October 8, 2013

Anthem Tour

I missed my flight. I rode roller coasters. I saw the Grand Canyon and got yelled at in French. I stood front row center for a seated show and got a pair of Zac Hanson's drumsticks...

and that was just the first three days.

Tour season. For a traveling fan, it's time to see and do anything. You go into it knowing there will be a mix of amazing memories and the kind of huge WTF moments that can only come out of sleeping on a sidewalk in a foreign country. You welcome the good and the bad and the air of craziness that accompanies it all. Consider this post a prequel to show-specific reviews that I'll post later when I'm 1) better rested, and 2) less sick. Traveling fan 101: you will be sick when you come home. Always. If you come home well-rested and healthy, you didn't hit the road hard enough.

My trusty car did the entire east coast run last tour, all the way up to Maine and straight back down through Florida. The poor thing just wasn't up to that level of dedication this year, so I did the most responsible thing a girl in my situation could do--I flew to L.A. where I met up with my friend Rachel (who owns the same car but newer) and did the entire west coast in her car instead. It made for a crazy, beautiful tour symmetry.

On day one, we hit Knott's Berry Farm. Day 2 was the Grand Canyon, and then came the Hanson shows:

Sept. 17th Albuquerque, NM
Sept. 18th Denver, CO
Sept. 20th Salt Lake City, UT
Sept. 21st Las Vegas, NV
Sept. 22nd Tucson, AZ
Sept. 24th San Diego, CA
Sept. 25th Anaheim, CA
Sept. 26th Los Angeles, CA
Sept. 28th Portland, OR
Sept. 30th Seattle, WA
Oct. 2nd, Vancouver, BC, Canada

There was little sleep and lots of driving, eleven shows, eight barefoot walks, dozens of friends both old and new, and 21 days lived at warped speed out of a car. I couldn't possibly capture it all in a blog post or a photo review, but I'll do my best to share what I remember.

I'll leave you with one of my favorite travel quotes as a permanent disclaimer:

"Like all great travelers, I have seen more than I remember, and remember more than I have seen."- Benjamin Disraeli

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