Phish, Blues Traveler, and a family dinner

Last weekend started off slow with some pizza and salad, then TV on Friday night. Jill went to bed, I was up late unpacking and moving boxes around to find stuff. Saturday I wasn’t up for too long before Stuart picked me up in the early afternoon and we headed over to Clare and Don’s where everyone was watching the US in the World Cup. We picked up Susan as it went into overtime, and headed up 95. She checked into her hotel as she’d be staying for both nights, then parked near Merriweather Post.

She headed in and we went over to the mall to get dinner (cheesesteaks sounded good), then headed back over. Even with all the people, we ran into her and some friends first. We chatted, then went off to get some Starr Hill beer before the show. Phish was better than last year at the same venue, the second set could have been transported from 1996 and we got possibly their weirdest cover ever, Neutral Milk Hotel’s “In The Aeroplane Over The Sea”:

Sunday it was nice to sleep in, then came more unpacking. We headed over to the Loudoun Summer Music Fest in the late afternoon. We had to wait in the car for a brief thunderstorm, then went in. It was more tolerable than the heat the day before. Our lifetime passes get us occasional perks like the VIP tent, where we chowed down on pasta, crab cakes and chips and guac, then watched Carbon Leaf play, mostly their regular set, but included a nice cover of Zep’s “Bron-Y-Aur Stomp”.

Blues Traveler was up next, and we went back to the chairs we’d brought for that. They played a really nice set, some of the new stuff, some classics (including the last song from Four I hadn’t heard live) and odd covers (“What I Got” and “I Want You To Want Me” with a tease of “Hell Hole”). The lady who runs the fest said she might be able to get us into the meet and greet, so we stuck around after the show and sure enough, she made it happen.

us and BT

Monday Jill was working so I worked late too, thawed some frozen stuff for dinner. But on Tuesday my family came out to our house (Sharon’s in town for a wedding, but not free on the weekend), and we gave them the tour, then took them over to Jackson’s for dinner (had to celebrate two birthdays and Father’s Day). Jill had the steak frites again, and I had the grouper fingers and chips, both good. We split the carrot cake and a shortbread with fruit for dessert, both pretty tasty. Then it was back to our house for a gift exchange, then everyone left as Jill had to get to bed for another long shift yesterday.