Playoffs? PLAYOFFS??

That's right, folks. The occasion Matt had been waiting for since 2007 finally arrived.

The Chiefs made the playoffs!

And not only did they make the playoffs, but they were the 2010 AFC West Division Champions! Yay!

(I recognize that this may not come as a shock to many of you, considering we found out the Chiefs made the playoffs four weeks ago. I'm a little behind on posting... as usual.)

Since Matt was so very, very excited about this, I wasn't that surprised when he came to me with the proposition: Matt wanted to buy tickets to the game in Kansas City. We're trying to limit our excessive spending and we had no clue how we'd make it to KC for the game.. but how could I deny him this moment:

He's just so excited!

So we began planning. A crazy snowstorm across western Kansas led us to change our plans at the last minute. We flew to Wichita Saturday morning, rented a car to drive to KC, stayed with friends, went to the game on Sunday, drove to El Dorado to stay with my grandparents, and flew out of Wichita the next morning. Whew! It was a crazy trip, but there was an extra treat on our drive north. In between Wichita and KC is the town where Matt and I attended college, met, and fell in love.

Aww.

We hadn't really seen the town of Emporia since we graduated four years ago. Of course, not much has changed in that short amount of time, but it brought a wave of nostalgia that was a lot of fun.

I was very excited. I took a lot of pictures of signs.

And various places where we lived.

There wasn't a lot of exciting things to document from our time driving around town. We saw all of our old haunts on and off campus, and that was about it. But I enjoyed the memories.

Before we left town, we had to sample some of our favorite Emporia cuisine: La Hacienda. It's this fabulous Mexican restaurant that isn't as authentic as all of the places in Colorado - which makes it awesome.

White cheese. We don't have this stuff in Colorado. Yum.

It was pretty spectacular.

But on to the main event: the game.

Before I go any further, I have to make one thing very clear: I am absolutely, completely, and totally a Broncos fan. Despite the ridiculous things happening to my team in the last couple of months and years, I must make clear that I still love them. BUT... With a lot of family (and a husband) from Kansas, and having lived in Kansas myself for four years, I can kind of like the Chiefs a little - as long as their success does not in any way affect the Broncos success!

Considering the awful season we had in Denver, I think it's safe to say that this Chiefs' playoffs game did not affect the Broncos success. In any way.

So I hopped on the Chiefs bandwagon as they made their way to the playoffs.

I even wore a giant Chiefs sweatshirt. I felt dirty.

Prior to the start of the game, we had some tailgating to do! Chiefs fans are huge tailgaters, and Matt wanted to meet up with some internet friends from his online obsession: ChiefsPlanet.

Eating delicious food and chatting.

The ChiefsPlanet crowd.

And I got to meet a local celebrity, First Down Elvis!

He let me wear his glasses!

But finally, it was time for the main, main event: the game!

The pre-game entertainment. Getting us pumped up!

It was very cold, but the game kept us excited and enthusiastic... at least for the first half.

So excited! We scored a touchdown!

Then the Baltimore Ravens started going crazy and the Chiefs started losing by a lot. We continued to watch and cheer as the Ravens made their way to a 30-7 victory. Sadness.

So the Chiefs didn't win. In fact, they haven't one a playoff game in 17 years! But their year is coming - I can feel it. Since I don't have much to root for in Denver, I may have to become a secondary (always secondary) Chiefs fan for a while.

We made our way home through the snow and cold, and we're looking forward to next year. We might just make another trek out to KC for a game!