There's No Such Thing As Too Much Fun! Keith Urban

After 2 months of waiting, tickets in hand, the Keith Urban concert was finally here. Yahoo! So many friends were going and we were all excited for sure! Mike and I arrived at the arena and all the country radio stations were there. Mike always makes new friends when we go places! He is a people person. Even if the person is hidden under a crazy costume. Here he is with his friend the coyote from the radio station with the same name!We hurried into the arena. If you know me at all you know I like to be early, really early, for events like this. We were on time but not really early. We did have time to check things out around the arena though. This man was trying his hand at Keith Urban's song Kiss the Girl! Fun to watch all the people singing along with Keith!

I am not opposed to taking pictures next to a cardboard Keith Urban! Not embarrassed at all! Loved it!

The first band was Little Big Town. Good but boy did we have an awesome concert waiting for us in the wings!

Here is our first glimpse of Keith Urban. What a talented entertainer and what a gracious, humble man!

There was a huge video screen behind Keith and the band. We got to see everything in gigantic size. That was truly a treat!

One of the really neat things about the concert was that Keith got right down in the crowd. He walked from the front of the arena to the back where he performed so everyone felt like they had great seats. He also autographed tennis balls and blasted them into the crowd with a tennis racket!

Some of these pictures are blurry but you get the idea! Isn't he cute. Mike got nice and close and took some great pictures. Thanks Mike!

Nice smile!

He truly appreciated the fans and thanked us all a number of times for being there!

Lots of great special effects and lighting!

An enormous Keith Urban on the big screen!

I hated to see it end but end it did!

But not before the encore! He is a gifted, wild guitar player! I could feel the music inside of me! Loved it!I sang and danced and laughed all night. I could barely talk when it was over. I felt like I was 16 years old again. I think we should all let loose and enjoy the ride now and then even if we are over 50 years old. It is good for the soul! It is joyful! Music is just so fun! Just fun! Until next time Keith Urban!

Spokefest!

Spokane is a great place to live. If there is any kind of athletic activity in Spokane people come! Lots of people. Spokefest is still small but it doubled in size from last year. I wouldn't be surprised if got really big. Maybe not as big as Bloomsday but big! It is well organized and they give away a free shirt even if you don't finish!
I consider myself physically fit! I workout regularly! Today made me question that though! I knew I could ride a bike 21 miles. The hills concerned me with good reason. Several hills in the first few miles. By the third hill I was in need of my inhaler and didn't have it. Too much huffing and puffing! Maryanne and I decided to take a short cut and trim off about 2/3 of the ride. Good choice on our part! We will still be able to function tomorrow. Here we are unloading the bikes before we started.

Here they are! All the bikers before the ride!

I think this was the last time the four of us were together. The ride started and it was hard to keep track of everyone! Maryanne and I managed to stay together.

More bikers are gathering!

This was supposed to be a family friendly ride. There was a 1 mile course and a 21 mile course full of hills. As you can see we are feeling pretty friendly! Cindy is having a conversation on her cell phone!

Ready, set, go and we were off! Fun with all the bikes headed out at the same time but quickly got difficult. Thankfully, it was very easy to cut the course short. Maryanne and I did the same route as Bloomsday along with some other people. Since this wasn't a race there was no one saying you couldn't go off course. We ended up on the last three miles of the Spokefest course so we got to ride in with the fast people. They completed 21 miles in the time it took us to do 8 miles!

This finish line! There was no timer at the finish line (family friendly). Just a lot of people saying, "Congratulations!" and "Hope you had fun!" and we did! Deanna found us after she finished and said the rest of the course was pretty hard! She did great and so did Cindy. They did the whole thing, hills and all!

Food, bikes, bands, and booths at the end of the line!

Guess what I found! My favorite!
Some oven baked pizza for Maryanne!
Time to head back home for a cool shower and a nap! (and to watch the Rams lose to the Seahawks, darn)
So back to the fitness thing. I have a really, really bad knee and I should be cycling more! Just because I workout all the time doesn't mean I am in good enough shape to climb hills on a bicycle. Goal! Ride my bike more! Next year the whole 21 miles and I will ride every hill!

Another Day in Paradise

Mike and I went on a date today. We laughed about this being the perfect date. We ride different motorcycles and can't talk to each other! So we get along great! All in fun though because we get along great even when we do talk to each other! :-) We wanted to go on a ride that was new to us. We looked on the internet last night for motorcycle rides in Eastern, WA. We found one that went on the Flowery Trail right past my favorite ski resort 49 Degrees North! In the description of the Flowery Trail ride was a link to the ride we eventually decided to take! We went north to Newport, WA and then rode on the east side of the Pend Oreille River.

The original plan was to cross the river at Usk. Here is the bridge to Usk and we didn't cross it. We wanted to keep on riding. We were in no hurry to get back home!

We did stop for some picture taking! So beautiful!

We crossed the river and entered Ione. Is Ione a town? Maybe, but it is really small. We circled the area trying to find some place to eat. One of the locals directed us to this place! A grocery store with a deli. The deli shared space with the video rentals!

A few videos didn't stop us from enjoying our lunch!

We rode home on the west side of the river.

The water was like glass!

Until a few boats snaked through the water!

Gone for now and the water smooths out again!

I'm taking a break and watching Mike walk up the bridge to get the pictures of the glassy river!

We were off and rolling again! All along the way the scenery was delightful!

Another answered prayer for a safe trip on our motorcycles! A perfect day!