The Tale of Qdoba, Ferndale, and An Engagement...

July 20, 2011

Myself, Darcy and Lana.

I woke up and was a little worse for wear… I had gone out the night before with some friends and definitely had a great time! But might have been over served a bit! Anyway, I got all my bags ready to go, but I wasn’t in too much of a hurry. (My flight was in the afternoon.) Just before 1pm, my friends Lana and Darcy got there, and we had to figure out a way to get gas into Lana’s car- which I know sounds like an easy feat, but there was a missing piece and we couldn’t get the gas in! However, we are smart girls and worked it out!

Then Darcy went on her way, and I got my bags into the car and Lana drove me to the Branson Airport. It was such a busy few days at home, I wasn’t quite ready to leave yet, but I had to! So I sadly said goodbye to Lana at the curb and headed inside to the Frontier desk. My flight wasn’t until 2:45pm, so once I got checked in and through security, I stopped to get a quick bite at the Famous Dave’s inside the terminal. The perfect way to start the trip off!

Welcome to Denver.

As I was waiting to board, I actually ran into a friend of mine that I used to work with, so it was fun to catch up with him for a while too! Then I got on the plane and was on my way to Denver. We actually ended up landing thirty minutes early- which was awesome! My layover was originally only going to be thirty minutes, so I was a little worried about that! But this gave me a bit better of a cushion!

My next flight was a two and a half hour trip to Seattle. I tried to rest, but wasn’t too successful. So I got some work done for a bit; but then I gave in and decided to watch a movie on my iPad! That helped the time go by faster. Once I landed, I had to walk over to my new gate- but on the way, I passed a Qdoba, and I couldn’t pass that up! So yummy! Then I hurried along to my new gate to get my boarding pass, (because I was changing to Horizon Air for that flight).

Once I was done eating, the 7:55pm flight was just about ready to start boarding. It was a propeller plane, which are not my favorite; but I knew it wasn’t a long flight- only about thirty minutes. Soon enough I was on the ground and waiting for my bags at the extremely small Bellingham, Washington Airport. Once I had my suitcases in my hands, I walked out to the curb and met my ride.

It was about a ten minute drive to the Silver Reef Hotel and Casino in Ferndale, Washington. When I got there I went down to the bar and awaited Don (our sound guy for that gig), Larry- the Birthday boy, and Gabe to come back from their afternoon of golf. While I was waiting, I put forty dollars into a video poker machine- which I very rarely do, and I don’t know how I did it, but I walked away with sixty dollars! Good times! Then the guys and I grabbed a bite of food and hung out for a bit. But it was soon time to get back to our rooms and get some sleep! I was ready for a good night’s sleep!

July 21, 2011

I tried to let myself sleep in, but I was not successful, so I ended up meeting Gabe and Larry down at the pool and sauna for a couple hours. I have to say, that was a great way to wake up! Then I went back to my room and got ready for the day.

Sound check.

I walked over to Dad’s room around 3pm and then we walked down to the theater. Sound check was not exactly easy that day. In fact, it was a struggle! Lots of feedback! But after a few hours, things seemed to get pretty much worked out. Afterwards, Dad went up to his room, but the guys and I all went over to the buffet for dinner. Pretty decent food! Then I got back to my room and finished up a few things before I needed to be dressed and ready for the show.

I walked over to my Dad’s room at 7:30pm, we waited for his security escorts, and then we headed down to the show room. It was an 8pm show, so we didn’t have too long of a wait! The show went great! The audience was really awesome! Dad was a bit funny that show… He even disclosed that he was a very clean guy his whole life- that he never did drugs. He only smoked weed for about three months in the seventies, and it was the best sleep he has ever had. (Which was something I had heard my Dad say plenty, but I don’t believe I have ever heard him mention that on stage before!)

Signing after the show was great! Tim’s sister was helping us sell, and there were a lot of people waiting to get things signed! But after a bit we got backstage and had some sandwiches, then I just headed up to my room to get some sleep. I was pretty exhausted for some reason!

July 22, 2011

My hotel room.

I tried, but I just couldn’t sleep that night! So I decided to let myself try to sleep in a bit, but even that wasn’t too successful- I was up by 11:30am! We were working in the same theater again that night, so there wasn’t much to do during the day. Most of the guys went golfing, but I stayed in my room for the most part- I had a serious amount of work to catch up on! So I bunkered down and got started on that!

Once I got reasonably caught up, I jumped in the shower and got ready. At 5pm I headed down to the buffet to get some dinner in me. Nothing spectacular, but I needed some food! Then back up to my room to finish working on a few more things.

I met my Dad at his room again at 7:30pm, and we were escorted down to the theater. It was a sold out show, and we had some friends there too! Plus Tim had a lot of his family there, so that was special! The show went great- however, I did forget the first line of “Try A Little Tenderness”, so I had to stop and explain to everyone that my mind just went completely blank! It was really funny though!

The view flying into Bellingham.

After the show, we signed as always, and then stopped by backstage to chat with Tim’s family for a bit. But I was really tired (too much working on the computer that day!), so I went back up to my room and got ready for bed.

The view flying into Bellingham.

The bad news was that I got to sleep at 1:30am, and just as I was getting into a deep sleep, the fire alarm went off. And it was loud! (And annoying!) I was totally disoriented, but I finally crawled out of bed and looked out the hall to see if anyone else was leaving. I saw Gabe’s head pop out after a minute- he was doing the same thing I was, just seeing if anyone else was going to walk down the six flights of stairs. I walked down toward him, and Don came out of his room too, so the three of us walked downstairs and waited in the lobby for an answer. After about five or ten minutes, they let us back up to our rooms. False alarm. We ran into Dad as we were walking towards the elevators, he had decided to go down for the event as well. But we did manage to get back up to our rooms pretty quickly considering.

July 23, 2011

My alarm was blaring at me by 6:30am. I got up and dressed, then with all of my luggage gathered, I went to the lobby to meet Gabe. We were the early call that day- 7:15am. Everyone else was leaving an hour after us. We were the only two people that were going back to Orange County that day.

Prop plane to Seattle.

We sat in the lobby for a while, but our ride never came. So we eventually asked the front desk, and it turns out they didn’t have us on the list. It was a very good thing we asked! We did end up getting to the airport a bit later than planned, but it was a very small airport, and we had way more than enough time! After we checked in and went through security, and wasted some time; we were finally able to board.

Our first flight was just a prop plane to Seattle. That is such a quick and easy flight! Then we walked over to our next flight- the one to Orange County. We got there just in time, they were just starting to board. It was about a three hour flight, but it went by pretty quickly. In no time, we were on the ground in California and waiting for our bags. After we got our suitcases we met back at the curb. We waited for our Mom’s to get there, Gabe’s Mom got there just before mine. Then I was on my way back to my parent’s house.

I'm on a boat...

My cousin Chris and I.

My cousin Chris and his fiancé (he actually proposed to her that afternoon!) were staying at my parent’s house too. So we caught up for a bit, then we just had to celebrate! We went out to dinner in Balboa, and then rented a boat and took it around the harbor. It was a perfect way to celebrate their engagement!

When we got back to the house, we all chatted some more and then I got to sleep. It had been a long day, and I only had one more night in California after that one; then it was time to get back to work in good ole’ Nashville!

The perfect Newport Beach sunset from on the water.