How has Memorial Day come and gone already?  I got my hair cut the other day and two people at the salon asked me what I did over the holiday.  I couldn’t remember!  Clearly it was enthralling.  But I’ve been thinking in the past day or two about some of the more memorable holiday weekends I’ve had over the years…

In 2009, I had just gotten into Flight of the Conchords and was absolutely nuts about the band and their tv show.  (How has this been five years ago already?!)  I joined a message board to geek out about it with fellow fans, and met two ladies from the boards who also lived in the DC area after the Conchords’ concert at DAR Constitution Hall that April.  Later, on the boards, these two ladies, Sara and Sheila, were discussing travelling to Vegas and LA to see them over Memorial Day weekend.  I had no plans and thought this sounded fantastic, so I asked if I could join.  I had never been to Vegas or LA either (or any parts of Nevada or California at all), so checking two more places off my list was a bonus.

I had arranged to leave work early that Friday so I could catch my flight, and my coworkers assumed I was just going to Richmond to hang out with family for the weekend.  Needless to say, they were quite surprised when I told them my plans.

I got to Vegas after dark that night and took a really expensive cab ride from the airport to Circus Circus to catch up with Sheila, and we walked around The Strip for hours, getting drinks at Trader Vic’s and eventually winding up at the Stratosphere around 2 a.m. before wandering back to Circus Circus, not too far away (and farther off The Strip than I’d realized).

The next day, we met Sara at her hotel, the Venetian, which was niiiiice.  Oh so nice.  The concert that night was a lot of fun, and we met yet another fellow board member, but even better was being “those groupies” hanging out outside the hotel in the hopes that the band will come meet them.  I got to meet Jemaine, and my legs were like jelly because I had a crush on him…  Unfortunately, we left before Bret made an appearance.

The next day, I flew separately from Sara and Sheila and got the rental car at LAX.  I had a couple hours to kill before they would get there, so I drove around to get a feel for LA.  Somehow my GPS failed me and I ended up in the cute community of El Segundo, where I got lunch at a coffee shop.  I picked the girls up at the airport and we went to our hotel for a little bit before meeting other “Flighties” at the vegetarian restaurant Bulan Thai prior to the show, which was at the awesome Greek Theatre.  This show in particular was cool because during one song, the guys brought out the men who did the Spanish-language dubbing for their voices.  Bret greeted the crowd again that night, but only because Sheila had brought him a red toy piano to replace one he’d broken earlier on the tour.  I flew back to Northern Virginia the next day, sad that my whirlwind weekend as a “groupie” was over.

The next memorable Memorial Day was in 2012.  I was just leaving work, getting into my car as one of my best friends called me. “What are you doing tomorrow?” she asked.  I had no plans.  “Let’s go see Carbon Leaf at Massanutten.  They need volunteers to work their merch table.”

Now, Amanda and I have a history with Carbon Leaf.  We went to the same college, albeit at different times (their 10-year graduation anniversary was our freshman year) and we first met them when they played on campus during our first-ever Homecoming weekend. Eleven years on (!), the guys know me by sight and her by name (although unfortunately, it has been a couple of years since I’ve seen them).  We’ve seen them numerous times in different venues in three states and DC, sometimes separately but usually together.  We once saved Barry, the lead singer, from falling down some stairs at Richmond’s lovely National.*

Our boys were playing a festival at Massanutten, a resort about 2.5 hours’ drive from the DC area.  We wandered around a bit before sitting through probably a couple hours of other bands (country…ew), finally taking our place at the merch table as Carbon Leaf took to the stage.  There was a pretty steady stream of people come by during the show, and then afterwards, it was much, much busier. Even though it was pretty toasty and humid that day, and we had a long drive home, we had a great time.  Making such a spontaneous plan is rare for me, which I think made it all the more memorable.

These stories make me think it’s time for some more spontaneous trips so I can have more stories…I guess we’ll just have to see what happens.

*This story is only slightly exaggerated.

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