We spent most of the recent Memorial Day weekend in the city of Davis, CA, attending the 23rd Annual Davis World Cup Soccer Tournament, in which my son’s under-12 team was participating.

Davis World Cup 2009
(davisworldcup.org)

In addition to plentiful fresh air and sunshine, it gave me the opportunity to do a little al fresco blogging, courtesy of my office laptop and a borrowed air card. Never having blogged al fresco before, I found it both invigorating and refreshing.  All I needed was a nice tall cocktail. Unfortunately there were no cocktail waitresses to be found at Sandy Motley Fields, so I had to settle for water and Diet Coke®.  Alas.

The City of Davis website describes Davis as a “university-oriented city with a progressive, vigorous community noted for its small-town style, energy conservation, environmental programs, parks, preservation of trees, red double-decker London buses, bicycles, and the quality of its educational institutions.”

Personally, I’ve always been a fan of college towns, and Davis is a good one.  Located 70-miles Northeast of San Francisco, and 11-miles West of Sacramento, Davis is home to UC Davis, one of the nation’s top universities.  Downtown Davis

Like most college towns, Davis boasts its share of great bars and restaurants. On Sunday we lunched at The Graduate (affectionately known as “The Grad”), which is about as college town oriented as you can get. The Grad offers 55 different beers – 50 of them on tap – so you’ll be hard-pressed not to find something to quench your thirst. They also offer a Monday – Friday All-Day-Happy Hour, from 11:00 AM to 8:00 PM, when all beers, well drinks, ½ liter Long Islands and Smirnoff Cocktails are just $2.79. Oh, and a free Nacho Bar. SCORE!(Wikipedia)

But we were there on a Sunday, so we didn’t score any of that. I did enjoy a ¾ pound Ultimate Burger and fries. It was quite tasty but in hindsight I think my man-sized hunger would have been happier with the ½ pounder. Lisa had the BLT, which came on a Sciambra Sweet Baguette.  I think she enjoyed it. Hold on a second….yes, she did…

The boy, a hot dog freak, had the hot dog, and the girl joined me in bovine delight. Our friends, KC and Jenny went the pizza route, ordering (I think) the Chicken Club Pizza – Grilled chicken breast-bacon-tomatoes (cooked)-green onions & ranch sauce. I managed to abscond with a slice and it was delicious, a nice change from your basic pepperoni with red sauce.

Happy Hour at The Grad
(davisgrad.com)

The Grad offers dozens of TV’s for all your sporting event needs, in addition to pool tables and various video games. In other words, feel free to bring the kids; just get them out before the Spicy Salsa Tuesday.

After lunch we were back at the fields for game #4. A win would have put us into the semi-finals and required us to be back for an 8:00 AM game on Monday. As such, we came prepared for the possibility of spending the night. We didn’t win so we didn’t stay, but had we stayed Davis offers numerous accommodations from which to choose.

Aggie Inn
(Hotelscombined.com)

One such accommodation is The Aggie Inn (and I’m a sucker for any place with the word “Inn” in it). Located adjacent to the university, it offers “an elegant combination of tastefully decorated rooms and quaint, secluded two-room Cottage Suites.”

Perhaps we’ll have an opportunity to stay there during the Davis World Cup Soccer Tournament 2010. 

Aggie Inn
245 1st Street
Davis, CA 95616
Tel: 530.756.0352
Fax: 530.753.5738
Reservations: 530.756.0352
info@aggieinn.com

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