Grab a Big Gulp and find some John Denver tunes on your radio, because Graduate Hotels is bringing a wild (albeit bizarre) excuse for you to road trip to your favorite college town with your buddies.
Graduate Hotels, a collection of boutique accommodations dotting our favorite university neighborhoods across the country, is in the midst of hosting a fall pop-up tailgating tour that uses a Dumb and Dumber Mutt Cutts replica van to travel from city to city, licking poles and cracking beers in celebration of the fall football season.
This iconic shag pup on wheels, home to the most annoying sound in the world, was created by Graduate Hotels in partnership with Chicago-based experiential marketing group Outcold. The vehicle is outfitted for tailgating season with fully stocked Yeti coolers, a roll-out grill, music, corn hole boards, and food and beverages available for purchase — not to mention a custom Petey interior print (a nod to Blind Billy’s pet) and vintage plaid seats (#PhotoOp).
But why would any grown man venture to his college glory-day haunts to cheer on a football team and finally touch the iconic shaggin’ wagon? Hah, why wouldn’t they! This opportunity is an outlandish of our favorite things — plus it’ll get you off the couch and let you revisit the old feels of youth.
“Graduate’s Mutt Cutts tour is our way of celebrating football season while simultaneously paying homage to pop culture and the arts in a very fun and playful way,” says Ben Weprin, CEO of Graduate Hotels, in a statement. As you can see, it’s not supposed to be serious.
But it is supposed to bring you back to the spirit of memory-making journeys, especially those tackled by you and your bestie. After all, Dumb and Dumber isn’t a classic film because of its Hooters joke, but because it portrays an odyssey between ride-or-die friends. So call up your Lloyd or Harry and retrace your steps back to the drooping elms and collegiate towers of your alma mater where you first forged your friendship.
Catch the final tour spots on October 21 in Madison, Wisconsin (go Badgers!) and November 4 in Athens, Georgia (go Bulldogs!) and plan ahead by renting a Graduate Hotel room (please do not sleep on the floor of your old frat). These rooms are a reason on their own to take a weekend excursion, packing plenty of back-to-school nostalgia and curated with refined design odes to your halls of ivy (minus the thin mattress and shared bathroom). Features include sophisticated tweeds, textured exposed wood, and bold colors that commemorate the energy of your collegiate community while holding the airs of a luxury, boutique hotel.
Allow yourself a weekend to be young and dumb again — back when you had no food, no jobs, and your pets heads were falling off. You’ll realize just how far you’ve come from being a beer-bong-toting junior.)
