Final Summer Concert - Aurora, IL

If you rewind a couple blog posts to my Sugarland Reunion post, you might recall that I was the winner of a VIP pass to Jennifer Nettles concert in Aurora, IL on August 29th. That Friday, Mom and I played hooky from work and headed North in search of River Edge Park, our final destination for the VIP Experience.

As always, my nerves were running high on concert day, so we arrived a couple hours before official check-in to acquire our tickets. I still wasn't convinced the VIP thing was real, so when all was said and done, Mom and I had 4 tickets to the show. Our hostess got the show rolling around 2:30 and signed us all in!

In addition to the VIP pass above, we received a Jennifer Nettles branded candle, a couple drink vouchers and tickets to the show as promised. What to do with the extra two tickets?

It was a sunny day with almost no shade in sight. As we were given our last set of instructions for the afternoon event, we could hear Jennifer's band tuning their instruments. They released the 24 of us to go watch from the very foot of the stage. Mom and I hung back in the shade of the sound tower for a bit and then I boogied to the stage front when Jennifer joined in.

It was kindly requested that we not take any photos/video during the soundcheck. Kind of a bummer, but totally makes sense when her son also took to the stage to bang on the drums a bit. In the most relaxed way, Jennifer belted out 3 full songs for us and chatted a smidge in between each.

My favorite was her take on the song Demons by Imagine Dragons. Gotta love when they break it down with an accordion and step out from behind a full drum set. Below is a portion of the song I nabbed during the evening concert.

Post soundcheck we were treated to drinks and snacks in what would turn out to be the Sponsor area during the concert. Thankfully they had unlimited water for us and reprieve from the sun. We had a couple hours to burn before the gates opened and were allowed to take our seats, but considering it took us over a half hour to drive 7 miles to the hotel earlier... well, we decided we might as well pass the time at the venue.

As we waited with the rest of our VIP friends for the goahead to claim our seats before the gates opened to the rest of the crowd, I finally came up with a plan to rid myself of the 2 extra tickets. Two EMTs were hanging out near the side of the stage, so I asked them if they knew anyone that might want the tickets. I had a taker! Hope their friends enjoyed the free show.

We claimed our territory with a couple throwback 90's lawn chairs right in front of the sound tower. The plan was to avoid having drunken idiots behind us (that didn't work) and limit anything Mother Nature might throw at us. Below is what the sky looked like after the lightning (note: lightning alarms are loud and startling) and storms came through the area prior to the show starting. The keyword in that sentence is PRIOR... thank goodness!

Brandy Clark was the first artist up. I was not familiar with her music, so I took a quick listen of her album on Spotify a few weeks before the show. She had a nice voice, but the topics weren't necessarily up my alley. Little did I know she's not only a singer, but a talented songwriter! Below is a clip of Brandy singing Better Dig Two which The Band Perry recorded.

It was nice to hear her quick stories behind the songs she shared with us, and it never ceases to amaze me when an artist sounds better in person, so I couldn't pass up the opportunity to support her with an album purchase and tell her how much I enjoyed the show. Pretty awesome to get that one-on-one exchange.

Next up was the Indigo Girls. I was first introduced to them during college and was actually familiar with their songs, so I was pretty excited when I found out they would be joining Jennifer on tour.

I was most looking forward to hearing them sing Galileo, and thank goodness they didn't disappoint. Ya never know what songs will make it to the set list. They also sang Closer to Fine and got Jennifer to join them.

During the whole evening they all were less chit-chatty with the audience than what I'm used to, but I believe it was simply due to the fact that each artist wanted to make sure they could get the entire show in for us. There were rain clouds looming throughout the area, but they thankfully stayed away.

As I expected, Jennifer put on quite the show. From experience, I know she sounds wonderful live, but she really brought her new album to life. I hate to say it, but I don't think the studio recording of the album does the songs justice. I can't wait to see her live yet again, whether it be solo or back with Sugarland.  

Wish I had some better photos, but I just enjoyed taking everything in and listening to some fantastic live music.

I made a new friend!

I got back to my desk earlier this afternoon after a quick meeting with a coworker. To my surprise there was a cricket on my desk. I couldn't understand how he got up there... I've never seen them jump vertically before.

Note: yes, that is a Taco Bell chihuahua. "Yo quiero Taco Bell"

I accidentally startled my new desk mate as I was examining him up close. He tried to make a getaway by climbing the fabric covered owl bookend on my desk. Bingo! The little buggar must have climbed up me to get ontop of the desk.

I had no choice but to relocate him back into the outside world. After a quick ride on my hand, Coolio the Cricket found a new home in the flowers outside my window.

Denver Bound, Yet Again!

Lately most things have been falling under what I would call the Better Late Than Never Clause. In that spirit, about a month ago I boarded a plane headed to Denver to visit my college roommate Emily. Thanks to some credit card points I had a direct flight from Peoria to Denver. The only problem was that I got into Denver mid-morning and Emily was at work in Boulder.

Thankfully, Emily has always been willing to accommodate my travel plans. In this case, I was provided clues to finding her car at a metro parking garage in Westminster. It was like a mini adventure, a treasure hunt... the perfect want to start my trip.

I found the car without a hitch and then headed to lunch and quick stop at the local sporting goods store to get some frisbee golf discs. There are two odd things in the photo below. One is quite obvious, the snake skin. That's the first one I've ever found a disc golf course. The second thing is the wet ground, which wasn't located in a low spot. The worst decision I made during the trip was attempting to play disc golf a day after the Denver area had torrential downpours and flash flooding. I'm still shaking my head over that one. I suppose it was good that I had on black shoes.

After one of my most frustrating attempts at playing frisbee golf, I stopped by a local coffee shop for a refreshment (salted caramel, so good) and to read a bit. Shortly after I did a bit of shopping for some sandals, so I could let my shoes dry out. 

At some point I rescued Emily from the metro bus stop and we did some chillaxing before she had to work the next day.  And somewhere along the line we headed to Arvada for dinner and some window shopping. Doesn't Emily just look smashing?

I was entrusted yet again with Emily's car on Friday when she had to go to work. My goal was to make it to the Wild Animal Sanctuary in Keenesburg. Needless to say, I took a wrong turn somewhere along the way.

I was quite irritated by the time I found my way. And for the record, I was using a GPS to get me there... apparently County Road 3 isn't traveled much nowadays. Anyway, I got to see most of the animals moving about because it was such a beautiful. Below shows a portion of the mile-long walkway with one of the resident bears hanging out below.

Note: I was not able to see my adopted bobcat, Rufus, as he is housed in a smaller enclosure a fair distance from the walkway.

Once again I rescued Emily from a metro bus stop, but this one was closer to Golden, which we would pass through on our way to the Amos Lee concert at Red Rocks! I've hiked around Red Rocks a few times, but hadn't seen a concert there. Amos Lee, accompanied by the Denver Symphony Orchestra... well, I couldn't pass that up. It was wonderful!

The photo above is from our seats. I opted to have us sit at the very top, close to center. I didn't want to feel smushed further down where people were trying to get a prime spot (seating was all general admission with no true seats, just tiered seating, or the longest benches ever).

Other than not being able to get a good pic of the stage, I really liked the seats. To either side of the seating bowl is a beautifully shaped and colored rock wall. Too bad the red doesn't translate at night. Gotta love having fun with friends when passing time in between sets.

And now for the post show glowsticks. I have to credit Emily with the idea of hanging glowstick rings off my hoop earrings. Just brilliant! Windows down, music blaring, while interpretive hand dancing to songs like Katy Perry's Fireworks. I like to think I was the post-show entertainment for some of the passers-by.

Over the years, my visits to Denver never overlapped with one of Emily's chorale events. The stars finally aligned and I got to see The Arvada Chorale perform at History Colorado Center for Colorado Day. They did a wonderful job, and I learned the Star Spangled Banner has more than one verse. 

On our way out of downtown I got to see another bear behind. Whoda thunk I'd see such a sight outside of the Wild Animal Sanctuary or zoo. But then again, this one was extremely large and blue.

On this trip I had 4 copies of Kristen Johnston's book Guts on hand to spread throughout Denver. They were distributed at a Starbucks, Ziggi's Coffee, Emily owned dwelling (she hadn't read it) and a Little Free Library. I had no knowledge of the Little Free Library until we saw one in downtown Denver. Upon returning to Emily's I looked up the nearest location and we took a stroll to go drop off a copy of Guts.


On the way back we passed through a little nature reserve and met a new friend. Say hello to Mrs. Mule Deer. Her kiddos didn't stick around for a photo.

On my last day in Colorado we headed back downtown to the Denver Botanic Garden. In addition to never visiting before, they also had a Chihuly exhibit I didn't want to miss. Below are a couple of my favorite pieces.

I still can't fathom how these sculptures are shipped and what kind of "paint-by-number" instructions accompany them.

So, that sums up the goings-on of yet another trip to Denver. The only downside is that I'm left with the feeling of wanting to visit more often... if only I could.