Palo Alto, California: We woke to rain in Napa. Drizzly. Cold. Foggy. Wet. Quite a change. However, we are Ducks and a little water certainly isn't going to deter us from having a good time. We hit the road south of San Francisco to Palo Alto. It seemed we sat on the interstate as long as we drove on the interstate. When departing Napa, our GSP gave us a two-hour window to arrive to Stanford University. We arrived on campus three and one-half hours later.
Sitting in traffic on 880 in the Bay Area
Dumbarton Bridge - Notice the lovely litter
Three axles on the bus, two on the car = $11.25 toll
Traffic was terrible. Lanes are narrow. The roads have potholes deep enough to contain VW Beetles. (NOTE TO THE GOVENATOR: Arnie, Fix Your Roads!)
After only one harrowing turn and a bit of tree-trimming on local Palo Alto streets, we arrived at Stanford Stadium and found our RV parking spot - arranged for us by old friend and Stanford alum.
Your daily photo of the beautiful Magna Peregrinus
We could not be any closer to the stadium entrance - what a great campsite.(NOTE TO U of O Athletic Department: most every university in AMERICA allows overnight RV parking in their stadium parking lots - do you think it is possibly time you did the same? Just a thought.)
Our arrival into the Stanford Stadium parking lot caused a bit of friendly booing from our fellow campers. No problem - we quickly won the Cardinal faithful over with our wit, charm and martini shaker. It is going to be a fun weekend.
Mary, Steve and Julie arrived (via Suburban from Portland) this evening. They stopped by our bus and then we all went to dinner at a local Stanford favorite, The Oasis. I guess The Oasis (truly a dump with questionable plumbing) is famed as a burger joint, but the last time we were here (with Waasil), we had chicken wings... so we did the the same tonight... plus pizza... plus onion rings... plus beer. Goodness. What were we thinking?
Probably that we need to pick up a bottle of Tums?
Mary says hello from The Oasis in Palo Alto
Cheese pizza, spicy wings, pepperoni pizza and onion rings. Okay, so we over-ordered.
We didn't finish the pizza. We didn't begin to touch the wings. We didn't finish the onion rings.
The Chicken Wings are killer. Some of the best, meatiest wings EVER.
The wings are in our fridge now... awaiting a post-game Victory Party fest.
Julie really enjoyed dinner... except she was not really too interested in the food. Julie was texting back and forth with her Mom and brother who were at the Blazer game in Portland. We were watching the Blazer (v. San Antonio) game on the TV at The Oasis. We could see her Mom and Bro on the screen! So much fun!
Cindy & Dave: Our entertainment - circled in the top of this photo.
And look what we found carved into the wall at The Oasis - UO DUCKS
Kick-off is 12:30 tomorrow afternoon. We will be hosting the tailgate here pre/post game. Our bus is parked about 100 feet from Stanford Stadium. It is going to be a great day.
I predict.
Until my next update, I remain, your GO DUCKS correspondent.