Gentlemen of the Road

What a crazy weekend! Jake and I made the drive up to Troy, OH to Mumford & Sons' Gentlemen of the Road festival. The entire downtown Troy was turned in to a street festival with all of the local businesses having booths outside of their stores. Boy, did they get some business this weekend. All of the shops also decorated with mustaches and British flags for the occasion. There was such a fun, friendly vibe everywhere you went. You could tell Troy was very excited to host GOTR.

The concert grounds were just as festive and fun. They had food booths from all over the country, including my favorite Jeni's Ice Cream from Columbus, OH. The concert itself was on the Troy High School football field. At the height of the day's concerts, the entire field plus both sets of stands were covered with 30,000 fans (PS- Troy is a town of 25,000- it doubled this weekend!). We definitely didn't have the best view, but you couldn't match the atmosphere on both days (even with a slight rain storm that brought out our super cool ponchos- see picture below).

Some new-found favorites from the weekend were Willy Mason and Bear's Den. We also had an awesome time singing along to Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros and Old Crow Medicine Show. In fact, I like both of them better now than I did before. Mumford was excellent as usual and even brought both Bear's Den and Old Crow on stage for a few songs. You could tell they were genuinely having a great time on stage. We were as well, along with 30,000 of our closest friends.

 

Big Easy Express

Jake and I are road tripping it to Troy, OH this weekend to see Mumford & Sons headline a weekend festival of folk bands called Gentlemen of the Road. I have been patiently counting down the days since this past spring for this! I love me some Mumford.

Adding to my excitement, we just watched the documentary "Big Easy Express" about a tour Mumford did with Old Crow Medicine Show and Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros a few years ago. They traveled to each tour stop by train, jamming all through the night as they went. It's inspiring to see inside this tour and the collaboration between bands that happened.

I might have watched it twice this week. Just maybe. :)

Ode to Summer

Well, the school year has officially begun. I'm getting back in the swing of things and my busy schedule is returning. In a way it's nice to get back to "normal," but boy did I have a great summer. 

Touring Hanover College

When one of Jake's youth, Marissa, said she was interested in Hanover College, we jumped at the chance to show off our Alma Mater. We made the two hour drive from Morristown down to Hanover to tour the campus and visit historic Madison. It brought back so many memories (and funny stories)  as we went from building to building. Looking back, I can't believe I spent my freshman year in that small, unair-conditioned room in Donner. Such a special place for me (and Jake). We really enjoyed the day with Marissa, too!

Paul McCartney: Out There Tour

Well, I crossed something off my bucket list this July. Jake and I saw Sir Paul McCartney live in concert! I mean, he was a Beatle!! I still can't quite wrap my head around the fact that we saw him. The concert was very well done, and not near as flashy as it probably could have been. It was just him and four other band members on stage playing Beatles and Wings music for almost three hours. My favorite parts of the show were when he told stories about his days with the Beatles leading in to songs. One story in particular included both Jimi Hendrix and Eric Clapton at the same concert. He is living music history and I saw it. Unreal. I you ever have a chance to see him, go for goodness sake!

 

 For your listening pleasure, Sir Paul on ukulele. 

Lansing and Holland, MI

Jake and I took a little road trip to Michigan this past week. We were headed to Holland to attend a middle school youth conference Jake is looking in to, but we left a day early to meet up with our friends of Mike Mains and the Branches in Lansing as well. Usually our visits with them consist of a few minutes after a concert, so to just hang out and talking with them for an evening made the entire trip worth it. So blessed to have the time with them!

After shopping (and eating) in Holland, we visited with our friends Corey and Sarah who live near downtown. We love Holland so much! I mean, they have a windmill. Enough said.

We even snuck in a visit with some of Michigan's newest residents at their new apartment in Benton Harbor, MI. Can't wait to go back and explore this area more with James and Ben!

We really made the most of our short time in Michigan. We were so lucky that we had the chance to visit with so many friends in between our travels back and forth. Until next time, Michigan!

For Ben and James

A little video from our trip to Petoskey, MI.