The Hilton - OSU - & No Pickles

Certainly, I can be petty. The people who love me most will attest to this fact. However, sometimes I'm right, and that's also a fact.

Yesterday, we drove to Corvallis Oregon, home of the Oregon State University (OSU) Beavers. The Beavers we went to see are the football playing Beavers. Being an alumna of OSU, I enjoy the comradery of being outfitted in orange and black and the fellowhood (akin to a mini Thanksgiving) of being in the same mindset as a whole bunch of other people.  In this case that throng of like minded souls amounted to the several thousand football spectators at Reser field in Corvallis.

Driving to the game is an all day event. We live in Portland, and Corvallis is a 90 minute ride on the freeway (each way). So, we've developed it into a ritual. Pack a bag with unopened water bottles. If opened they'll appear suspicious and be confiscated. They might be filled with something else - like vodka. Heaven forbid. We also pack candy, money, tissues, lip balm, jackets, etc and truck on south all orange and smiling. Flags in the appropriate colors wave from our car windows and those of other football commuters as we high tail it to the GAME!!!

Part of our particular ritual - that is, mine and Rod's - is to get a good and expensive parking spot within a mile or so of the stadium, and head for the Corvallis Hilton right across the street from the field. We shoulder our way, throught the sea of orange, to a table. We wait several minutes for the last patron's dirty dishes to be removed and the table cleaned, and then we stare at the Hilton "Tailgate" menu. There are about ten items to order on this particular menu. No one would call it fancy. Consisting of fries, chicken strips, buffalo wings, 3 burgers, and one $10.00 salad, it's pretty basic.  So, I order the veggie burger and fries and a glass of Chardonnay.

Wherever I eat a burger, it's extra pickles for me. "Please don't forget the pickles because pickles make the burger for me, and can I have my fries hot and crispy" , I plead, "pretty please".

Well, this doesn't sound like too much to ask, except that yesterday they ran out of pickles just as our waitress put up our order, or so she said, "The manager told me that we just ran out of pickles, so sorry".  I was miffed. "Please tell your manager to pry himself out of the building and go to the pickle store just down the street", I lamented to the waitress. She related my message - I think, and told me that he wouldn't budge.

Well, the veggie burgie was okay, but my question is this; when you only have 10 menu items and most come with a pickle, why can't you have extra pickles on hand? Why, when you know based on weekly receipts that there'll be a thousand pickle eaters coming on game day, why can't you have an extra friggin' jar of pickles. They won't go bad. They're in a jar for heaven's sake.

Anyway, the Hilton, near Reeser stadium, in Corvallis Oregon has a pregame dining monopoly so they can do as they please. Where will the crowds go for that pre-game cocktail and grub if not to them? I wish I had an answer to that, but I don't and I'm not pleased. Where's my pickle? ;o/

Enjoy a pickle with someone you love.

Judi