The big game!

All of Sunday included Football!

My parents came to San Diego a year ago to see a football game and ended up meeting some people that tailgate before every game. So this year we tried to see if we could find them. We got up nice and early, had a nice hearty meal as I knew we would be drinking a lot, and headed to the game. We took the train so no one would be forced to stay sober and drive home. As soon as we got to the grounds, we poured ourselves and drinking, and started our walk around the massive parking lot to try and find these people. And sure enough, once we got to the same area, there they were! They were surprised, and happy, to see us, and we joined there crew in some tailgating. They had tons of food, brought there bbq for a some bbq before the game, and a game of bean-bag toss. I won the first round with my partner, but lost the second :(

About 30 minutes prior to the game we headed into the stadium. We had club seats so we had a special excalator to go up - I felt important :) And got to our seats in time for the welcoming of the players and the national anthem. It was a very warm day, not a cloud in the sky and approaching 30degrees - if it hadn't already. Of course our seats were right in the sun, with no shade. About half way into the first quarter mom went in to get more water, and a hat for me as I was the only one that didn't have one. Then about 5 minutes into the second quarter, mom had finished 2 beers and had gone back inside, it was just too much. At the half we found her in the shade, and with signs of heat stroke. She just couldn't cool down and her face was still flushed. She decided that it was time for her tom head back to the room. There was no place to sit down in the shade, and she felt it was for the best. Both Dad and I felt bad that she had to leave, but knew that it is no fun when you are uncomfortable.

The game itself was a shut out. The Kansis City Cheifs had lost their quarterback to an injury, so they had their backup, who had yet to win a game, and they could not produce any offense. The Chargers on the other hand, were awesome!! We got shade in our seats about 3 minutes left in the game, but by that point it had cooled down so it didn't really matter!

It took us about an hour to get back to the hotel. We were ages waiting to get on the train, but they had a big screen TV in viewing distance so we could watch highlights of the other games, so it wasn't too bad.

When Mom got back to the hotel she had a nice cool shower, and we headed down to the hotel pub to get some supper. By the time we got back up to our room, we saw a bunch of ships outside, and there was a boat christmas parade! For about an hour we watched the boats go by all decorated with christmas lights and some were even singing Christmas songs. One boat had a small dingy being pulled behind it that was decorated as a Christmas sleigh with Santa Claus in it!!

It was a great way to end the weekend and I can't wait to go to a game again next year!

Pouring drinks pre-tailgating
Incredible how extreme people go when tailgating
Playing the bean bag toss
Go Chargers!
The chargers coming into the stadium

A pretty nice stadium, just a bit dated
Shut-out!! 31-0 Chargers
Post game hand shakes
The best photo I could get of the boat parade
The next morning the Explorer came into port, a Semester at Sea, where University students spend 4 months at sea studying and traveling to 12 different countries. What an experience!