Run Teach Eat Sleep Repeat: Happy Valentines Day... Hayden's version

For Valentine's Day this year Hayden gave me a "golden ticket". Pick any concert you want to attend, and that will be your valentine's gift.

So... I checked what was coming to town in the next few months.

Nothing I was willing to cash in my "ticket" for, so I waited.

I knew a couple bands/groups that I wanted to see were slated to come to town in the fall, so I figured I would wait a bit, and see what the schedule looked like.

Middle of April rolls around and Hayden hands me his computer and says "Happy Valentines Day". On the screen was a receipt for tickets to CHEYENNE DAYS to see his favorite band, Zac Brown Band.

Apparently, I waited too long (although no expiration date was ever written or implied on my gift).

So, the end of July found us flying into Denver, and driving to Cheyenne for the concert.

Cheyenne Days has a culture all of it's own. I could people watch all day, and I've never so many pretend cowboys in my life. (Pretend cowboy = someone sporting boots that look they have never seen a pile of cow crap... EVER... or wearing the cowboy shirt that still has the creases in it from the initial packaging)

We had GA tickets, and sat in line to get in an hour before the gates opened (which was an hour before the OPENING band of 3 went on). We were at the front of our section with a great view!

The opening gal, Sonia Leigh, was amazing (I need to find some of her stuff and download it). Zac Brown, however, definitely was worth the trip, the drive, and the time spent in line! He was a great performer, sounded good live, and sang the song that always makes me cry: Highway 20 Ride.

Lesson learned from the trip... next time, we stay in Cheyenne. Even with sneaking out of the massive crowds before the encore, and getting out of the parking fiasco without a hitch, we didn't get back into Denver until 2am. That was only after taking turns driving, rolling down windows, stopping for a little break to revive ourselves.

I was able to get my long run in while in Denver. They have an amazing river front trail that runs for miles. It was a warm morning, but I started early enough... ran past many many homeless people sleeping along the river.

We stayed at the Teatro, just a block away from the theater district. We rented bikes and rode around town. On the way to Cheyenne we stopped and had lunch with an old college buddy I hadn't seen for 20+ years. The second night in Denver we had dinner at the Yard House with Hayden's cousin, Jenn, he hadn't seen in years, and we topped off the last evening by having dinner with an old co-worker at the Cheesecake Factory.