A three concert day

Saturday, August 2, 2025

We had the second worst air quality in the world yesterday. Canada is on fire and the smoke has been floating down. Poor Canada. The weather was wonderful – hot in the sun, perfect in the shade. We went to Vintage Band Festival for Keith to play with Sheldon band at 10 and Lake Wobegon at 3, then on to River City days in Red Wing for another concert with Sheldon. Jenny was playing all three as well, so we decided we would have a leisurely lunch indoors, out of the smoke.

When we got to the restaurant near the festival that we had chosen, it turned out there was only outdoor seating. What are the chances? I didn’t know restaurants ever had that, so I would have said 0%. We picked an isolated table in the shade, and it was great. Jenny stopped in the restroom to change out of her band shirt as we went to pick the table. We all sat down and she started, “Imagine you are 13 and you are going on a vacation.”

“Am I thirteen now, or am I thirteen when I was thirteen”

“Thirteen when you were thirteen. You are going with your family to a resort up north. You know, a bunch of little cabins, boom, boom, boom, boom, along the lake shore and a big place, the lodge in the middle?” We nodded our heads. “The cabins are a little nice but not really, but you are pretty excited just to be somewhere, not at home? And even if you’re 13, you still play with the little kids that you just met. And then in the evening you go up to the lodge, and there’s a restaurant with a long bar.” Our heads are just nodding and nodding. “And you are up there, and there might even be a little indoor pool – right there – through a door with a window, right from the bar. And the bar area is carpeted? A really thin carpet..”

“Is it colored, like blue or orange or both, and maybe floral?” I asked, seeing it in my head. I could see the bags of chips on a rack behind the bar, and the potential for a bottle of coke poured onto a lot of ice in a small glass was strong.

“Yes!! Are you there? Are you feeling it?”

I smile and nod because I totally am there.

“That’s exactly what the bathroom here smells like.”

Oh, did I laugh. And then I had to go to the bathroom to smell. I got it. It was great.

I really enjoyed all the bands I heard and catching up with the friends, but nothing beat that story with the surprise ending. Thanks, Jenny!