A Space Cowboy, a Joker, and Jungle Love

Jen and I had a pretty fun weekend. We went with some friends to see Joe Cocker and the Steve Miller Band in concert at a venue near us called The Gorge. It's called The Gorge because the venue is set into a hill that overlooks the Columbia River Gorge near George. (Yes, there is a town called "George, Washington.")

That means we got to hear songs like, "You can Leave your Hat On," "With a Little Help from my Friends," "The Joker," "Fly Like an Eagle," "Jungle Love," and many others that I didn't realize were Joe Cocker or Steve Miller.

It's funny that this venue is only about 45 minutes away and we have never gone before. It usually gets some pretty big acts. So we probably missed some great opportunities.

The concert was really relaxed and tame as far as concerts go. We took a whole picnic worth of stuff and sat on the hillside listening to the music. It's so dry there that we didn't have any problems with insects. And we were far enough away so that we could talk to each other normally but still hear the music really well.

The physical therapist that Jen assists is really sad that Jen is leaving. So every chance he gets, he brings it up. About halfway through the concert he said, "I bet you can't do this in Illinois." Jen replied, "You're right, the mosquitoes would eat us alive." Not to mention all of the flies and other bugs that would have bundled up our picnic blanket and carried off our food. I think the closest we come to this venue in the Midwest is Alpine Valley in Wisconsin. I've never seen a concert there, but I can't imagine that the view holds a candle to this one.

While there aren't any bugs at the Gorge, there are rattlesnakes. While we were there, I heard a story about a Faith Hill/Tim McGraw daytime concert in August, where you could hear the rattlesnakes (as in hundreds) under the stage. Out there, it's the only place where they can get some shade from the 100 degree heat.

The next day, Jen and I went to Tacoma to visit some friends of ours. They recently had a little girl, Emily, and this was the first chance we've had to meet her and our last opportunity to see her for awhile. In addition to Jen and I moving, they are also moving to Mississippi. And so, it probably would have been Christmas before we got a chance to meet Emily. So we went to Famous Daves (didn't know that it was such a big chain), which brought back some memories of Bloomington and had a long lunch and talked for a couple of hours.

Even the drive to Tacoma was fun. This time of year, there's no beating the scenery of the drive from here to Seattle. It's lovely in the winter, too, but you're a little too scared for your life to pay much attention to the mountains. You're too busy watching for avalanches and rock slides and cars sliding on the snow. Also, it's usually a little clearer this time of year so you can see further. Once you get down around Tacoma, you have a really good view of Mt. Ranier. Overall, not too shabby for one of my last weekends in Washington.