Sunday, October 12, 2014

Bye Week Road Trip


Our Newbury Park H.S. American football program was having its annual bye week, so Mike and I took advantage of the situation to drive up to the San Francisco Bay area to see our beloved Washington Huskies (4-1) play the California Golden Bears (4-1) in Berkeley in a pivotal PAC-12 Northern Division contest.

We left Camarillo at about 6:00 a.m. on Friday, first stop . . .

. . . San Luis Obispo for Breakfast
at 1491 Monterey St., SLO

Male-bonding road trips mandate great food stops.

It's the law.

The Farm

We made great time, so we opted to stop off at Leland Stanford Jr. University to check out their facilities. 

They weren't always the Cardinal 
you know . . . 

They used to be the Indians

Not PC enough I guess

The Cardinal (3-2) were hosting the Washington State Cougars (2-4) that evening. The Cougars QB, Connor Halliday, had thrown for an NCAA single game record 734 yards in a 60-59 loss to California last week. Staying to watch the Cougars' high flying offense was tempting but we opted to press on to Berkeley.

Halliday was only 42 for 69 passing for a mere 292 yards as the Cardinal defense prevailed, Stanford won 34-17. 

We also stopped into check out nearby Menlo College. It was quaint.

Crossing on the Bay Bridge

A MUST Stop

Once in Berkeley, Spenger's for a cup of their clam chowder on a Friday just seemed like the right thing to do.

 Airbnb Website find

Our friend, Marianne Damboise, recommended this website for interesting travel accommodations. 

Using the Airbnb website, we found a great room in this eclectic holistic medical arts home in the hills above the University of California campus, an easy ten minute walk to UC's Memorial Stadium for Saturday's game.

A not so easy twenty minute walk back to our room though.

Walking down to the UC campus
Friday night

Cool tree roots

 Nice widow

Cal's revamped Memorial Stadium

The Dawgs may be in trouble Saturday

Game Day Parking
is never fun

Not real

The bear I mean, that actually is the real Mike and I.

God knows that I could
use their services

 Paranoid Student's Dorm Window

Please Dawgs, wear
Gold Helmets this week!

Not a big crowd at
the UC Tennis Stadium

So, why you ask would we pass up the Stanford-Washington State game you ask?

Simple really . . .

San Leandro Pirates (1-5)
at
Berkeley Yellow Jackets (0-5)

Friday Night Lights is all about high school football!

Epic high school football at that!

Plus I was tired of driving and the Berkeley H.S. campus was within easy walking distance from our abode.

 Berkeley Pride

Captains Out

The left offensive tackle, #75, was one big Yellow Jacket! 

Sunset at BHS

"Has anybody seen the BHS Coach?"

Game Action

The score was 3-2 in favor of San Leandro at the half. The only things missing were Goldie Hawn coaching the Berkeley team and Mike and I sticking around for the second half.

San Leandro would go on to a 33-9 victory according to the Saturday morning periodicals.

Why did we leave early?

 We were hungry of course

Road trip rules trump Friday Night Lights.

Saturday found us on an early morning 6.70 mile stroll all over Berkeley.

We saw many things . . .

Capitalism is Alive and Well

 Cool Bookstores

Well, DUH!

Lots and LOTS of food options
in Berkeley it turns out

At about the half way point of our walk we had a sumptuous breakfast at the Bleecker St. Bistro located at 2498 Telegraph Ave.

It was GOOD!

Freudian Slippers

Get it?

 UC Looms Ahead

Sather Gate

Sproul Hall

Fifty years ago, this was the scene of much of Mario Savio's Free Speech Movement (FSM) protest demonstrations that still, to this day, defines the Berkeley campus.

The Campanile

 Ghostly Tree

A Wood Nymph

Lynn O. "Pappy" Waldorf
Cal's Head Football Coach
1947-1957

Waldorf led the Golden Bears to three straight Rose Bowls in 1948-50.

The Golden Bears lost all three of these Rose Bowl games to Northwestern 14-20 in 1948, to Ohio State 14-17 in 1949 and to Michigan 6-14 in 1950.

Cool Mosaics on a random,
unnamed building

Ah, the W.P.A. built it

Pelican Sighting

After our tour, we returned to our mountain retreat to shower and change for the game.

That's us in the mirror near the
Panoramic View

WOW! That is a nice view

UW Alumni Gathering at Cal's
Greek Theater

Good Sponsor

Never too young for a future Husky
to learn the rudiments of Beer Pong

The Husky Band arrived at
the Greek

Who is that in the yellow hat behind the tubas?

Yes, THAT guy

Why, none other than Michael Contreras!


I Love the UW Band!

 Husky Cheerleader Hair

 UW Baton Twirler

She had her act together on this day!

The view from our seats

This should be fun!

Here come the Bears

One of a kazillion Cal Bubble Screens

 Husky Swarm

defense! Defense!! DEFENSE!!!

 Tightwad Hill

So, you are too cheap to buy a ticket to the game? No problem, just have a seat on the hill above the stadium.

Game's End

A GREAT Day to be a Husky!

Time to Celebrate

First, a gelato at the Caravaggio Gelateria (1797 Shattuck Ave.). Eat dessert first, life is short.

Then we had a great grilled cheese sandwich at The Melt (2400 Telegraph Ave.).

Finally, we stopped for a few beers at Freddy Bastiand's place watching the USC-Arizona game.

We needed all of the sustenance we could muster for our final walk up the hill to the our room.

A good seven hour drive home on Sunday and we were ready for the challenge of preparing for our next game this coming Friday at Westlake H.S. for our game against the 3-3 JV Warriors.

IT'S GREAT TO BE A HUSKY!!!

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