Oregon Weekend

For those that watched football this weekend you probably already know that Stanford was not able to beat Oregon at Autzen Stadium last weekend. That being said, it was a great game (the first half at least) and we had a wonderful weekend.

Here we are outside of the Molecular Foundry in Berekely right before hitting the road. Kevin did a great job in his presentation and I really enjoyed getting to be there.

One of the best parts of the Foundry is the view. It is in the hills above Memorial Stadium and overlooks the bay where you can see San Francisco, Alcatraz, the Golden Gate Bridge and the Bay Bridge on a clear day. Leaving from Berkeley cut off about an hour from our trip and we made it to our campsite at about 11pm. Our friend Dennis and his girlfriend Rachel had a fire going when we got there. We stayed up for a little bit before heading to bed. We had our alarms set for 5:30am to head to the Stadium for College GameDay.

Kevin and I didn't bother showering before the event so we are looking a little gross here. There were few Stanford fans and an abundance of Oregon fans. Their ability to show up at the crack of dawn is why GameDay keeps coming to Eugene.

Both bands took turns playing during commercials and I like this picture because it shows the Oregon band (who were very proper) looking down at the Stanford band (which is known for being laid back). The Stanford band was having such a blast and I like to think Oregon was a little jealous.

Rachel, Dennis, Kevin, Cara

After leaving GameDay and grabbing breakfast we headed back to our campsite to get cleaned up. Dennis couldn't resist pretending to stomp on the "O" on our way back to the car.
We found a place called The Cooler where we ate breakfast and went back to to later on to watch the Wisconsin game. Both Dennis and Rachel graduated from there so we thought we'd cheer with them.
After awhile we headed to a tailgate by 'Toby the Van' They have a big van painted red with the Stanford S and tree on it. It was a really fun tailgate and we got to hang out with a bunch of band members while we were there.

This guy here is a drummer and also the guy in the red body suit from the last home game.

When the band unveiled the new tree last home game against Wake Forest, Kevin and Dennis called the tree over to us in the stands and grabbed it's leaves. The tree would respond, "Don't grab my leaves". Then a little bit later they would call the tree over again and grab his leaves. What we couldn't figure out was why the tree kept coming over to us. This happened probably 5 times. Not the tallest tree in the forest.

Of course they had to grab his leaves when they saw him again.

We had to get all of us in a picture with the tree!
The stadium was packed like I guess it always is. There was a sea of green and yellow and specks of red here and there. It is hard to describe how loud Autzen gets. It is supposed to be one of the loudest stadiums and I believe it. When people are yelling your head vibrates and it is pretty intense. The first half was amazing and we were cheering like crazy even though everyone around us was cheering for the other team. Then something happened in the second half and Oregon just dominated. It was pretty difficult to watch and tough with only 4 of us there. Many of the fans were great and really nice, but those that are bad are really really really bad. We had wheat thins chucked at us from up above (those corners are really sharp when thrown from far away)and the entire stadium booed when one of Stanford's players was down on the field for a little bit. I don't think we have ever wanted Stanford to win so badly before.

After losing we went out for pizza before heading back to our campsite and building a huge fire. We were all so tired from the long day before though that we headed to out tents early out of sheer exhaustion.

The next morning we hung out for a little bit before Kevin and I needed to hit the road for another 10 hour drive. Dennis was driving with Rachel 2 hours to Portland and flying back the next day.
We thought about stopping on the way back for some pictures, but we really wanted to make it home so I settled for a picture from the car. The view was incredible and I'd like to spend a little more time in Oregon.
We were pretty tired the first few days this week, but I think we've managed to recover. It is a good thing too because we have another tailgate this weekend. Stanford is playing USC and my Dad is coming to visit for the first time since we've been out in California. I'm very excited to have him here and I can't wait for another football game!