father's day

happy father's day to all the dads, grandfathers, uncles,

and anyone who has ever assumed a father-like role! 

you are much appreciated!

 

I am grateful for my dad and all the other men in my life, whether it be

a coach, an uncle, a friend's dad, etc. that have

looked out for me, given me advice, protected me, loved me,

stood up for me, and/or have been a role model to me.

I thank you.

Also, if you want a good father's day read-read this!

(It's also in the main section of today's Chicago Tribune, if you want to read the hard copy.) 

Bonnaroo II

On our second day, we saw The Kooks first thing and then proceeded to stand in line for tickets to Aziz Ansari's stand-up routine.  This wait lasted longer than any of us expected.  I am not exaggerating when I say that we waited for a really really long time.  In fact we began waiting for tickets for the 4:00 pm show, but those sold out and we continued waiting for tickets for the 6:00 pm show.  Dedication.  Lucky for us, it paid off! 

In addition, the log wait wasn't a total waste since we took turns staying in line and wandering off to do something else.  Danielle and Jeremy N went to go see Two Door Cinema Club at one point.  While earlier Spenser and I braved the Big A** Waterslide.  From the ground the slide looked big, but not terribly big.  That changed once I climbed the stairs and saw that it's a straight shot down.  The people before me jumped with no regard, yet I preferred my body to stay on the slide and not go airbourne, so I sort of scooted to start. Boy does it go fast!  And once I was down, I wanted to go right back up and go again. Funny how that works.

Aziz Ansari was very entertaining.  He made a lot of jokes about marriage and raising kids since that's the stage that many of his friends are in right now.  I must say he was worth the wait.  After his comedy show, we went to Foster the People.  We left early from Foster to go to the main stage for Radiohead.  On our way out of the Foster crowd, all of a sudden the five of us just let loose dancing.  There was an unsaid understanding between all of us as we started and then just as quickly as we started, we stopped and got back to weaving our way out of the crowd.  It was one of my favorite Bonnaroo moments. 

Last concert of the night was, as I mentioned, Radiohead.  The crowds are huge everywhere you go at Bonnaroo, but when the headliners play, they grow to an astonishing number.  Radiohead put on an awesome show.  Even the lights and screens they had going were impressive, let alone the music.

Towards the end of the concert, the sky lit up in fireworks.      

Bonnaroo I

Phew! Did you survive the photo overload?

These were from our first day, Thursday.  The line to get in to Centeroo was quite lengthy as it was the days following.  I talked a girl who had attended Bonnaroo back in 2008/2009 and she said that at that time there was no wait!  There were still crowds, but not nearly as numerous as today. 

Once we got in, we walked around a little bit to get our bearings.   There weren't any major headliners Thursday, so we checked out a lot of smaller artists.  It was the first time we had ever seen a caucasian, female rapper; K-Flay.  Next we saw Mariachi El Bronx.  These guys have a really neat background.  Originally they were a punk band called "The Bronx".  They released an album under that name, and then for their second album, they decided to become a mariachi band.  Talk about a change!

There were artists-painters, screen-printers, seamstresses, etc. that set up shop throughout Centeroo.  We had a chance to walk by many of them before going to Moon Taxi.  We were super impressed at Moon Taxi! They really put on a good show and got the audience pumped.  They were followed by another great band, SOJA.  SOJA plays reggae music, and though I am not a huge reggae fan, I fell in love with them.  I was touched by their lyrics.  Last concert of the day was Mimosa, an electronic band, which was a fun way to end the night.

and we're off...

This is only a teaser of what's to come.  I'm still in the process of going through all my Bonnaroo photos.  (I took way too many. But I'd rather have too many than too few and miss something.)

The drive went extremely well. We left Wednesday and picked up two friends that afternoon.  The five of us split up the drive and we were in Manchester in no time.  Also, something miraculous happened-we got in the entrance, through security, everything, in less than fifteen minutes.  That's right, you read that right. Miracle, I tell you!  Most info boards say to expect to wait around 4 hours.  We were prepared for the long wait and then somehow we ended up at the least-used enterance and in the campgrounds.  After such good fortune, all of us were pretty giddy with excitement.

We set up our tent around midnight/1ish and since we were still hyper with excitement, decided to explore the grounds.  Centeroo had not opened yet, but we were able to walk through the campgrounds and look around the rest of the farm.  We did try and go to sleep at a decent time, however, since Thursday everything started!

I'll share more soon!

xo

C

Bonnaroo

Tomorrow we leave for bonnaroo! I am super excited!
Here's some pictures that have been mounting my excitement.

xoxo