I just refreshed myself on my last entry and I'll have you know that I DID get sun and water! July 29, 2022, was one of the best days swimming at the lake that I can remember! My mom and I set out to a local spot on the lake that is somewhat secluded and usually doesn't have too many people swimming. This day, however, NO ONE was there. It was a Friday and not a soul was around! It was the most beautiful weather we've had all summer - hot with a bright blue sky and huge, fluffy white clouds. I'm glad no one was there and that we had this cool little spot on the lake all to ourselves, but it was just so unusual for there to be literally no one around. The parking lot we go to has never been completely empty, but this time it was. No one. And it stayed that way the entire time we were at the lake, from 2:30-8:00! That's just very odd for a Friday in the summer with good weather for people to not be there at all, but oh well! It was SO nice! My sister Amber joined us a little later as she doesn't like to stay out at the lake for as long as my mom and I do. I can be out there for hours and hours whereas she's kinda done after an hour or so.
This summer has been the summer of concerts. I already mentioned the Monsta X concert I went to at the beginning of the summer. Well, my mother-in-law is obsessed with the band Toad the Wet Sprocket and they were going to be playing at a venue near the beach, so she invited us to go to their concert and have a beach trip. I immediately said yes, but of course, Nick was not sure. WHY can't he say yes to a good time?! His mom even insisted on paying for our hotel room, which was over $600, so that was very generous. The whole trip ended up being the best time! I was slightly worried about how it would go because Nick just doesn't travel well - he can easily get upset with traffic, people, crowds, etc., but all was okay. Nick's mom had gotten VIP "meet and greet" tickets for the Toad concert, so we got to meet the band, take a picture with them, and listen to their soundcheck. When it was time for the actual concert, we were in the center just a few rows back. It was a good time even if I wasn't 100% familiar with the band.
We planned to have a beach day the next day. Nick sprung up bright and early, as usual, and walked to a French bakery nearby and got us all breakfast of various coffees and breakfast sandwiches on croissants. It was sooo good. We had a great but somewhat brief time at the beach swimming in the ocean. Some dark clouds and thunder were in the distance, so we headed back to the hotel. Nick and his brother, L, who he recently reconnected with, went out on their own to some breweries while me, Nick's mom, Nick's stepdad, and Nick's younger sister, K, went to this wine bar near our hotel. Our hotel was in this little village with all these cool shops and things within walking distance. The wine bar was SO cool - they had all these wines hooked up to spouts and you inserted this card (which looked like a credit card) and selected which wine you wanted, which would then pour out of the spout. It was like a self-serve soda machine but with wine instead. They also had charcuterie, so we selected some yummy cheeses and meats and wow, we just had the best time sitting outside and drinking various wines. To me, that was one of the highlights of the trip.
After the wine bar, we had dinner at a restaurant in the little village directly across the street from our hotel, and Nick and L joined us. I got a delicious cedar plank salmon! The whole day was just a great day. On our last day there, we went to a "fish camp" restaurant where we got raw oysters, boiled shrimp, seafood platters, lobster rolls, etc. Nick's mom also bought a bottle of prosecco for us to split, which was awesome. Nick's mom insisted on paying for the meal, which I saw was $471 with the tip!! Eeek! His mom is so generous. Nick's dad and stepmom would NEVER treat us to something like that even though they by far have the most money of anyone we know. Cheapskates.
After lunch, we went to check out this old fort nearby. There was a house for sale next to it, a little nothing to shout about little bungalow that had not been renovated at all. It was for sale for oh, only 3 MILLION DOLLARS. Not an exaggeration, literally 3 million dollars. To be fair, it is practically right on the beach and has a very large lot. Whoever buys it will probably bulldoze the house and build 2 bigger houses on the same lot and sell them both for big bucks.
After laughing at how much that house cost, we took a nice little walk on the beach. Then, it was time for us to head home but Nick was insisting on having one last drink somewhere with L before we left. At this point, I was hot and tired and ready to get home as we still had a 3-hour drive and it was a work night, but Nick insisted. Since he and L have been doing so well, I agreed. We went to a nearby restaurant with nice seating and an outdoor bar. We only had one drink and then went on our way. The whole trip was a huge success!
The next concert I went to was finally one of MY choosing. My friend Brittany and I went to see The Weeknd! It was another trip that went amazingly well and smoothly. I was slightly worried because it was out of state in a big city that is notorious for bad drivers, but it was totally fine! I drove us right downtown where we had lunch at a food hall. Brittany got to try raw oysters for the first time and she didn't hate them. For lunch, I got sushi and she got a chicken sandwich. That's the beauty of a food hall - people can get what they want and don't have to agree! By the time we ate and looked all around, it was time to check in to our hotel. Driving to the hotel was no problem at all. We checked in and the girl at the desk talked us into upgrading our room to a higher floor for only $20. Our room was on the 22nd floor and offered some pretty cool city views of big buildings and things nearby.
We relaxed for a little bit in the room before getting an Uber to the stadium. Getting into the stadium was no problem at all - no big lines or anything. I don't know if that's because we were early or because the venue was so huge. The lines at the Monsta X concert, which was at a smaller venue, were crazyyyyy, so this was nice to just breeze on in. We found our seats just fine and there we were, exactly on time for what was listed on our tickets. What we didn't know is that The Weeknd (the main act, obvi), would not come out for another THREE hours! Okay, I knew there are usually opening acts at concerts and stuff, but his opening act, Doja Cat, cancelled due to throat surgery. Idk, I just thought there wasn't going to be an opening act but it turns out there were 2. Had I known how late The Weeknd would come on stage, I wouldn't have gotten to the venue so early and maybe, I don't know, would have eaten dinner! We did have a relatively late lunch though around 3, so it's not like we were starving anyway. We ended up leaving our seats to go get drinks. They had food like popcorn and hotdogs and I wish I had gotten something, but we were too afraid to stand in line in case The Weeknd was about to come out. Lol we were such concert newbs, not realizing the main act comes much later.
I later realized I needed to go to the bathroom, so we both left our seats. When we tried to go back to our seats, we were stopped by venue workers who asked to see our wristbands. It turns out that all people with floor seats were supposed to go to this specific location to get wristbands. We had gone to that location, but hadn't seen the table for the wristbands (we didn't realize we needed wristbands, the ticket only said to access floor seats at a specific spot) and no one stopped us as we made it all the way to our seats on the floor. So cue us going all the way back to where we started and getting our wristbands. While we were on our way back we started to hear singing and were worried we were missing The Weekend, but remember, we are newbs - this was just another one of his opening acts performing and Abel (The Weeknd's name) wasn't going to be out for a while. So that was briefly stressful.
The concert itself was a lot of fun! We were on the floor only 10 rows back from the stage so I got to see Abel with my own 2 eyes. He put on a great show and sang so well live! I got some really good videos. The only thing about floor seats is everyone stands and since I'm so short, my view was often blocked. And if Abel ever went down to a different part of the stage, I couldn't see him at all, but luckily I could still hear him. :) The concert lasted about an hour and a half and we stood and danced the whole time. I was definitely feeling my weight - my legs and feet were begging me to sit down, but I didn't. We walked over 10,000 steps that day!
Another stressful thing that I hadn't even thought about AT ALL was my phone battery. We planned to Uber back to our hotel after our concert but guess what, a lot of other people had the same idea. The Uber app searched in vain for drivers nearby with no luck, all the while my battery life was dwindling. Brittany's battery was worse off than mine. We had no chargers with us, nothing. So yeah, being outside in the heart of a big city after midnight with possibly no way to get home was kind of frightening. It's not like we were standing alone on some corner all by ourselves though, there were tons of other concertgoers around us, so we never felt unsafe. I never full-out panicked, but I did wonder how we would get back to our hotel if my phone died before we could be connected to an Uber driver. I was on 9% battery when we FINALLY were connected to a driver, but he was 20 minutes away. I sent him a message through the app to please still come get us even if the connection dropped because my phone was about to die. I told him exactly where we were. Luckily, he got there before that could happen, but my phone had dwindled to just 4%. This guy was a true knight in shining armor, for real.
-- leaving work now, will finish tomorrow!
- Continued on Friday, 08/19/2022 - So yes, we made it safely back to our hotel. We just made it to the hotel's marketplace before it closed at 1 am and got some snacks and food since we hadn't eaten since 3 pm. Brittany also DoorDashed a pizza which wasn't delivered until 2:30 am. Idk why she ordered a pizza when we had already gotten our other food because she can't really eat much at one time. She had gastric sleeve weight loss surgery years ago and while she did regain the weight, she still can't eat a lot at once. She regained the weight because of what she eats - she lives alone and DoorDashes almost all of her meals from restaurants and fast food places. Anyways, she only ate one piece of pizza before falling asleep. I ate 2 pieces, but the rest went to waste! I hated that. Oh well. The next morning, we got up at 9 to have enough time to shower and have breakfast in the hotel restaurant. This was no free continental breakfast (which I love) - but instead, it was $27 per person for an all-you-can-eat breakfast buffet. The buffet was great and had so many options, but definitely pricey!
After we checked out, we thought it would be fun to go to the aquarium that was nearby. We spent 4 hours there, walking around looking at all the animals. We saw sharks, dolphins, beluga whales, sea otters, piranas, jellyfish, many fish, sting rays, turtles, crabs, penguins, puffins, etc.! It was a fun time. I got my nephew a cute blue stuffed whale shark from the gift shop. I may have also gotten myself a stuffed whale shark and named him Krilly lol. After that, it was time to make the 3 hour drive home. We made it fun by playing our favorite songs for each other. Brittany just cracked me up so much on this trip, so much so I had tears in my eyes. We just had the best time! Even though we've known each other for a long time, this was the first time we ever took a trip together. I would definitely do it again!
3:03 p.m. - Thursday, Aug. 18, 2022