Phun, Phriends, and Phish

This past weekend we crammed about as much fun as possible in to a few short days.  It started on Friday when I got off work, headed straight for the store to pick up a couple weekend commodities then home for a quick costume change and to begin our weekend of Phish shows.  Before I get to much farther in this post I have some very sad news.  I lost my camera on Friday night :(  So the photos will be limited to what I can steal from others that were there.  Anyways, back to happier things.  We have felt so blessed these past few years to expand our circle of friends out here in CO.  A couple that we recently became better acquainted with lives only down the block from us and played a crucial role in the fun this weekend.  After everyone's out of town guests arrived for  the phestivities we were a group of 15-20 so it made sense to try and arrange transportation to and from Denver each night so we could sleep in our own beds at night and also not worry about hotels, camping, cabs, etc.  So, our aforementioned friends graciously coordinated a party bus to drive us down and back each night.  It worked perfectly, we had a home base at their house and all got to have a great time.

So, back to Friday, we started with a BBQ at afore mentioned Phish home base that included delicious burgers from a cow that had been mooing the day before.  Um, tasty.  We enjoyed some adult beverages and then hopped on our chariot.  The bus we rode down Friday was owned by a local guy who often transported for New Belgium parties.  Instead of seats in the last half of the bus there were couches.  On the back panel near the emergency exit there was a sign saying "Mobility Aid" where a handle used to be,  with  a can crusher mounted on the wall in its place.  The traffic was horrendous getting down to Denver so all of our bladders were thankful when we finally reached the arena.  The show that night was terrific.  In fact, it was also very creative.  As the set list progressed some of our more creative friends had already idenitfied that the first letter in each song title was shaping up to spell out the name of a well-known song, with a funny title.  And what do you know, they ended the show with the song they had spelled!  The band had been known to do fun and different things such as playing a whole show with songs that start with the letter "S".  It makes going to more than one night of the same band worth it.

Okay, so, a good time was had by all, we made it back safe and sound.  I realized after I got off the bus that we were missing not only my camera but Eric's iPhone too.  We were struggling for sure but in our defence we had been up since 0445 that morning!  Bus driver John reported the next day that he did indeed have an iphone, no camera though.  Saturday we drug ourselves out of bed before noon and headed down to Old Town to share in the joy that is Tour de Fat.  Our friend, Mark was visiting from WI so this was even more necessary.  Again, very sad that I don't have photographic evidence of the creativity of this town.  This festival is put on by New Belgium Brewing and it's all about Bikes, Bands, and Beers, as well as finding your whimisical side.  Everyone turns up in costumes and rides in a bike parade that ends in a big party.  My favorite group costume was eight ladies dressed as reindeer pulling Santa in his sleigh with their bikes.  I also saw a group of perfectly executed Troll Dolls.  Unfortunately we couldn't stay long as we had another Phish bus to catch.  The 2nd night was just as fun, though the set list did not spell anything.  Here's a photo someone else took:

We're on a bus!

Eric's oldest friend, Mark, from WI says "Hey, I'm on a bus too!"

 I wish I had more photos to share, I even got dragged down to 2nd row for a song or two so I would have gotten some good ones.  Maybe once our photographer friend that was with us posts his photos I'll steal some!

My Phish tour was done after 2 shows,  We spent Sunday at a pool party then most everyone went down for night 3.  I stayed in and tackled the laundry mountain and got good sleep in order to work on Monday, no three-day weekend for this nurse!  We had such a good time and I look forward to more shows next year.  Eric is talking Phish east coast tour but I think 2 nights close to home is enough for this gal.

 Happy Summer's End to you!   I hope all of you out there had a delightful Labor Day weekend and are ending your summer feeling as if it was jammed-pack with fun, I know ours was.  And it was WAAYYYY too hot, so I, for one, and super ready for Fall, football, and cooler weather.