Hood River Hotel Insider

Scott and Barbara Palmer of Pendleton, Ore., relaxing and rooting for their respective teams during the Civil War game Nov. 26 in the mezzanine viewing area of the Hood River Hotel. (Photo courtesy of Hood River News)

Scott and Barbara Palmer were planning a rendezvous with Scott’s son over the weekend of the annual Civil War Game between the University of Oregon and Oregon State University.

They live in Pendleton. Scott’s son lives in Portland. So they decided to meet mid-way (sort of), and catch the Nov. 26 game in Hood River. They wanted to be downtown, so they called the Hood River Hotel.

Our staff told them that, yes, we have a lovely new big-screen TV and a comfy sofa in our mezzanine that would make for a perfect place to whoop it up — and get regular snack service.

Heckuva way to honeymoon. Yep, Scott and Barbara were newlyweds of just one month when they decided to take their football rivalry public. She, a former teacher, went to OSU. Scott, executive director of the St. Anthony Hospital Foundation, is a die-hard Duck.

Uh-oh.

Well, not to worry. We’ve got the same split on our staff. Chef Mark Whitehead? Duck. Servers Ashley Heck and Whitney Munoz? Beavers.

“They were all decked out in Beaver stuff,” Barbara recalls. “We were the only ones in the mezzanine, so we kept ordering stuff, so the staff could come up and watch the game.”

She said the staff did a great job of recommending downtown restaurants for dinner.

“We would do it again and again,” she says.

The thing is, there’s room for more than two on Civil War weekend. Will we see you, too, next year? Reserve now.

Tags: Civil War, Columbia River Gorge, football rivalries, Hood River, Hood River Hotel, newlyweds, Oregon State University, University of Oregon