USC vs. Stanford

So about a month ago Heidi called me at work on a Friday and said she had won the ticket lottery for the USC vs. Stanford game and asked me if I wanted to go with her. Of course the answer was yes. How could I miss that. So this past weekend we made the trek up to Stanford for the game. Shana had decided she was going to go with us even though she didn't have tickets and just hang out while we were at the game. So she had to work on Friday and there was this James Bond birthday party that we just couldn't miss on Friday night. So we decided to leave on Saturday. Well Shana didn't end up coming with us, which turns out to probably be a good thing as you will soon see. We got a little bit of a late start, leaving LA almost 10:00am. Heidi drove because my car is not the most reliable piece of machinery right now. So we're driving up the 405 and just before we get to the 118 there is a sign that says freeway closed at 118. So we didn't really pay that much attention until we get to the offramp for the 118 and there are cones across the 405 and we are forced to take the 118. So we turn the radio on and realize that there is a big fire in Sylmar and the freeway is closed. So I quickly called Sara to see if she could get any info on where the freeway was closed until. Turns out it didn't really matter because there was only one detour we (and everyone else trying to go on the 5) could take. We ended up taking the 118 to the 23 (which by the way is really a one lane road, not a highway) and then taking the 126 back to the 5.

View of highway 23. Yes even the trucks had to take this beauty.

I got to see parts of California I never wanted to see and really would like to never see again. This detour is definietly not the scenic route. So this detour which turned into 2.5 hours made us just a tad bit late. After we got back on the 5 there was much rejoicing in the land when we found an In-N-Out just waiting to fill our stomaches and erase the memories of one lane roads from our minds. Heidi having a little too much fun washing the windows at the gas station.

To make up for lost time Heidi was going slightly over the speed limit which was all nice and dandy until those patriotic red and blue lights showed up out of nowhere. And it was just before we were going to get off the 5 too. That put a damper on things. But thankfully we made it up to Stanford and even found the stadium. We didn't have directions on how to get to the stadium and it was pure luck that we even found it. The sad thing was that it was already half-time by the time we even got there. But due to this unfortunate turn of events we were able to get a sweet parking sport which was I'm sure reserved only for Stanford fans paying lots of money, but it was halftime and they had stopped patrolling the lots by then. So we got a parking spot right by the stadium and FINALLY made it to the game.
Never were stadium stair such a welcome sight.

Their new stadium is confusing by the way. You have to go up stairs to get in, but then our seats were in the bottom tier so we had to go through the crowd and go downstairs in the stadium because there were no stairs to go down outside of the stadium. Kind of confusing. But we got to our seats which were kind of in the corner of the endzone but pretty close to the field. After kick someone little students out of our seats we settled in for the second half of the game. This was the shortest game in the history of football. The second half only lasted an hour. Good thing it was the good half. It would have been better had Stanford not scored a last second touchdown while everyone on the field was walking around not knowing which teams was even supposed to be on the field.
Yes this score is wrong because they couldn't make up their mind about whether the touchdown should count or not. This was at the point when the last touchdown didn't count.

But USC was very much victorious. The final score was USC 45 Stanford 23. After the game we met up with Mike and his family who were in town for the game as well. We went to dinner at Chilis after trying to find food at the Stanford Mall which by the way doesn't have any food in it. That was a lot of fun. Then Heidi and I proceeded to get lost on our way to the Fjeldsted's house, family friends who we were spending the night with. But finally after two phone calls for directions we made it to their house. Both of us were exhausted and after saying our hellos promptly went to bed. The next day we went to church with the Fjeldsteds. As we started the car the check engine light went on. Can our luck get any better. After taking with Trudy we decided to risk it and just drive home. We took the 101 all the way home as to not have to go through our detour again. And there are more towns on the 101 just in case something really bad were to happen with the car. (Which by the way, I still don't know if there was anything wrong with it). Yes we made it home safely with no other mishaps. The check engine light was on the whole time, but I guess that doens't really matter. The 101 is a much prettier trip than the 5. Suggestion for anyone driving up north, take the 101. It may be longer, but it's way prettier. So it was a nice drive on the way home, with good scenery and just time to relax and get out of LA. We even had to break out the Christmas music a little bit early for lack of other more Sunday appropriate CDs. We pulled into LA about 8:00 and we greeted by the smoke filled air due to several fires that had burned while we were gone. So far from being the relaxing weekend I had hoped for, it was an adventure. But Heidi and I both decided we think it's best never to go on vacation with each other again. It was our ridiculously fun weekend, with the emphesis on ridiculous.