Vacation recap: stadium tour

I took a whole week off in October. I didn't have anything major planned, but I hadn't had a real break from work and I didn't want to lose my vacation at the end of the year.

For the second half of the week, my mom and I headed over to Eastern Washington to visit family. Both my parents grew up in Pullman and I went to undergrad at WSU (with a handful of cousins), so it's always great to get back. The whole weekend was fun, but there were a couple highlights.

Thursday, I got to catch up with someone I worked with in the athletic department when I was in school. He gave me the lowdown on everything going on there and set me up so I could tour the new stadium facilities with my cousins the next day.

When I was in school, I spent every football Saturday in the press box. The space was old, involved climbing rickety ladders, and luxury/club suites were pretty much unheard of. A few years ago, that all changed.

Now there a huge multi-story struction that sits behind the south sideline. It has club seats, luxury boxes, and multiple elevators...which is way more fancy than anything that existed before. WSU's stadium isn't the biggest (not by a long shot), but the athletic department has really invested to improving facilities.

Here's a look at our tour:

 Club level seats

 The new football ops building, under construction.

Club-level concourse.

Cool mural.

Leather embroidered seats -- like you do.

The AD's box: 

My favorite part all the Cougar helmets from over the years.

The president's suite. It seats 77 and has a pretty nice view of the 50 yard line.

Another cool feature, all the windows can actually slide open from the bottom. 

The press box included an open air section that has gorgeous views of campus. 

Helped by fall colors. 

A panorama from inside the press box.

Another view of the main luxury stretch on the left 

and the new football ops building at the end. 

Go Cougs!