the time as opposed to some other spots. I could tell it is a "young spot" (i.e. we are 55-60) although there were a very few other older people there. We didn't care and we had a good time there. Litchers were interesting and better than we expected. Nick's was a cool dive spot and was very crowded...but fun.
6. Parking in a resident's yard was a great decision as we had a very short walk at the end of the night.

That's it. Thanks again for the advice. To the poster who accused me of being a troll with my original post - don't be so negative and learn how to spell "moronic". To everyone else, good luck going forward unless you are playing my Nittany Lions.

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imho mainly due to time of game. fans not into Wake or our sputtering offense..not ranked 1st in a decade..yada-yada-yada.

Your parking & Esso Club ideas were perfect along with seeing Bowman Field Homecoming displays, band practice at Amphitheater, Howards chipped so now smaller ROCK, Run Down & Game.

Now, if I’d been your guide (64 years been around Tigertown) you would not have eaten or partaken at those dives you mentioned plus I’d had you visit inside John C Calhoun’s Home Fort Lawn since he was Clemson’s Daddy-in-Law (Tom was from Philly!), Was U.S. VP twice, Sec of War, Sec of State, Senator, Ambassador, Statesman..

and had visitors at Ft Lawn such as Daniel Webster & Patrick Henry who all were tall (about 6’6” as was Mr Calhoun) ..plus you know he single-handily started The Civil War via his rhetoric.

Also, only a night game @ Death Valley #1 vs a top 10 opponent would be a fair gauge to the 25-30,000 more fans & excitement at a bWhite-out at PSU.

Wishing your Nittany’s much success vs Nuts & Jimmy’s crew since it’s about time to end that losing streak to them!

Thx for visiting & posting and..

Go Lions & Tigers!

Trip Report From First Time Visitor

Glad you enjoyed it.

Re: Trip Report From First Time Visitor

Re: Trip Report From First Time Visitor

Moranic with an A just means more.

Right - pretty sure that was intentional, as it is part

Yeah the misspelling of moron is supposed to be Iranical

Re: Yeah the misspelling of moron is supposed to be Iranical

Well DAVE..sounds like yall had a subpar to average experience

Re: Well DAVE..sounds like yall had a subpar to average experience

Correct!***

Re: Yeah the misspelling of moron is supposed to be Iranical

Re: Trip Report From First Time Visitor

My oldest Granddaughter and family live in Pittsburgh, and

Thanks for attending, and for the good and honest review.

Also- I liked your comment about not being invited into tailgates.

Re: Also- I liked your comment about not being invited into tailgates.

Oh YankeeDave..what do you & Buddies suggest

Nicks is one of my favs Esso too TTT used to be

Titled: Pleasant and Subdued: My First Clemson Game Day Experience***

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