Today is the last day of my vacation. I’m back in New York, but I’m fresh off a red-eye from Burbank and I have a lot of stuff to take care of before I head back to the office tomorrow. There will be more here about the week I just spent in California and some of the food I ate there, but for now allow some loosely collected thoughts while they’re on my mind, before I pass out:

– Dodger Stadium is gorgeous. I scored great seats to yesterday’s game a week ago on Stubhub with no idea I was in for a Jered Weaver-Clayton Kershaw matchup. The game was awesome; Kershaw threw a complete game and the Dodgers won on a walk-off double by Chris Gwynn. The park — the 28th big-league stadium I’ve been to — was equally impressive. My wife pointed out that it looks a little like something from the Jetsons, which makes sense: Both the Jetsons and Dodgers Stadium came out in 1962, trying to look futuristic. The stadium couples that retro charm with the natural beauty of the hills and mountains beyond center field.

I think I am biased toward the 60s and 70s era ballparks because I grew up watching games at Shea Stadium. But I hope Dodger Stadium and Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City last until they are recognized as classics. Their appeal may be more subtle than that of a Wrigley or Fenway, but they are great places to watch games.

– I believe people should be allowed to enjoy baseball however they want. But if you purport to be a Dodger fan and you were spending more time yesterday focused on a beachball than the game Kershaw was throwing, we probably don’t have much in common. Here’s your 23-year-old ace squaring off in a masterful pitcher’s duel with the best pitcher from across town, and for most of the game the loudest reactions from the crowd came when fans let beachballs drop to the levels below.

With two outs and the game tied 1-1 in the top of the ninth, Kershaw allowed a solo home run to Vernon Wells that put the Angels ahead. Still, after he closed out the inning, I shot up to applaud him, figuring any pitcher that completed nine innings of two-run ball with 11 strikeouts and no walks would inevitably earn a standing ovation from his home crowd. But alas. I was the only person standing in my section, and maybe the only one who even noticed Kershaw had thrown nine innings.

To the Dodger fans’ credit, the place rocked pretty hard in the bottom of the ninth when the home team staged its comeback victory.

– Driving around Northern California is a great way to end up with a bunch of Rancid and Primus songs in your head. Driving around Southern California is a great excuse to annoy your wife with a barrage of nonstop movie and television references.

– I made it to the World’s Nicest Taco Bell, in Pacifica. Words can’t really describe how nice that Taco Bell is. Here’s a photo of the view from its outdoor seating area, which doesn’t really do it justice at all:

Full speed ahead tomorrow, fully rested. Jose Reyes is still pretty great, huh?

In the event, Giambi exploded for three home runs and drove in all seven Colorado runs in the Rockies’ 7-1 blowout of the Phillies. He’s now got 419 round-trippers, but this was his first three-homer game.

– Rob Neyer, SBNation.com

Look: It’s awesome that Jason Giambi, a really nice guy and a massively entertaining masher of baseballs, became the second oldest man in baseball history to hit three home runs in a game last night. And it’s even more awesome that he did it against the Phillies.

But the most important thing here — and the thing that will be overlooked in the history books, I fear — is that whenever the Rockies score seven or more runs, Denver-area Taco Bells serve discounted tacos between 4 and 6 p.m. the next day. And the Rockies didn’t really need Giambi’s last two home runs and four RBIs, what with Jhoulys Chacin cruising like he was. Giambi did that for the people. So the people could eat cheap tacos.

And if Jason Giambi heroically securing discounted tacos with a home run sounds vaguely familiar, it’s because it has happened before.