toomer's oaks

on april 20th, auburn had their annual a-day game. this day was unlike any other a-day game day because after the game was over, everyone walked to toomer's corner to roll the toomer's oaks for the very last time. after two years, efforts to save the trees after they had been poisoned by a crazy person ended. they were to be removed and the toomer's corner would get an entire face lift including new oaks. those trees were a part of auburn's tradition and i was glad that i was present for their last hurrah.

 our day started at chappy's deli for breakfast. mq and i love this place.

because this is such a picture heavy update, i'm hiding them all behind a link - click to see more!

 the rest of the day was spent grilling in the front yard and hanging out with friends who had driven down from birmingham. we didn't go to the game but celebrated from afar.

 chief tire water! isn't he (she) beautiful?

 downtown was crazy packed. we planned on rolling the trees, but because we could barely walk towards the trees, we decided to head to the bar first. mq made it easy for us by yelling "she's gonna puke!!" while guiding a giggling me through the crowd that parted immediately with looks of horror. i tried assuring as many people as i could that no, i was not going to puke, but thanks for moving out of the way.

here are some old pictures of toomer's corner from past football seasons.

 this was taken after the auburn/lsu game in 2010. it was a pretty big win and people were really excited.

 there were even camera crews!

 we came back later that night to take funny pictures. i'm glad we did.

 

 

 iron bowl 2010! this game was so exciting. at halftime, alabama was leading 24-0 and by the end of the game, auburn had won 28-27. such a stressful and amazing night.

 this was taken the morning after the iron bowl in 2010. shortly after, the trees were poisoned. we'd have no idea until months later.

 this picture was taken on the night of the sec championship in december 2010. after this game, we knew we were on our way to the national championship that year. we were verrry excited.

like i said, very excited. i had never seen the trees so full of toilet paper before!

 this was taken on the night of the national championship. it was such a nail biter at the end, and the second (i mean literally the second) we knew we won, everyone descended to toomer's corner. it was crazy and so exciting and i'm pretty sure i cried.

four days after the national championship. it took them awhile to get all of the toilet paper out but also i think they wanted to keep it up for the celebration for as long as they could.

downtown looked like a winter wonderland. not only were the toomer's oaks rolled, but so many other trees on campus and in the downtown area were full of toilet paper.

it's certainly a beautiful sight to see and it will take some time until they can look like this again. the trees were removed on april 23rd, and will be replaced by adult live oaks sometime in 2013/2014. they won't be ready to roll until the 2014 football season but i'll have already graduated by then. very sad to see them go, but i am very happy that i was able to say goodbye and be a part of the celebration of the oaks.