My girlfriend and I left Thursday night, stayed in Boise, and then went up through Portland to see some family before getting to Eugene Friday night. I thought our stay in Eugene was going to be uncomfortable after the front desk personnel at the Residence Inn we stayed at were all wearing Ducks gear, but they were courteous.
Friday night we went out to a local pub just to see what the night life was like. Definitely a school town, and doesn’t have a lot to offer as far as refinement. But we had fun anyway. My girlfriend wore her red dress… it was obvious that we weren’t from around those parts. 🙂
Saturday we started walking to the stadium about 2:30pm. We went to the tailgate lot and met my Uncle (a Ducks season ticket holder) and some additional family members. Everyone on the road to the lot was kind and courteous. I got stopped more times that I could count by Ducks fans welcoming us to Eugene and wishing us well. There were the expected shouted comments from afar by some idiots, but the good interactions far, far, far outweighed the bad the whole time we were there.
After the tailgate we went in and checked out their Field House. It’s on the inside of the gates for their stadium and they have drinks and food available. They lay down a rubber surface over the turf of their practice field and turn it into a game party. Kind of like what happens in the South Plaza before the game – band plays, cheerleaders are there, the whole nine yards. Again, great fans that were welcoming and were happy to talk and interact.
My Uncle gave me his seats – 15 yard line, south side of the stadium. Great view. Fans around us were wonderful. We were able to head up to the Club Level at halftime, and that was a lot of fun. Great lounge and area. We also went back up near the end of the game and watched a bit more surrounded by Duck fans that were having a hard time dealing with the loss – but gracious to us, for sure.
With about 2 minutes left in the game we went down and made our way to the visiting section. It was great to sing Utah man with the team! The visiting section was great and it felt good to see how well we traveled.
Speaking of how well we traveled – we really did. There was a LOT of Red everywhere and lots of Utah fans. The visiting section was completely full and there were spots of red throughout the entire crowd.
After the teams cleared the field, people made their way down onto the field. This is something Oregon has done for years. We met my Uncle and the rest of my family on the 50 yard line for some pictures before heading to a restaurant for some food and a nightcap.
Sunday morning we got up early to drive back. People were still warm and friendly, telling us we had a great game and we have a wonderful team. Very complimentary of Utah all the way around. A lot of them wished us well and told us to run the table and represent in the CFP.
All in all, a fantastic experience for my first regular season road trip! I never expected to have that be the victory it was, nor for it to be so sweet while in the visiting house. I’m so glad I went and will definitely be making it out for more road games in the future.
EDIT: I tried to link to some pictures on my FB page but that didn’t work out…
I had a great time as well, most fans were very polite. We stayed at Cascade Springs, nice long walk through a wildlife bike path type thing. Alot of I can’t believe you came out here to watch your team get beat in Autzen. I really wish I could run in to those guys. We went to a bar in Eugene was told to go F myself a couple of times by a couple girls and some other fans. Who then bought us shots. Lots of hand shaking, could not have been more surprised. I thought there crowd was quiet. I’m saying this before they started getting stomped.
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