Wes and Jan see the US Wanderings and Side Trips

WOW!! Nov 16, 2007

And double WOW!! Garth Brooks sure puts on a fantastic concert and show. And Trisha Yearwood is a close second. Last Friday evening we traveled east to our daughter, Sunny's, home in McPherson, KS. We got there in time to go to bed :-) Her husband, Brian, pulled in about 4:30 am, arriving home from a job in Arizona. Saturday, Wes hauled the trash and did some errands while Sunny and I did some shopping. Wes wasn't feeling well, so he slept most of the rest of the day. We were getting more excited as the time for the concert got closer. On Sunday, we slept in - finally! We left Milleson Farms about 2pm and headed to KC. The first stop was the Boulevard Brewery where Brian and his crew did most of the work installing the brewing system. It was one of his favorite projects and he is proud of it - and rightfully so. It continues to amaze us just how talented he is and what wonderful work he does. He is one of the few craftsman left in the world. The Brewery was not open since it was Sunday, but we did look in all the windows and the grounds. We want to come back and take a tour someday when they are open.

Then we needed sustenance for the evening ahead, so we headed downtown for dinner. We ended up at Jack Stack's BBQ Grill. The weather was so nice, we ate outside on the patio. It was in the 60's and it was about 6pm - beautiful night. Excitement was building as we headed for the Sprint Center and the concert. We were able to get a parking spot across the street from the Center and it was a short walk. The Sprint Center is new and is very nice. The employees there were polite and helpful and they checked us in and moved us all along pretty quickly. There were at least 18,000 people trying to locate their seats etc. We had good seats and a good view of the stage. Thank goodness for the large screens in the middle of the center. What we couldn't see on stage, we were able to watch on the screens. Trisha Yearwood did her opening act which was very good. Then they totally took down her stage and rebuilt Garth's while we watched. Then Garth Brooks arrived. What excitement!! We were royally entertained for about 2 1/2 hours. He returned for two encores and they were more than just a couple of songs. Now, we realize he is a professional and he is a "showman" and he knows how to work a crowd, but we believe he was truly impressed with the KC audience. Everyone knew all the words and sang along with most of the songs. Several times, he just let the crowd sing. He commented that it was a dream come true to hear the audience singing HIS songs to him - an ultimate compliment. To say we enjoyed the event is an understatement. We were blown away!! Thanks to our kids for arranging for the tickets and the whole evening. It was great!

We arrived back at the ranch (Sunny's) about 3am and slept til 9am, then headed back to the farm about 2pm, arriving home about 6pm. A great weekend indeed. Now it is on to getting ready for our winter trip south.