Notre Dame football stadium tour, plus our first time to Culver’s {South Bend, Indiana}

I’m about a month delayed in blog posts, here are some of our adventures from the week of August 18, 2015. For real time updates – follow us on Instagram!

After our quick stop in Wisconsin we spent a night in Illinois and headed over to South Bend, Indiana. My husband really wanted to tour the Notre Dame stadium which happens to be in the area and it was on our way up to Grand Rapids, Michigan – our next stop for our fresh water tank repair.

The stadium tour costs $50 for the whole family and are about an hour long. You get a Notre Dame lanyard with the tour and a coupon for 10% off the Notre Dame gift shop (so do your shopping after you buy your ticket). Check for tour times here beforehand, as times can change depending on campus events.

When we lived in a traditional house my husband coached high school football. He loves all things football – high school, college or NFL – so this was especially interesting for him.

As part of the tour we saw a lot of different parts in the sports facilities. I’ll spare you all the details, but will share some of my favorite highlights. The basketball arena was impressive! We learned a lot about Notre Dames sports history and heritage – quite a legacy and winning history!

This guy, Knute Rockne, has a statue outside the football stadium. He was the head coach of Notre Dame from 1918 to 1930 and had 105 wins during that short tenure – only 12 losses and 5 ties. And THREE national championships. He is considered one of the GREATEST college colleges of all time. Rockne has an interesting story and you can read more about him here.

We got to go into the actual Notre Dame locker room. They were prepping for team player photos – that’s why you’ll see lighting and backgrounds in the photos.

From the locker room out to the football field there are TWO signs that the players hit before heading into a game. The “Go Irish Go: Fighting Irish” sign is the first sign on the way out. . .

And the famous “Play Like A Champion Today” sign is also tapped on the way out to the field!

Here’s where the players run out into the field.  . .

And the football field! This field is currently under construction as they are adding more than 750,000 square feet of teaching, research and performance space. It’s going to be quite impressive when it’s done – you can see the ultimate vision of the stadium here.

After the tour we decided to hit up Culver’s restaurant for the first time. Many people had recommended we give it a try – especially recommending their custard and fried cheese curds.

We were definitely impressed. I’m not a huge fan of fries, so I was happy to try the cheese curds – they were delicious!

And after lunch we ordered frozen custard. You know . . . just doing our part to experience the local culture! 🙂 We realized that the kid’s meal bags actually have coupons for a free scoop of custard – score! I’m a traditionalist and didn’t add any mixin’s to my custard but my family wasn’t shy and tried a few different toppings. We all agreed Culver’s was delicious – thanks to everyone for the recommendation!

Have you ever toured a college stadium or sports arena before? We’d love to hear about it! Do you like Culver’s? If so, what’s your favorite thing on the menu and do you have any suggestions for saving on your meal!?