Yvenson Bernard signing Caleb's football.
Inside Pier 48 (click on the title of my blog for a short video clip of the tailgate party).
Enthusiastic fans everywhere ~ check this lady out!
Caleb in his Santa hat.
Caleb and Kelsey with Alexis Serna, Oregon State's graduating kicker.
Okay, now
that was fun. I think we definitely need to do the Bowl Game thing more often. Our mantra was "Next year in San Diego!"
The trip down was, indeed, harrowing. We took the coast to avoid the snow through the Siskiyou pass and ended up stuck in snow in the Redwoods. We personally never slid or had to pull over, but there were cars just everywhere on the roads, idiot people hiking up the road after their cars got stuck, we watched a semi trailer fish around on the ice two cars ahead of us... it was nasty. By the time we got to the bottom they had closed the pass and weren't allowing any more cars up. After finally making it through, we ended up sitting in stopped traffic for more than an hour just north of Ukiah and had no idea why. We assumed maybe an accident, but it turned out they were screening each car and only letting 4 wheel drive carrying chains through. All others were being turned around and sent away, although they couldn't go back up the pass so I have no idea where they were supposed to go. After gaining the approval of the Caltran we decided to play it safe and put our chains on before we even started up the next hill. That meant yet another delay, but we figured it was worth it. It was incredibly relieving and yet frustrating as we drove up the hill to discover the roads were simply wet. 35 degrees, no ice, no snow, nothing. Nada. We had to pull over to take the chains back off again. All that long-windedness to say that it took us 18 very long, very cramped hours to drive to San Francisco. We were driving Nathan's rented Jeep Commander, which technically seats seven, but only if you believe in torture. 18 hours worth of torture.
Woo boy... this is going to be a long one, I can tell.
Yesterday, game day, was fabulous. I was honestly having severe doubts as to whether the trip was worth it after that first day but I'm happy to report it far exceeded our expectations.
We stayed at the downtown Marriott, which was the PAC-10 team hotel. That was absolutely the only way to go. When we got up in the morning and walked down to the lobby it was like an 12 year old's football fantasy... all the players were mingling around in the lobby, in Starbucks, in the hallways. Their mothers were there, too. :) I had brought Sharpies for both Caleb and Kelsey in case they wanted to get an autograph or two, but I'm pretty sure they got nearly the whole team. Kelsey had them sign her Beaver baseball hat, and Caleb had a Nike football signed. They were photographed with multiple players, including the quarterback Lyle Moevao and our fan favorite Yvenson Bernard. I'm having a heck of a time with my camera so sadly many of the pictures are blurry, but a few are salvageable.
Around 1:45 we packed up our gear for the game and walked about a mile down to the stadium, with a pitstop first at the official OSU tailgater party which was housed in Pier 48. Talk about fun! There were hundreds and hundreds of people there, a huge tri-tip buffet, the marching band played and the cheerleaders did what cheerleaders do. It was really just a ton of fun. Even the port-a-potties were Orange. :) We ran into 4 or 5 different people we knew, including Caleb's old elementary principal, a boy from Sarah's class, and someone George works with.
When the tailgate was wrapping up we walked over to the stadium and settled in with the rain. It wasn't so bad... Beaver fans are used to sitting through games in the rain, so we're all prepared. Our seats were down low and close to the field, but the crowd stood through the entire game which is not so great if you're vertically challenged. I have sore calf muscles today from standing on my tiptoes the whole time.
You watched the game, so you know how it went. George, Nathan, Caleb and Kelsey joined the crowd on the field after the game while Teresa and I held down the fort. We finally walked in a crowd of Beaver fans back to the hotel and arrived just as the team was pulling up in buses and getting off carrying armloads of pizza boxes. It really was great. They're estimating more than 9,000 fans made the trip ~ San Francisco was a little bit orange this weekend.
We really had such a great time!
Emma sweetly explains the coasters she made for GiGi.
