This past month has been full of weather variances (everything from driving through whiteouts in upstate New York to running in shorts and a t-shirt in Louisiana)...we've met lots of people and have gotten to experience a lot of different cultures across the USofA. I don't think I thought too much before this trip about how many different cultural regions I would get to experience while zig-zagging across the country. This entire tour, but especially these past two months, has given us a really good look inside a lot of homes and how people live in different areas. I'll try to elaborate more on this throughout the blog as I post photos...
We spent a handful of days in Michigan this month. RH got to play at my mom's high school (Greenville), Central Michigan, and Western Michigan. My family, friend from high school-Kelly and her husband Russ, and friend Jen (Willard) from Albion College came to the show at Western Michigan which was a super fun surprise!!
Dave, Jen, and me...
(Okay, just a little disclaimer that I started the first part of this blog post a month ago, and I'm just picking it up again now....so I might not elaborate on everything as much as I thought I was going to for the sake of saving your eyes from staring at a screen for hours...)
RH played another house concert...this one in the woods of Shreveport, Louisiana. The directions to get to the house were seriously, "take dirt road until it ends, turn left and take next dirt road until it ends, turn right and house is the only house at the end of the street". It was a gorgeous location for a house concert, right next to a lake. This was definitely one of those stops on the tour of getting to see what life in different regions of the country is like.
Ryan and Cameron rehearsing before the show...
The house concert folk...
Our next hi-light was in Memphis, TN where RH played at the University of Memphis, and then afterwards went out to dinner at this awesome local spot where everyone shoots toothpicks onto the ceiling through straws...so fun, although I did get a little light headed from doing it too much.
We spent about 5 days in Nashville...NASHVILLE ROCKS!! Okay, I wasn't the one to come up with that slogan, but it's true...I loved Nashville! The weather was great, neighborhoods were very communal and friendly, and the music was fantastic! This was another time of getting to spend time inside houses and seeing how people in other regions live.
I got to meet up with another college friend, Deania...her parents were also in town for the weekend.
We took Cameron to the music strip for his birthday...
Our favorite music was at Roberts...
We stayed with our friends Laura, Jason and their daughter Lily...they are friends that we've met in the college touring music scene. Laura owns her own cloth diaper business, and works at a camp every summer, needless to say, we became fast friends. :)
Who wants a weenie?!?
RH played a HUGE show at Cottey College, which is an all-women's college in Missouri. Out of a 300 person college, 200 people were there...we sold over 75 cds, a ton of shirts, etc...it was a really fun show to be at!
Another college was good to us and put us up at a Bed and Breakfast instead of a hotel...friends that we made in Shreveport even came up for the show!
We went to a NACA (National Association of Campus Activities) conference in St. Paul, MN for the Northern Plains Region. These conferences are where we book our college shows for the following semester. In the past we have gotten 10-15 shows booked per conference. At this conference, we booked 56 shows!! The response to their showcase was crazy...and it filled up our entire fall semester!
My brother-in-law was admitted back into the hospital for pancreatitis, and with my sister being 9 months pregnant, and my parents out of the country...I went home to spend time with my sister and her kids. It was a fun week of beautiful weather, playing at the park, staying up late talking with my sister, etc. I don't think I realized all the little daily things that happen when you have kids, i.e. throwing up at the park from going on the merry-go-round, a baseball pitch hitting the batter in the neck, etc. :)
Here's Emma hugging Nichole's belly...
Roger is back home recovering from a week in the hospital...everyone is anxiously awaiting the new baby's arrival!
We had 4 days off, so Ryan and I went to Maine, while Cameron went to visit his girlfriend in Chicago. Maine is one of our favorite places to go (we have a lot, but it really does rank high up there). My friend Jill's parents have a home on Round Pond that they rent out, but since they didn't have any renters for the week, they let us stay there! It felt like a real vacation for us. We played by the ocean climbing over the rocks, and then would come home and make a yummy dinner in the full-sized kitchen.
Here we are on top of a rock by the lighthouse...
A fun surprise was finding a place that sold fresh eggs! For those of you who don't know, I love buying local fresh food...so when we saw the sign, Ryan made a fast turn so that we wouldn't miss our opportunity!
The funniest thing, was the actual place where we bought the eggs...I'll show you with photos...
We got to visit Jill's parents for the afternoon...have lunch...go for a walk...it was wonderful!
Then for the best place to watch a sunset on the east coast (on a peninsula) we went to Pemaquid Beach...
Only 2 weeks of shows left, and then 4 days of travel to get home!! We're really looking forward to seeing all of our friends and family in Tucson...and so glad we got to see so many of our friends and family all over the country over the past 4 months!
