Labor Day Weekend 2012
Posted on September 3, 2012 by Ching under Travel.
The last couple of years we’ve spent Labor Day weekend in Texas. In 2010 we went to visit the Orbases. They had just moved to Dallas. I think we were their very first visitors. Last year we went to Lake Worth to visit Cousin Tracy and Jeff. It’s close enough to Dallas that we were able to swing by and have lunch with the Orbases on the way home. Unfortunately, we couldn’t do that this year.
I would blame the fact that we’re busy packing for the big move but, even before that happened, we bought tickets to see Journey at the Livestrong Sporting Park. We bought the tickets almost as soon as they went on sale, before we even found a house and made an offer. I think had the events occurred in reverse, we probably would have just skipped the concert altogether. So anyway, a trip to Texas was not in the cards for us this year either way.
I had started to get overwhelmed at the hectic days ahead of us. It was raining in the Kansas City area this weekend and it wouldn’t stop. I was so worried that I had second thoughts about going to the concert. Me and my brilliance (or short-sightedness) didn’t figure it would be raining on Labor Day weekend so I bought floor seats. I wanted to be as close to the stage/band as possible. Had I been smart and planned better, I would have gotten stadium seats which are at least covered by the awning.
Not to be daunted by the weather, Brian and I scoped out the parking situation after checking out Nebraska Furniture Mart. The arena is directly across from it. I had actually thought about just parking at the NFM parking lot, but there were “No Event Parking” signs everywhere. So we were like, “Where do we park?” We found some people directing traffic and parking and asked them. Now that we knew where to park, our next question was, “How much?” We wanted to make sure we got cash out of the ATM if we needed to because we never carry around any cash. We asked two people, one of them looked like a security guard, and were told both times that parking would be free. That’s not usually the case, so I thought that’s nice. It’s a little farther away than the NFM parking lot, but we’re not ones to break rules so we were okay with having to walk a little ways.
We proceeded to drive to Leawood (all of the hotels in the area were sold out due to Midwest Nationals which was also going on during the same weekend) to check in at our hotel and take a nap. I was hopeful that the rain would be over by the time we woke up. No such luck. It was raining harder than ever. Brian and I agreed that we would just get there late. If we’re going to get rained on, we’d rather be rained on for half the time than the full four to five hours. As a precaution, we went to Dick’s Sporting Goods and bought ourselves some rain gear ($5 ponchos – FTW). We were not about to let the weather, gloomy as it was, dampen our spirits.
We took our time having dinner at La Bodega before heading to the arena. It was around 8 PM or so. I told Brian I wanted to be late, but I didn’t want to be that late. While I didn’t care about Loverboy (I actually have no idea who they are), I very much wanted to see Pat Benatar. I listened to her music growing up. We could hear her music playing (we figured that she’d already started performing) as we drove by the arena to go over to the parking lot. It was still raining fiercely, mind you. There was no waiting out the rain as it continued to rain on and off all night. We finally got to the designated parking area and were mortified to see $20 and $10 signs. We had absolutely no cash on us.
We had several options: find an ATM and come back and pay for parking, park at the NFM parking lot and face the consequences, or skip the concert altogether (something that I refused to consider). I was a little upset at this point though, because I was missing Pat Benatar. I told Brian to just park at NFM. They close at 9 PM. No one in their right mind would be shopping for furniture this late in the evening, in this weather. When we got there, the “No Event Parking” signs were still up. There were a couple of guys at the end of one of the aisles. Brian, never one to break the rules, asked them for permission to park in the lot. They said it was fine. We were both so relieved. It was almost 9 PM at this point. It actually worked out better because this lot was closer to the East stadium entrance and we didn’t have to pay.
Anyway, we made it to our seats just in time to hear Pat Benatar perform “We Belong” one of my most favorite songs of hers.
We got there just in time because she performed a few more songs before her set was over. And, you know, they always save the best songs for last. So all my favorites like “Hit Me With Your Best Shot,” “Love is a Battlefield,” and “Heartbreaker” were played at the end. Alright, it’s time for me to get ready for Zumba so I’ll save the rest of this story for later. Come back!
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First Concert in the Rain : A Well-Documented Life on September 3, 2012
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