Tower of Power

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I really couldn't find a photo I liked of Tower of Power, so this will have to do. We had a lot of fun on our little 24 hour outing - felt like a real mini vacation.

Because we'd been to this venue last fall, I knew to buy seats on the left side of the tables so we were more easily facing the stage. We were exactly one table over from where we sat when we saw Kathy Griffin. But seeing a comedian is a whole lot different from seeing a loud band. We were just a few feet away from the speakers carrying the bass sounds and the music vibrated in our chests. The first note from those speakers, the woman next to me and I literally jumped. I was afraid my heart would never beat in a normal rhythm again. Sometimes the vibration made me cough, like it was tickling my lungs or something. Next time, I'll try to get seats a bit further away. It's such a small, nicely elevated room that there really isn't a bad seat in the house. But boy, other than the bass vibrations - I do love being close to the stage!

We enjoyed Average White Band; we loved Tower of Power, Steve especially did. We'd go see them again in a minute. There were a few members of each band that were original members - been together 40 years, some of them. Impressive.

Spending the night at the casino resort was really fun, although expensive. (We don't gamble, I mean the price of the room is ridiculous. Steve's an extremely generous man, I'd never part with that much money for a room.) We found the perfect restaurant for us - sit-down, middle of the road. We ate dinner early in case it got crowded, then went back to our room - I even napped a wee bit. It was nice walking downstairs to the concert, just a few minutes before it started. Then afterwards, bang-zoom, we were back in our room in no time. Love that.

We ate breakfast in the same restaurant - but were seated right next to the smoking section. At one point I was this close to asking for another table but I knew that would embarrass Steve so I cowgirled up and kept my bitching between us. I figured it was an after breakfast cigarette that would soon be over. Then a new party would sit down and I'd have a nice window of opportunity to finish my meal. Which is exactly what happened. (We're totally spoiled - Monroe County has been smoke-free in public buildings for years.)

I remarked to Steve that it's funny that we're about as far from being "Casino People" as I can imagine, yet we loved Vegas last year and have been to 2 shows at Turning Stone now. We'll probably check out Mohegan Sun in Connecticut at some point. Steve played the slots a tiny bit in Vegas but we really don't gamble. I think we like the big fanciness of the places because it's so polar opposite of our real lives. As we walked by the casino areas yesterday I said to Steve, "What a perfectly good waste of space! They could fill all these areas with craft stores and art galleries!"

This weekend I was thinking of something Mom said last year when we showed her the Hotel Bethlehem website, where we stayed when Nick & Jill got married. "Oh that place is too fancy for us." Gretchen and I both feel, there ain't no place too fancy for us - bring it on! Turned out that Mom and Dad both liked the Hotel Bethlehem very much - we all did. It was a nice, clean historic hotel in a cute little village. And surprisingly it's pet friendly so even Reggi was happy.

Speaking of my best girl, Reggi - we had Steve's daughter Lizz and Simon lined up to care for Reggi while we were gone. When Simon came over Saturday morning to let her out, Reggi was downstairs in the basement and had trouble walking up the stairs. The few times Reggi has had to go to the bathroom and no one is home, she'll go downstairs and go in the basement - but she's never liked the open backed wood stairs. Ever since we got home, she's been oddly lethargic and yelps if we try to move her. We're thinking maybe she fell down the stairs and is feeling bruised and banged up. I've touched and moved every part - nothing in particular seems to hurt. We'll take her to the vet tomorrow if she doesn't improve. But she seems so sad, it's breaking our hearts, especially if she's in pain. I wish she could talk to us! I love that girl.

The only black spot - actually just gray - on the getaway was that we couldn't find our car to leave. Yep, we did the Doofus Walk of Shame, rolling our luggage behind us in the parking garage. After a short while, I waited with the luggage by the door and Steve walked around by himself. Then he came back and I told him we must be on the wrong level, even though we both swore it was Level Two and everything looked familiarly correct. I went back inside, took the elevator down a floor and presto - there was the car, right where we thought it was. So I drove up a level and picked up Steve. We swore we'd never speak of this again - - - good thing he never reads my blog.

(Not finding my car in a parking lot is a personal pet peeve of mine. I always park in the same area of stores and places I frequent, just to play it safe. When I can't do that I try really hard to remember the floor/level/color I park on and notice landmarks around me. I would have bet a week's pay that we were on the right level the first time. Crap. Guess I need to write that shit down now.)

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