Raider Nation

Napa, California: Today we left the little town of Napa and drove an hour south to Raider Nation, also known as Oakland Stadium - Home of the Oakland Raiders football team. It was quite an experience! Today, Oakland was hosting the Atlanta Falcons.

Walking into the stadium

We really had a fun time walking from our car, through the parking lot, talking with and meeting Raider fans. We had heard the Raider Nation were some of the most faithful, serious and professional of fans/tailgaters. I have never seen so many fans wearing team jerseys EVER. We saw one guy with a HD satellite dish and flat-screen HD television - all being powered by the battery on his truck! And the costumes! The fans were so friendly and welcoming to us and many (surprisingly very many) had been to the Oregon-Cal game yesterday and commiserated with we wet Ducks and apologized for the weather yesterday. No need to apologize today - it was warm and sunny!

A group of fans wanted a group photo - notice the chandelier. The host is the guy with the black
hat in the front row. He told me he has the chandelier because he is a classy guy.


Now you know


Apparently Obama has a weekend job we don't know about?


Another citizen of Raider Nation


More Raider Nation decor


I noticed several interesting signs today


It is very expensive to visit Raider Nation


We had great seats!


A Michael Vick jersey
(hilarious, if it weren't so sad)

The Raiders were getting pounded even worse than the Ducks! They were behind 24-0 at half-time (and that was also the final score). Since our friends were beginning their drive towards Oregon directly after the game, we left during the third quarter. Quickly enough, we were back in Napa and our friends departed for home. Not to worry - we will all be together again next weekend when the Stanford Cardinal come to Eugene to play Our Ducks. We have even already planned our tailgate menu!

Tonight DT and I went to Uva Trattoria & Bar in Napa for dinner. This pretty Italian restaurant specializes in using local produce and meats. Our meals were good, but nothing outstanding. They did have nice live music though, and we had an enjoyable dinner... but we would have had more fun with the rest of our gang...

...speaking of our friends. They have already made it to the self-service RV park we suggested at the Rolling Hills Casino in Corning, where they will spend the night.

PS: Official count is over 1½ inches of rain in Berkeley yesterday.

Until my next update, I remain your Raider Duck Nation correspondent.

RV Park: Skyline Wilderness Park - Country camping just outside of Napa. Some full hook-ups; most sites are water & electric only. Dump station, gravel pull-throughs and back-ins. Big Rig friendly. Security gate, free wifi, bathhouse, hiking trails.