And in the end, it's not the years in your life that count, it's the life in your years. ~Abraham Lincoln

SLC & Provo, UT :: Denver, CO

Every person should have at least one friend who is game for anything and everything. I fortunately have Stephen. He flew up from Atlanta to Provo for a couple days to hang out with me, go to an Iron and Wine concert in SLC, and then roadtrip to Denver to see our absolute favorite band, Dispatch.

Sadly, I had to work during the days Stephen was here so, as any good host should, I sent him a paragraph long text naming every cool and accessible activity or place to eat in a 10 mile radius in Provo. Luckily, Provo is pretty compact so getting to places via walking isn’t a matter of life or death. That darling Stevo actually did almost every item on the list I sent him which included hiking the Y, hiking up Rock Canyon, eating at J Dawgs, etc. 

At nights, however, I was able to show Stephen all that Salt Lake and Provo had to offer a young lad. We did the customary tour of Temple Square (where we passed Elder L. Tom Perry in the crosswalk and he mumbled something to us which neither of us understood as I smiled a big fatty grin).  We then went and ate at One World Café which was super delish and has such a cool concept about feeding people who are having hard times. For dessert we headed to The Gateway Mall where Stephen got Bear Country cookies and half a cup of coffee (he got the last of the pot) and killed some time while we waited for the Redwood Drive-in Theatre time. As is tradition whenever I drive, we got a little lost and ended up in a Latin neighborhood. Luckily, blessed Dougie was able to direct us to the right location. Back in Provo, I took Stephen to experience his first ever pie-shake from Sammy’s. *Many thanks to Devin, Rob, Taylor, and Sterling for housing Stephen, they were honestly so nice and welcoming, especially me asking last minute.* 

Finally, Friday night, the night we would see Sam Beam, arrived and we were stoked. There was a mishap. A major mishap, and it was 100% my fault. I had hidden the Iron and Wine tickets in too good of a hiding place. After turning the house upside down, inside out, we couldn’t find the tickets anywhere. I wasn’t excessively worried because there was the chance we could still call the venue and ask them if we could get our tickets will-call. False. Because SLC clubs and venues suck we had to re-buy our tickets, which I did because time was a-wasting and we hadn’t even left for Salt Lake yet. 

We headed up to Salt Lake and found In the Venue to go purchase our tickets. The original game plan was to buy our tickets early, go eat at Moochie’s, and then come back for the concert. However, as I've mentioned before, SLC sucks and once we bought our tickets we were locked inside the venue.

Finally the opening band came on stage. They’re called The Head and the Heart, and they are bomb! They’re a band from Seattle and they were one of the better opening acts I’ve seen in a while. The lead singer had a sick Sam Beam beard, the lead guitar/vocals guy was short and presh, and then there was the only girl in the band. Through the first 2-3 songs she would turn her back to the audience and go hang out with the tight drummer (he used a maraca as one of his drum sticks. Obsessed.), and when she had to come to the front to sing she had this awful, pained look on her face, as if she was trying to find a note, and it wasn’t the pained “I’m singing so intensely and emotionally right now” kind of face, but a legitimately concerned look. She kept counting beats and she made me really nervous for her and her band and them not-sucking, and then after each song she clapped as if she was relieved they made it through. After those first few songs though, she chilled out and started performing like a normal Indie-girl should. 

Iron and Wine was of course amazing and they played a lot of stuff from their new album which was sweet. My favorite part about Iron and Wine was their roadies. They refuse to wear a black t-shirt and Dickie's shorts, but were wearing super trendy and hip outfits. White button-ups, skinny jeans, cardigan, and all. They were super cute. Sam was incredible, as was expected, and there were a few times in the night when my vision blurred with the melodies he and his crew were throwing down. 

The next morning we had to run a few errands before we could leave on our roadtrip to Denver for Dispatch. After we picked up our Bundabergs, car snacks, and some Starbucks treats, Stephen put on some 80’s jams and we took off to Colorado! It was a pretty nice drive until we hit Colorado. Then it turned into an unbelievable scenic journey. Colorado is beautiful. Absolutely one of the best scenic drives I’ve ever done. The rocks are bright Georgia clay red, but the trees on some of the mountains aren’t close together so you can see this bright red coming through the bright green trees and it was so trippy! Everything was just beautiful and I almost ditched Stephen and Gizmo a couple times to jump into the Colorado River. Next time I visit, rafting will most definitely be involved. Hands down. 

We met up with some of Stephen’s camp buddies at his buddy's apartment complex, which was maybe specially geared towards those of an elderly nature. We went out to dinner, and then headed off to Red Rocks (the concert venue). Oh. Hot. Slam. Any concert venue that you literally have to hike up to immediately gets 5 gold stars from me. And then add putting the concert stage surrounded by 3 sides of enormous huge, red rocks. Done deal,  I’m sold. Words cannot describe how incredible Red Rocks was. I could go on for hours about the actual concert. But it’s Dispatch, the ultimate band, so I will leave it at that. They were absolutely bomb. Everything you could ever hope for or dream of a Dispatch concert being. They played all of the favorites, new stuff, some jamming, and then they left the stage and hopped up on top of the roofs of some buildings right next to our seats, so I could literally hold a conversation (minus all the other fans and noise) with Chad. NBD. They did 2 encores and the weather was perfect, the sky was incredible, the rocks looked so ballin’. Absolutely perfect. And I got to share this experience with one of my all-time favorite people, Stevo. I couldn’t imagine going to see Dispatch with anyone else.

The drive back to Provo from Denver was just Giz and I and it was the perfect roadtrip; the reason I bought Giz. We had a blast. I rolled down all the windows, sunroof all the way back, tucked my shirt into my bra and hiked up my shorts (to tan and boy did I get a sweet tan), and blasted Bob Dylan all the way out of Colorado. It was so peaceful and so joyful just to be with Giz and drive through majestic scenery. I loved every minute of it.

2 concerts :: 2 cities :: 2 days. Livin’ the life. 

Peace and Blessings