The Gorge Ampitheatre, DMB 2014

The Gorge Ampitheatre.  In one word...amazing.  It's vastness.  It's natural beauty.  It literally echos
It's located in a very small town called George in central Washington...that's right.  It's in George, Washington.  Just east of the Cascades, in canyon country, someone had the idea to build an epic music venue, on the edge of a cliff overlooking the vast Columbia River Gorge.  Someone was brilliant.

Years ago, in my wild youth, I spent 3 days camping and dancing at the Sasquatch Music Festival.  Relive that glorious blog festival here:  SASQUATCH 2010 POST

So that was 4 years ago.  A literal lifetime ago.

Since then, I've gotten married, moved to Japan, adopted a dog, had 2 children, and come full circle...moving to Eastern Washington.  Only 2 hours to The Gorge.
I've been on the search for a good show to revisit this incredible venue.  Honestly, it wouldn't even matter who was playing.  The venue is an experience in itself.
An opportunity came.  My best friend Alicia was coming to visit;  And I needed to get her a birthday gift; And Dave Matthews Band happened to be playing their 3 day weekend at the Gorge. Admittedly, I have sort of lost touch with my jam band side...During my college days, DMB was a regular on my playlists, but has since faded into lost ipod shuffles.  The good thing about this band...they never get old, they are incredibly talented and they are legends.  I can play a song from years ago and still remember every word.  I vowed to see them in concert before they retired...they were a bucket list band.  I bought us tickets.
Sidenote from a Mama...
 It was an amazing getaway from home.  No matter what any mother says, we need breaks too; and while I am not constantly seeking them out, when they present themselves, I take advantage of my temporary freedom to the fullest extent.

Not only was I spending this time with my best friend, who I hadn't seen in 3 years, but we were going to one of the most epic venues in the world to see one of the most talented bands of our lifetime.  Excited was an understatement.

Our drive from Spokane took us across flat countryside, gaping gorges and dry plateaus.  We blasted new music to my ears and giggled with excitement, catching up on lost time and feeling young and free.
When we got there, we parked and pulled out our 40s.  HAHA, seriously that's exactly what we did.  The only difference from the last 40 I had?  This one was a carefully selected local brew, not my usual Coors Light from my college days.   It was warm with a cool breeze, not a cloud in the sky.  Everyone around us had the same idea.  We made friends with our neighboring tailgaters and by the time everyone started shuffling towards the front gate, we had all become best friends...(our 40s were empty.  We all had that in common.)

We danced and pranced across the green grass inside the Gorge (see photo, we had just crested the top of the hill to find this view!) and found an amazing spot to watch from the lawn. 

 It was nice and flat, perfect for dancing, which is exactly what we did for literally 6 hours straight.
The show was incredible.  For all of my fellow DMB fanatics, this was the setlist:

1. Acoustic
1. All Along the Watchtower
   (Bob Dylan cover) (Dave solo)
2. Grace Is Gone
3. Slip Slidin' Away
   (Paul Simon cover)
4. Tripping Billies
5. Loving Wings
6. Rhyme & Reason
7. Crash Into Me
8. Typical Situation
9. Electric
9. The Best of What's Around
   

   (with The Lovely Ladies)
10. When the World Ends
11. Squirm
12. Lover Lay Down
13. Cornbread
    (with David Ryan Harris)
14. Jimi Thing
    (with David Ryan Harris)
15. Grey Street
16. Steady as We Go
    (First time played since 8/6/06)
17. Drunken Soldier
    (with The Lovely Ladies)
18. Can't Stop
    (with The Lovely Ladies)
19. You & Me
    (with The Lovely Ladies)
20. Sledgehammer
    (Peter Gabriel cover) (with The Lovely Ladies)
21. Encore:
21. Some Devil
    (Dave Matthews song) (Dave solo)
22. The Stone
23. Shake Me Like a Monkey
     

(Cornbread!  My favorite song by Dave.  A little obsessed with it.)
Anyway, it was such an awesome experience.  Memories for a lifetime!  If you've never been to The Gorge Ampitheatre, I suggest you make plans immediately.  You will not regret it.
These photos were taken with my iPhone, not my Nikon...hence the lack in quality.

What is it about an encore that can bring you to tears?!  As we were walking out, he was playing his last song of the encore and it became quite a surreal moment.  It was dark, and I turned around and looked back at the illuminated stage, the sax blaring, glowsticks everywhere, people were dancing and cheering, the entire gorge was alive.   It was like a beating heart, pumping, loud, full.  I was smiling from ear to ear, dancing from my hair to my toes, and smiling from deep within.  This place is something special. 

RVirgin trip to Leavenworth, WA!

30.  My new age.  Yes, I am 3 decades old.  and I LOVE IT!!
Totally embracing this new number and excited to see what the next 10 years will hold.
Of course, this was a big birthday, and I wasn't sure what my husband was planning.  If you know me, you know that I'm not too keen on big surprises.  When I watch a suspenseful movie, you can bet I've already seen the plot.  No surprises.  When I read a book, I usually scan through the end before I start reading it.  No surprises.  I've been known to explore our bank account history before Christmas.  No surprises.  Of course, the usual gifts and things are fun and exciting.  I surprise myself sometimes with how excited I become when I am caught off guard.
So to the point...
I WAS SO SURPRISED!!!!!!
Adam told me he had to take a buddy to pick up his car downtown.  A 30 minute trip, or less.  So after an hour went by, I wondered where he was!
Finally, I hear a strange rumble out in the driveway...
He rented us an RV for an extended weekend trip to anywhere I wanted!!!

This is our first time RVing, RVirgins...but it's a much more feasible venture than taking our baby and toddler on a backpacking trip (our first choice sans kids)...so, I did some research and the closest place, in the mountains, in fall...Leavenworth, GA.  This is a quaint little Bavarian village ...touristy, but charming, that sits in the heart of the Cascade mountain range of Washington.  It just so happened to be Oktoberfest that weekend, so I expected booked RV parks and sloshed crowds double fisting their beer garden mugs.  We went anyway, and were pleasantly surprised!!!

 First of all, the leaves were changing colors, and there was a recent cancellation at one of the local RV parks so we pulled in to find that it was located on a gorgeous river, winding its way through the mountains.

We literally backed the RV in and could see the flowing water through the back window. There was also a mountain range across the river.  My husband is a bit of an extreme athlete.  He climbs mountains, and he loves trail running.  So when we arrived at the RV park, he was oogling the mountain.  I urged him to go trail running and he was determined to make it to the top.  So the next morning, he was gone for a few hours and he called me from the top.  Luke and I ran down to the river to see if we could find him...but he was WAY too small and far away to be seen.  If you check out this picture, he was at the very highest peak.

He ended up bushwacking his way back down and his legs were so scratched and bruised!!  But what an exciting accomplishment!  The thrill of spontaneous adventures was definitely our trip's theme.  

 I am so in love with this photo of Luke.  It looks like he is watching the river flow and pondering life's deepest meaning.  In reality, I told him there might be a bear in the woods.  For the rest of the trip, he was searching for the friendly bear.  (mean Mommy)
Another cool experience!  A random tropical bird flew out of the woods and landed right on my arm!

 Just kidding.  But it was very random.  A woman staying at the RV park had a pet bird.  A beautiful, colorful and completely domesticated

MACAW

 It was around 7 am and we walked down to the misty river to do a little stretching.  (yoga is our morning routine usually).  There was a woman with this bird on her shoulder!  She saw us walking down and asked if Luke would like to hold the bird.  He held it for about a minute and then basically said in his sweet little voice...Get this thing off of me.
So I held it, and to make it even better, the sweet bird owner offered to take my camera and get some photos of us with her bird.  How awesome is that?!?!

I'm so glad that we decided to take our trip to Leavenworth.  Adam knows me so well...For months I have been saying how badly I want to go to the mountains, be in the woods, go hiking, go to the river...Being close to nature brings you closer to each other, allows you to listen to your heart and enjoy and cherish the little things.  It just makes us happy!!  No matter how much stress we have in our lives, when we can get outside, even for 30 minutes, it's so refreshing.

I forgot to mention that this BEAR wandered up to the RV!!

 We took a drive through Icicle Rd.

This was our route.  I researched a little bit and found an amazing hike...

http://www.wta.org/go-hiking/hikes/enchantment-lakes

Adam and I are going to come back and do this weekend loop, backpacking with our tent in the backcountry without the kids!  Maybe for our next anniversary.  It just looks too beautiful to pass up.  The drive was breathtaking, so I can't even imagine how amazing this hike would be!!

 We got back to the RV and had our own personal concert of Adam originals.  He's so dreamy!

And this picture pretty much sums up how amazing it all was.  We were so high on life and loving on each other.  We decided that we aren't exactly 'RV folk'  ...but the boys will get older and easier to take on camping trips.  This was great for us with them being so little.

Leavenworth is so beautiful!  We made more great memories...

Rural Washington

One of the many things that we missed about America was the wide open spaces. 
Yesterday we went on a country drive through fields of golden hay. 

Here's what a Mama does when we drive past a cow field for the first time in 3 years. 
PULL OVER!!  Luke needs to see a real cow, up close...

 What you can't hear is Luke and I Mooing as loud as we can!

 This is such a beautiful road.  When Adam puts his motorcycle back together, we are going joy riding here!!

 Pretty skies

Aaaaahhh..such a pleasure to see as far as the horizon and not see one house, road, telephone and electrical line or other man made contraption.

Ketchup

How do you like the new header?  Can you spot the hidden creature in the picture?  I like it...it was recently taken while on a canoe trip on the Little Spokane river.  Just before we put the boat in the water, I looked up and saw this beautiful plant being illuminated by the sun.  I didn't realize until we were back at home looking at the photos...there was a little creature that decided to make his photographic debut.  Pretty fun find!
 So...I'm back!

Let’s play CATCHUP!

(This reminds me of a funny joke…name that movie. 

"Three tomatoes are walking down the street- a Papa tomato, a Mama tomato, and a little Baby tomato. Baby tomato starts lagging behind. Papa tomato gets angry, goes over to the Baby tomato, and smooshes him... and says, catch up!")

Ok, what was I saying…Yes, we need to catch up.

It’s been awhile!  My last post was 11.13.2012…that is almost 2 years.

So much has happened since then.

I fell off the blog wagon because I started a family.  Also, my space was full on blogspot and I wasn’t sure if my content would be worthy of paying for the website.

Well,  I came to a conclusion recently…someone might possibly be interested in my musings, photography, family, military life, travel, art, dreams and future plans, pretty stuff I find on the interwebs,…among all the other things you might read here.

I look at all of the photos that I’ve taken since then and realize I now have a ton of content.  So I decided to start churning out the old blog again.  Brush away the dust and cobwebs.  Put on a clean pair of slacks.  Detangle these memories a little bit and get chronological.

Hopefully  someone can take something from it…These blogs will usually be written while the kids are asleep or I can get a spare moment of peace.

I will start posting about 3 times per week.

 If you’ve never read my blog before…I encourage you to go back and see the dreamy life I had before my even dreamier life now.  Since you don’t really know me yet, I should warn you…I’m quite happy.  So if you’re not happy, maybe you can relate to something here, and it brightens your day.  If you are happy, then we’ll get along fantastically.

I have 2 sons.

Latest introduction:

We recently moved from the beautiful island of Okinawa, Japan to Spokane, Washington.

We are a military family...for now.  We have big decisions ahead of us and we can't wait to see what will happen...We are only in Spokane until mid 2015.  After that...who knows!?!
It's been crazy coming from a very hot, humid, subtropical climate to a very dry and cold climate (6 month winters...We just experienced below 40deg temps for the first time in 3 years!)  But we are adjusting.  We love it here...surrounded by natural beauty and we still have a lot more exploring to do!

Read along.  Enjoy and share!!

Sarah Fillman

Lens Mission Blog