Sometime earlier this fall my friend Michelle told me that she had just gotten a notification that Gary Allan was coming back to Boise in early December along with the Eli Young Band and Jack Ingram, and that we should think about going. Obviously I'm always up for a Gary Allan concert, and was interested in seeing the Eli Young Band as well, so I was leaning toward making the trip.
Sometime in October I got an e-mail for the same concert, stating that there was a pre-sale ticket event. Just for fun I logged into the ticket sales site to see what was available. It popped up with two seats in the perfect spot - directly across from the stage a few rows up. Plus they were half-price! I had to buy them.
Later that month I was getting tickets for our trip to California to visit family for Thanksgiving and I thought I'd just check on flights to Boise to see how much they were. They were $50-$60 each way, there's no way I could pass that up, so I booked a flight. I actually meant to just reserve them, since I hadn't asked for the day off, but I clicked the wrong button. Oops. Fortunately my boss did give me the day off, so everything was set.
As the weekend got closer Michelle told me of plans on her end. She had to do a training session on her bike Saturday morning and I was being encouraged to come as well by her trainer. Since I'm a team player (and because I wanted to keep Douglas on my side) I packed my cycling gear. She also was going to have tickets to the BSU football game Saturday afternoon, and thought we could go snowshoeing Sunday morning. Much harder to pack for a winter trip than it is for a summer trip. Plus my hiking boots took up so much space in my bag that I had to wear them on the plane. Such fun getting through airport security with boots on.
Unfortunately not all of the plans worked as expected. We got a late start Saturday morning, and in all of the excitement of getting clothes ready for the football game I forgot my cycling shoes. All dressed up with no way to cycle. I did what I could in my stocking feet, which included some time on a rowing machine while Michelle rode. At least I got some cardio and weights in. The football game was fun, although once BSU got on track it was a little lopsided. New Mexico State only scored because of a strange turnover by the second string offense.
There wasn't enough snow on any of the nearby peaks so snowshoeing was out as well. We decided to run some errands which included finding snow boots for her dog. Always amusing watching a dog get used to having boots on his paws, but he got the hang of it pretty quickly. We also swung by Home Depot to get a Christmas tree. Didn't have time to decorate it, but at least it's at the house ready to go.
Finally it was time for the concert. Woohoo! We bundled up and headed back to the BSU campus (the concert was in the basketball team's arena) and made our way to our seats. At least we thought they were our seats - turned out we were off by a row. After some rearranging by several parties we settled in to enjoy the show. The Eli Young Band did a great set, I'm looking forward to more music from them. Jack Ingram did a great job as well, although he was a bit of a talker. It was the last show of this leg of the tour, so it wasn't surprising that there were some practical jokes. Jack has a song called "Barefoot and Crazy" so he takes off his boots when he sings the song, to get in the mood. Someone from Gary's crew took one of his boots and put shaving cream inside, so when Jack put it back on he got quite a surprise. :)
Gary was in great spirits when he came out, laughing and running around the stage, more than he usually does. He's not a huge talker during his shows, but he did tell some stories, which was fun to hear. One of his concerts this summer in Canada was rudely interrupted by a hurricane that destroyed all of his equipment. Fortunately other artists and his sponsors provided him with some loaner equipment until he could get everything back in order.
I'm pretty sure he played longer than he originally planned to, although he didn't quite play all night long like he kept promising. When he came out for his encore someone brought his dog on the stage which was quite amusing. We were amazed that the dog didn't have a problem with the noise, as it was quite loud in the arena. We filed out of the arena at close to midnight, ears still ringing and reliving the show as we drove home.
All too quickly it was time to fly home. I made it to airport with plenty of time before my flight (unlike last time), and got home without incident. Time to settle in for the holidays and enjoy the season with friends and family.
