I won this trip for two at the 2004 Spring Fling way back in May!
They held a drawing and picked my entry.
Free trips are expensive but a blast!

My wife and I hitched a ride to the airport from Bill at work in Toni's van. The line through security at Seatac was like at Disneyland, winding back and forth. Put your metal items in the plastic bag . Shoes off and in the bin. Why don't they set up a few chairs? Purple people appeared here and there. The plane took off on time around 10 am.

Mount St Helens erupted about an hour after we passed by, I think I got a picture of a couple steam plumes. It's a short 2 hour flight to cloudy Oakland. For some reason we exited out the rear on a 30 foot staircase. Don't get sucked into the jets folks. Nice view of the tarmac. Following NW Travel's instructions we walked past baggage claim to where Manny the driver had his Husky Group sign . 10 people boarded the van/limo and headed for San Francisco. From the freeway we saw Raider stadium, downtown Oakland: anonymous buildings in the distance surrounded by warehouses, trainyards and cranes sprawled over flat brown ground .

The freeway stops at a $3 toll booth then continues to the top roadway of the infamous Bay Bridge, the one that collapsed in the last earthquake. Retrofitted bracing doesn't make it less creepy. The approach to San francisco is familiar even if you've never been there. The bay is huge. There's Alcatraz Island, the Golden Gate bridge faintly visible to the north and the Transamerica building with tacked on elevator shafts. I read the city is built on 43 hills. We entered downtown through the cheap x-rated part of town. Up the hill and over a few blocks was the Serrano Hotel at the corner of O'Farrell and Taylor. Outside the van we notice picketers banging plastic buckets to the beat which I will always associate with SF: BOOM....BOOM....BOOMBOOM....BOOM (repeated nonstop). Local Two Hotel Workers Union was locked out and chose this day to begin their noisy protest. The Serrano is very nice, with warm colors and big chairs in the lobby. Checked in and headed for room 1408. Floor 14 is the smoking floor but we didn't complain. It's a free trip and the smell reminded me of my old auntie' s place.

We were hungry and new to the city, so we went out to explore . You don't need to go far. The blocks are compact, each has a couple hotels, a liquor store on every corner, and restaurants everywhere. We chose an Indian place with rock music blasting and many regulars enjoying their lunch. The saag and chicken with bread was very good and spicy. Next time remember the yogurt sauce to cool it down. Continuing our walk we found the best place to shop in SF: the Walgreen's Drug store . I made at least 6 trips over the weekend buying everything from bottled water to Ghirardelli chocolate.

Back to the room she took a nap and I explored the hotel, finding a private mezzanine, computer room and exercise room with a sauna. Back to the room for my swim suit, 40 minutes in the sauna and I was relaxed. Using our little map we planned a walk to Yerba Buena (means "good herb": SF's first name) Gardens. Italian artists were finishing 12 x 12 foot pictures using different colored flower petals....it was great watching on this sunny Friday afternoon, not crowded at all . The park is a cement oasis amidst the chaos of honking cars, cable cars, protestors, busses, tourists, sirens. Total sensory overload, but not ugly, just exciting being part of this time and place, wide awake. I read it's a "pedestrian friendly" town but follow the walk signs at your own peril; motorists honk at you and zoom down the highway through town.

We went to Virgin records, the Apple store, some shoe places. One street was all art galleries, lots of good items to enjoy. Back in our room ,we ate half a delivered pizza and fell asleep early watching Casablanca on TV.

Next morning was game day. The wife is not a big fan of crowds, sitting for hours or football so we started the day slowly. 10 cups of free coffee from the lobby is a lot of elevator trips. I met Brad, the tour company owner and got my game tickets. I went out for bagels and we prepared for our Husky assault on the Cardinal.

We boarded the bus at 10:15. The drive south to Palo Alto takes 45 minutes. The campus approach is beautiful. Plants and trees surround well kept homes leading to a business area with little shops and cafes, then onto campus: stucco and red tile amongst lush green and palms. Much of the huge 8000 acre "Farm" is brown ground .

A Husky pregame party was held in Frost Ampitheater, a terraced hillside sloping down to a stage. Looks like a few thousand could fit there. Attendance was probably 500? The band and cheerleaders put on a good show. We charged mucho Husky regalia and ate lunch.

We stayed till 1:30 and hiked to the Stadium for the 2pm kickoff. It's a bowl in the ground, approached by a couple dozen cement stairs, easy to access compared to stadiums with ramps to climb. When you drop peanut shells under the seat, they just stay on the dirt. The place can hold 85,000 but didn't need to on Saturday. On this sunny day there were 5000 Husky fans, 15,000 Stanford alumni and 10,000 students (estimated). Plenty of room to stretch your legs.

Stanford has a band too. A single bugle played the national anthem , joined by the other pieces at the climax. All day long both bands played, sometimes at the same time. I think the Huskies played my favorite tune: FB Girls, but I couldn't hear it. The Stanford conductor was lovely in his Snow White outfit, dancing and jumping all game long on the opposite Stanford student side. Their mascot is a tree (same one as on the logo). He wears a white fishing hat with red stripe, like the band members.

The game was sort of secondary to all this. Bonnell lead the Dawgs to his first TD as QB and even though UW receivers forgot how to catch the football, they were in the game at halftime: 14-7. The Stanford band saved the afternoon with their medley of "who we want for President, featuring a hurricane, Doctor J; a true doctor of basketballogy...and some others I forgot. Each had their own tune as Snow White and the tree twirled and danced. Pretty brainy entertainment from the "Harvard" of the west.

Things got worse in the second half. We got used to hearing the announcer on the PA: "First Down STANFORD!" and "Touchdown STANFORD!". The students performed an excellent rendition of the classic cheer: "Block that kick...Block that kick..." and Stanford did, picked up the pigskin and made a touchdown.

The Dawgs were whooped to the point of putting Paus back in. He did throw a TD pass in the last moments but the game was over long before that. The final score was 27-13. Almost everyone was already on the bus when we boarded. Brad was seen talking with Sonny Sixkiller out the window. We were late getting back to the hotel and had missed free wine hour so Brad tried to extend it for us...no way. The bus driver gave it a shot and the hotel even denied his heartfelt "pleeeeeease?"...

It was time to get dinner and explore San Francisco more on our last night. Wandering around the hotel, we ran into John and set off for dinner in China town. It's about 5 blocks up and over past Union Square. Lots of bright colors, lights and people . Streets were blocked off for a movie (title forgotten) starring Jennifer Aniston. A good chinese restaurant was found and we each had a huge $10 meal. I needed to ride a cable car and John wanted to go shopping at Fisherman's warf to find a purple travel bag, so up hills we walked on bellies full of Chinese food. The cable carswere nowhere in sight. We found a nearly empty bus, subbing for a broken cable car. It would take us to Hyde street at Pier 39 so off we went.

Most shops were already closed. There were some clubs open, lots of limos and taxis and tourists. It wasn't long before I went in search of the Powell and Hyde cable car turnaround. The line of folks was long and not moving and wouldn't for 45 minutes. We were entertained by a steel guitar player who became the target of jokes from the friendly drunks in line. The head man lit a few smoke balls which almost masked the pot and tequila aromas. Favorite lines were " I gotta stop smokin!" and "where you from?". Finally around 11:15 all three cable cars arrived. No schedule, but they did show up. So we jumped on, every spot occupied, the lead drunk hanging off the front corner, ready to high five someone on an approaching cable car. It was a great ride, fast up and down the hills, the driver braking, clutching, banging his bell and haulin' butt all the way to Union square. Best ride I've had, big smiles all around . Another sauna and a nice sleep, despite the nonstop protestor racket.

Our last day started with the usual coffee runs. She scheduled a facial at a posh hotel, the first thing she has done for herself in 20 years (we have two boys at home). It was a quick walk up the street and around the corner. I used their jacuzzi, steam room and sauna for the hour. Very nice. Do people really live this way? Her treatment done, she left with a hefty bag of goodies and I wasn't allowed to see the charge receipt. We took one last short walk around, ran into some panhandlers and went to Walgreen's for some souvenirs.

We boarded a bus with the other Huskies who had bought the package and headed back to Oakland for the plane set to depart at 5:00. Well we finally left at 11:00. It was pretty wierd having 25 people on a jet all to yourselves. The only way to fly, I think. Mechanical troubles had forced a plane switch, but we became friendly with the travelers who hadn't panicked and set off for San Jose.

My brother graciously picked us up at 1:30 am and drove us home.
The weekend was over. It was great fun.
Thanks to everyone, especially Brad and Teresa at Northwest Travel and Carol at the UW!