Game Weekend Hotels

I travel from California for several games every year. Over the course of the season, several folks from different parts of the country join us - for sure, the highlight of my year and beyond a good time. I guess this year I waited too late to book hotels for those who need them.

I don't have a problem with the hotels jacking their prices up - game weekends are the gravy on their financial year. But - I do think they are getting a little excessive....$599 / night at the Holiday Inn in Clemson?...same thing for the Hampton Inn?. Anderson hotels in the $300-400 / night range?. Really? I did finally find some somewhat reasonable rates closer to Greenville. I hope this trend has reached its peak - It is after all only a weekend not a trip to Europe.

CaliforniaTiger®

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Re: Game Weekend Hotels

Jul 16, 2017, 2:21 AM

Actually that's not a bad idea. Hauling camping stuff across the country would be a challenge but I'm sure I could figure something out.....

I live in Northern California in a little town called Martinez (well little by California standards...35,000). It's about half way between San Francisco and Napa. I like to say I live in the best of both worlds....most of the time I'm in this sleepy little town which is really just a bedroom community to San Francisco and I'm 25 miles away from a world class city that can be enjoyed and left.

And since you ask (which you really didn't but I will share anyway) Martinez is famous for 3 things..

1. Birthplace of Joe Dimaggio. In fact the day he married Marilyn Monroe they came to Martinez and they went out on the boat the Yankees gave him - the Joltin' Joe. The only time he ever used it. AFter that he gave it to his brother and avoided coming here as much as he could. He said all people did was ask him for money when he came.

2. International Bocce capital of the world. There's a huge Italian population here and bocce is played by almost everyone. The international championships are played here - whenever the folks stop drinking wine long enough to plan them

3. This is where the martini was invented. The story is during the gold rush the miners would come down from the mountains to take their gold to San Francisco and they would come through Martinez. This of course was before bridges and ferries and trains so there was still quite a journey left to get to the city. Anyway, one of the miners had a drink here made with gin and vermouth. Upon arriving in San Fran at the next bar he went to he asked for a drink - a drink like the one he had in that town called Martini! And thus the martini was born. There is a National Historical Landmark today on the site where the bar was.

So that's a lot of worthless cocktail conversation that may win you money if you ever land on Jeopardy or something and need those answers to questions......