* This part of the blog is sadly not written in real time due to the week I've had ...
YES!!!! It's 6.30am and time to rise and shine for God Dave Matthews! Thanks to Mr Big and his clever Craigslisting ways we (the merry trio Fee, Mr Big and Tadpole) are in the gleemobile and off over the mountians to Eastern Washington and Dave Matthews Band SOLD OUT Saturday performance.
All I need is my men and the camera and breakfast! Yes, it's raining on this side of the mountian but hey - we are headed (in Dave's words) to a little bit of heaven and a little bit of oh yea!
See you soon Sultan Bakery
Though they don't look very happy - I think its more that a. its 7am and they would rather be sleeping b. I'm not letting them nosh till we have a photo - I mean, who wouldnt be happy at this restaurant? Sultan Bakery http://www.yelp.com/biz/sultan-bakery-sultan-2 is surely one of the most scrumptious places in the world if you are a breakfast type like me and if you havent been and can drive here...you should - whether its breakfast, lunch or dinner. The fare is simple Americana but cooked/baked to perfection. Its also right at the bottom of the moutian and the mouth to Tumwater canyon so it is very well placed for Steven Pass, Leavenworth and Dave-goers like ourselves. **CAUTION** you really should be sharing these portions, its a PLATTER of stuff that you get, as is evidenced in exhibit a, b and c below.
For those non-yanks the breakfast is ham and cheese scrambles and hashbrowns (the little container on the top is jam...random but typical in US restaurants, some folks here...MIX THEIR JAM IN WITH THEIR EGGS AND THE LIKE.....ewwww), to the right of that is country fried steak and country gravy (basically chopped beef seasoned and breadcrumbed with a white sausage gravy) and then Tadpole was adventureous and went for the swiss ham and pineapple omelette. Half of what we were served was left but Im sure that it went to a good home. We are on our way!
Pretty much as soon as we left the bakery the weather started brightening up (actually to be perfectly honestly it felt like an instantaneous weather change because as soon as I got back in the car full of breakfast I fell asleep - so we were quite a ways up the road when I awoke to Tumwater Canyon Glory.
Tad poked a toe in the water to test the temp, I think he was ready to strip down to his jocks to swim if it were remotely mediterreanean ...
but it was as frigid as melted snow from the nearby alps should be....
A few miles more and we were at the gorge with a few of our closest friends. We were fortunate enough to have priority parking (thank you Gary for making the arrangements) so in fact the position where this photo was taken was pretty much the entrance to the concert/our parking place. Believe me, there was some glances, but Im sure they were glances and looks of admiration rather than jealously.
This is a tiny view of what is an expanse of camping area. This is a three day concert and many folks come as much for the camping experience with Dave fantatics as they do for the music. Somewhere over there was a mound of crazy Canadians that had a band (not DMB) and their own mini concert - it was incredible! Also somewhere in there (with their cloaking device in the on position) were friends Mary and Maher...try as we did we could'nt find them.
YESSS! We are here!
So you walk down a long and winding road and come to the edge of the gorge - before getting to the edge you see nothing pretty much, then when you step onto the edge this is the glory that is...THE GORGE
Here are the boys waiting for Ben Harper and Dave - as you can see, you are sitting on a pretty steep embankment but we considered this to be a good pozzie - right next to the beer/hot dog shed and also it wasn't far from toilet town.
Tadpole's first beer
Me taking a picture of myself....one has to do what one has to do
and this friends....is where the camera RAN OUT OF BATTERIES!!!!! Sad day.
It was an incredible concert - Dave was his usual wonderful self, one of the highlights was DMB/Ben Harper cover of All Along The Watchtower if you have time you should for sure check it out
What you dont see in this vid is the fact that the tribute to Leroi Moore who was a part of the band till his too soon passing in 2008. 25, 000 glow sticks were thrown into the crowd from all directions and as they were thrown in people would catch them and throw them up again in the air - it was so colorful and so amazing to see with all this music going on.
I was so grateful for our close by parking before the show but especially after the show - it meant we could get immediatly into the car and head back to our hotel in Wenatchee...speaking of which: Motel 6 in Wenatchee is probably to be avoided unless you are looking for an overly priced dirty motel - then its your place for sure. Two highlights were the "sitting chair" which curiously had a weird bleached out shape on the seat part - right in the center, in the shape of a fork. Couple this with the unwelcome discovery the morning after the show is strange orange drip shaped stains on the base on the bed Tadpole was sleeping in. We summize that the room we were in "217" actually was in days past, a crime scene and that the fork shape was in fact where the murder weapon lay and the drippy orange stains on the bed actually faded BLOOD.....needless to say we got the hell out of there as fast as our legs could carry us following discovery of said ickyness.
Apart from this last part it was a sensational couple of days - thanks Mr Big for making one of my dreams come true and thanks Tadpole for joining us, we love you.
Dead batteries?! WHAAAA???!!?! Now I'll never know how this ends. Go DMB!
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