The Boss

Yesterday at work I got an email saying there were two free VIP tickets available for a Bruce Springsteen show taking place only one hour from then, and the first person to respond would win. I immediately hit the reply button and sent "Me!" Ten minutes later I learned I was the winner, so I said "adios" to the bosses and ran out the door to pick up the tickets, pick up Josh, and get downtown in time for the show. We made it.

If it weren't for the "VIP" tickets, he'd be a whole lot smaller in this photo.

Bruce is just to the right of that blonde kid.

It was pretty exciting to see him and he did a solo acoustic set, which was nice because I like that sound of his the best. Unfortunately he only played six songs, but that's because it was a short free Obama rally concert. (He played a regular concert later that night, but I didn't win tickets to that and the tickets were pretty expensive.)

Here he is performing a funny "campaign song" at the event:

The Festy

So Josh and I went to The Festy Experience a couple weekends ago. We camped out, enjoyed the great outdoors, and listened to a lot of fun music. The lineup was mostly bluegrass-type stuff, so that's right up our alley. And it took place at a brewery--also right up our alley.

Day one and we are having fun!

I will admit it was not my favorite camping experience. I like having our own private campsite, with a picnic table, real toilets nearby, and running water. (Clearly I'm not into backpacking. Yet?) Instead, we were cramped between some bushes and a parking lot with a bunch of other people and too few porta-potties. Josh and I are also old and need our sleep, which is hard to come by when a bunch of people who have been drinking for a long while come back at the end of the night and want to hang out for hours being noisy. But after all that I will admit that camping was still fun. A couple nights in a tent (on an air mattress) is always a fun break.

Our camp area early on Saturday morning.

So we got to The Festy Friday afternoon, set up camp, and then listened to music. We went back to our campsite for dinner--beans and rice plus peas and corn. Then it was back to the music, with dessert in the brewery restaurant. After a few songs of the headlining band (Infamous Stringdusters) we were tired and called it a night.

Saturday I got up relatively early, ate some breakfast, went to "base camp" to buy a cup of coffee, and got geared up for a run. Josh and I drove about 14 miles down the road from the festival to the head of a rail trail, where I ran 14 miles while he walked and read. It was a nice (and flat!) trail that went along a couple streams, and the fall leaves were beautiful. I did, however, see my first big wild snake, which was essentially right under me before I noticed it in mid air. I yelped and it scurried in fear, but luckily it was black and I keep hearing how those aren't the scary kind. Whew.

About to begin my run, sporting a fashionable "blaze orange" hat. Because better safe than shot during hunting season in rural Virginia.

The trail.

Trail and river.

Old rail car.

After the run we went back to camp and took showers in the portable shower truck they had at base camp. I had to wait a good while before it was my turn, but the water was warm so I was happy. After showers we listened in on a Backpacking 101 workshop, and then took a nap.

Napping with the rain fly off was glorious.

After getting some rest we headed to the festival to listen to music. We also visited the vendor booths and ate food.

Josh got an "Elvis" burger, which included peanut butter and bacon on a cheeseburger. He loved it.

With our tickets, everyone got reusable steel pint cups. Nice way to cut back on trash and go home with a souvenir!

After several music sessions we once again called it an early night. This time we used earplugs though, which helped a lot. Apparently our rowdy neighbors got the whole camp to sing happy birthday in the middle of the night and set off firecrackers, but I didn't notice.

Early Sunday morning it rained, and all of Sunday was cold and dreary. But music-wise it was my favorite day. We started with a pancake breakfast. It sprinkled some, but wasn't too bad.

Sliced banana and strawberry jelly on a pancake in the rain!

We also got some coffee at base camp and heard a little gospel music, then went back to the tent where Josh slept more and I read for school. (Got a whopping 25 pages read all weekend, which was not really ideal...) Then we packed up our campsite and headed to the festival for the rest of the day.

Della Mae, a fun all-female bluegrass band.

Tony Trischka on the banjo and some other good musicians.

Whoah, check out this guy's dreadlocks!

To warm up a little we ate dinner back at the restaurant. Dancing also helped keep us warm. The weather wasn't too bad though--kind of fun to be bundled up in the fall.

Notice the fog in the mountains behind Josh.

Leftover Salmon had a natural fog machine for their set!

After hearing a few songs of the last set, we finally headed home. It was a good weekend overall!

new ride

 Guess who has a new set of wheels?! This girl. After 12 years and very nearly almost 160,000 miles, I finally traded in the one and only car I've ever owned (had it since my senior year of high school) and got an upgrade.

I went from this Toyota Corolla (a very good car, by the way):

 

To this new Toyota Prius!  

My car changed, but apparently my outfit didn't. That's a different shirt though, I'll have you know.

The car-buying experience was pretty great, thanks to my Aunt Judy. I just said "hey Aunt Judy, I think I'd like a gray 2012 Prius," and she did all the work after that. The lady likes car shopping, and is good at it, too. Once she'd found my car and at a good price, all I had to do was show up and write the check. (And sign a bunch of papers, during which she also acted as my helpful advisor.) So now I'm all set. And since the Prius purchase wouldn't have been possible without some help from my parents and grandparents, a big Thank You goes out to them. Otherwise I'd probably just have a newer Corolla.