This last weekend started Thursday night when we took a good friend up to Callahan's lodge up on the Siskyou Pass for her birthday dinner. On Friday night I went to the South Medford vs Lincoln High football game here in Medford. It was a nice night and South Medford won
Saturday morning my wife and I packed the car and headed up I-5 to Eugene for a Saturday night game at Autzen stadium between the University of Oregon Ducks and the Washington State Cougars. We met some relatives at Roaring Rapids Pizza Parlor( formerly Pietro's) between Eugene and Springfield about 12:30 and had a nice lunch talking with Berry, Debbie and their son. From there we drove back to Cottage Grove to checked into our motel. We then drove back to Eugene for the game. We parked on the campus side of the Willamette River and took the footbridge over to the game. It was a beautiful fall day.We had been invited to sit up in the the Athletic Directors sky suite high up in Autzen Stadium. We normally sit with the masses in section 13 but this was like being invited up from steerage class to first class on a old fashioned ocean liner. We first went up the escalators to the "Club At Autzen" and visited the fancy Duck Shop located there. We then took the elevator up to the sky suite ( Middle floor of the three floors shown on the picture above)The suite was like a living room with a wet bar and refrigerator filled with beer, wine, pop and bottled water. There was also a good selection of food and snacks. Facing the field were three rows of theater seats with a good view of the field. There were two TVs in the suite so we could keep track of other games. Best of all to this "old man" a private bathroom. No standing in line at halftime after a long walk for me this week. There were some friends there from Medford and we met several other nice couples from other Southern Oregon cities. We had a great view to the North past the other side of the stadium and could see all the way to the Coburg Hills and the vast greenery of Oregon. The view was almost surrealistic. Oregon took an early lead in the game and coasted to a 52 to 6 win.The stadium looked full at the start of the game. Many students left at half time and did not come back. We were the last folks to leave the sky suite after the game and walked back across the bridge and drove back to our motel in Cottage Grove. Sunday we had breakfast at the motel and drove back to Medford. What a great weekend. Go Ducks beat UCLA next week in the Rose Bowl!
Next home game we will be back in "Steerage class."
