Following the fun times had at the University of Oregon in Eugene, I got back into the car (well I packed up my bed after sleeping in it again), and made the long trek down to the Bay Area of California via a stop to catch up with my old friend Lauren in Davis.
Davis is a cool city dominated by the enormous campus of UC Davis. The school is primarily agricultural, so there are large paddocks with animals, and students ride their bikes in between classes. I also had the honour of trying the drink called a “wiki” aka wiki wacky woo from Bernardo’s, which Lauren tells me she used to use as pre-game before going out on the town (I now understand why, this thing was strong and floored me – though some of my friends might argue it doesn’t take much).
Following an early night, I took off at about 8:30am as Lauren was going with her boyfriend to Sonoma and I was making my way South to Mountain View where my good friend Jane’s brother and wife (Patrick & Sarah), had offered to put me up for the next few days.
I wasn’t scheduled to meet Patrick and Sarah until 5:00pm, so decided it would be a good opportunity to check out Stanford’s campus (aka the Ivy League School of the West), which was located in the bay area and allow me to see some more sights and kill time.
The drive to Stanford was relatively uneventful, with spots of traffic and typical Californian multi-lane freeways. What did provide some excitement however, was that I realised I was on track to go via Levi’s Stadium, aka the home of the San Francisco 49ers, aka the new home of my good friend and undefeated (at time of writing) starting quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo!
I quickly made the relevant detour, parked my car at a youth soccer field (I really need to stop parking near children’s sports fields) and walked around the stadium’s perimeter and checked out the gift shop. Despite my top negotiations with the security on duty, I was not able to walk up the stairs and check out the inside, but it was still cool to see and I’d for sure like to see an NFL game here in future – check the pics below.
(bonus fun fact – seeing where the 49ers play means I’ve visited all four home stadiums of the NFC West. Perhaps a Thirty Two before 32 is on the cards in the future?…)
That night I arrived in Mountain View, where Sarah, Patrick and I enjoyed a meal downtown and a late night beer before it was time to retreat and get ready for game 2/30 on Sunday – a National League West showdown between the San Francisco Giants and Colorado Rockies!
The day of the game also represented San Francisco’s annual “Bay to Breakers” which I attended a few years ago with my friend Jill. Think “City to Surf” but a little more overcast, and substitute “Bondi Smug” for “San Francisco” smug.
In all seriousness, I was stoked because it meant there would be an awesome atmosphere in the city prior to first pitch being thrown out at 1:30pm.
In some more good news, Lauren called me and said her and her boyfriend (Don) were also keen to join. So I got on the train at Mountain View and got ready for the hour-long commute into the city of San Francisco to meet them.
Once arriving in familiar San Francisco, I grabbed a bite to eat before meeting Lauren and Don for a pre-game beer and of course some photos before finding our seats.
As, previously written when I went through all of the team’s stadiums, San Francisco has one of the most stunning ballparks in the USA (I’d put it in my top 5 for sure). There’s not a bad seat in the place, and you’re also treated to picturesque views of the Bay Bridge and the surrounding hills, buildings and of course The Bay itself!
Once we had found our seats, it didn’t take long for the Giants to be up early 1-0. The Rockies would fight back strongly and ultimately put on 2 runs in the 4th followed by another 2 in the 5th to lead 4-1 heading into the bottom of the 5th inning.
It was here though where San Francisco started to fire up.
Some exceptional hitting as well as a couple of home runs in the 6th & 7th inning (where 4 runs were scored) really got the local crowd going and ultimately proved too much for the Rockies, as they failed to capitalise on their handy lead losing to the Giants 9-5.
Whilst this wasn’t my first time attending a game at AT&T Park in San Francisco (sweet humblebrag), it was by far one of the most fun with great company, cold beers and a fired up Bay Area crowd on a beautiful Sunday afternoon.
I’m looking forward to the game on Tuesday evening when the Oakland Athletics host my new friends from the Seattle Mariners.
Thirty before 30 
Good to see you’re repping the Whales Georgie Boy
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