We're back!!!!
Moms View Message Board: General Discussion: Archive August 2008:
We're back!!!!
So we got back very late last night, and are spending today resting and getting the house picked up. The trip was AMAZING!!!!! We had a rough start, the rental car guy ran my credit card wrong, then couldn't re-run it for 24 hours, so we were freaking out that we couldn't rent the car. J's mom left work to put it on her card, and saved the day, and because I was so upset with their mistake they upgraded us to a 2009 Camry with GPS. Things were looking up! We hit the road about 2pm instead of noon, and headed toward St. Louis, because I wanted to see the Arch. We got to St. Louis around dusk, got some great pics of the Arch. took some video, and got White Castle for dinner. (Thank you GPS system!!) After that, we were headed north, and getting very excited!
We stayed in a hotel in Rockford, Illinois on Friday night, and drove to East Troy Saturday. People in WI are AMAZING, everyone was friendly and wonderful!!! We tailgated for a while on Saturday, and then, because we had lawn seats, we were among the first people to enter the amphitheater. We ran all the way down the steep hill, and got a spot right of at the front of the lawn. We spread a big blanket, and because it was just the two of us, invited some people to share our space. Well, we were telling someone how we had planned to camp, but the site didn't mention needing reservations, and now everything within an hour radius was booked up, so were were going to park at a rest stop that night to sleep. One of the people we were hanging out with offered us the spare room in her house!! We were amazed at her generosity. They played songs that we had been dying to hear, and did some cool fake outs that made it one of the most memorable shows of the year.
At one point during the show, I sneaked down into the reserves, and got pretty close to the stage before being sent back up to the lawn. Later, I told J to do the same, so he could get a good look at the band. While we was gone, I stepped on some trash and rolled my ankle, bad. I kept telling everyone I didn't want to go to the medical tent until after the show, so we just hung out and I leaned on the fence for a while. After the encore, we got Janine's address (again, thank you GPS!!), and headed off to the medical tent. I taped my ankle, got an ice pack, and we headed to the house. She set us up in the spare room, we said good night, and tried to rest. Needless to say, after the adrenaline wore off, I didn't sleep very well, because I was in a LOT of pain, and my ankle was swelling. I wanted J to sleep, so I told him I'd wait until morning, but we needed to find the ER or urgent care.
I woke him up early, and told him we had to get to a doctor quick, because by that point I couldn't put any weight on it. I knew it wasn't broken, but the soft tissue was definitely messed up, so we left a note, found the nearest hospital, and headed in. This once again showed me how wonderful people in Wisconsin are, everyone (except my doc) was so nice, and helpful. He had to carry me to the door, and they immediately got me a wheelchair, and within minutes I was getting xrays. They confirmed a sprain, gave me a brace and crutches, and we were out in less than 2 hours. Lunch at Famous Daves (every time we try to go to the one here, something comes up and we don't make it, so we finally got to eat there), more amazing people, and we headed back to Alpine around 1430. We tailgated in the parking lot, then decided to head up to the entrance area. We decided to try and upgrade our tickets, since being on crutches was not going to make standing in the very steeply sloped lawn very comfortable. We ended up selling our lawn seats, and buying seats in the very first section of the reserves! The security guards were amazing, they let us walk up to the area by the stage, helped me get around, and just went out of their way to make sure we were happy and comfortable. Night two was just as amazing, songs we didn't get to hear on night one were played, we got AMAZING pictures of the band from very close up, people were friendly, weather was perfect... you get the idea! I got a picture with a guy who had a matching brace on his other leg, and people kept saying I was such a trooper for being there injured. (Like I would have missed it!?)
By the end of the night we were absolutely exhausted, Janine wasn't there for night two, but offered us her house again. We ended up declining because the exhaustion had us arguing, so we slept in the car somewhere in Illinois. Monday was a blur, and all of the days have pretty much melted into one long, amazing trip. I'm glad to be home, but I can't wait to go back next year... this is definitely going to be an annual trip. If not for the cold winters, I would move to WI, because the friendliness and hospitality left a lasting impression on us. If you made it this far, thanks for reading!!! I'll post pictures as soon as I can find my card reader. 
Sounds like a fun trip. I've been there, done that, with the ankle injuries, so I hope it heals up fast. I'm glad Wisconsinites rolled out the red carpet for you!
We call it Gemuetlichkeit, which means showing hospitality and stuff like that.
Definition
Wow, that makes it so much cooler, that you guys have a word for it, and that it's a way of life!! I expect it from fellow fans, but this went beyond the shows, it was how EVERYONE treated us!
Sorry to hear you injured yourself, but glad you had such a great time!
Hows the ankle?
It's a lot better today, thanks. Yesterday I only needed help getting in and out of the shower, and the swelling was gone. I only used the crutches when shopping (the soreness from using them is worse than my ankle, not to mention the huge blister on my hand!), and by nighttime I could walk without the brace on, on the carpet at least. I've kept it on today, and still have a bit of a limp, but I think it's healing fairly quickly.
Dawn,
I just googled Sheboygan to East Troy, and you are just over an hour and a half away. Since we plan on making this an annual thing, and taking more time off from work next year (we've both been EXHAUSTED for days, crammed too much into a couple of days) we should try and meet up next year! I didn't think I would fall in love with WI and want to spend a vacation there, because I hate colder regions, but I can't wait to spend a little extra time there next year!
That's not very far. We should do that next year!
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