My ears are ringing

The One Direction concert was at Soldier Field on Friday night. Tim, my sister, and I headed to Chicago to explore the area around Soldier Field before heading to the event; since it was Labor Day weekend there was a lot to explore. My sister is the biggest fan out of any teenage girl I have met, or at least I thought so before the concert started.

After the expedition of trying to find our reserved parking place in the Chicago traffic, we walked and explored the downtown area. Hanna wanted to be sure that she didn't miss anything, so it was her plan to arrive to the concert 6 or more hours early. Thus, we didn't spend as much time exploring as I would have liked. We walked around Soldier Field, most likely more than once, before figuring out which line we needed to stand in. Since we had seats on the first deck, we had to go in at one of the tunnels. We said goodbye to Tim and went to stand in line. He decided to go explore a little on his own, find some food, and come back when the show was over.

Hanna and I headed down in the tunnel only to be met by a long line and it was only about 3 pm in the afternoon. As we were standing in the crowd I noticed all of the parents that had come along as chaperons. There I was standing in a crowd of a few hundred girls aging from 16 to 10 and their parents. .....To make the experience more ...exciting, as the floor of the tunnel sloped down it provided a small area where the inside of the stadium could be seen. Now keep it mind that it wasn't just an open window. There was a screen and different parts of the wall that prevented you from seeing people clearly. You could tell it was a person, but you couldn't see that person's face or really tell much about them. So when a group of people came to stand in front of the screen from inside the stadium, the entire group of teenage girls erupted into screaming because they all thought it was One Direction. This lasted until the gates were finally opened. One little girl, maybe 7, was crying because everyone one else was screaming, which supposedly meant that they saw one of the One Direction members and she didn't get to see.

Inside the stadium was a little better in terms of the screaming until it got closer to the concert starting. We were sitting on the first deck at the right side of the stadium. This meant that you could somewhat see people moving around backstage. Thus, anytime of the the girls in my section thought they saw one of the One Direction members moving around back stage they started screaming, which meant that the entire section started screaming. At one point my sister was like "OMG Sara I saw Harry. He waved at me." I responded for the sake of my ears, "Do not tell anyone."

A few hours later the concert started. 5 Seconds of Summer played first for about an hour. They were a pretty good opener. Then like all concerts there was an hour wait for the main band. In between the stadium was playing Top 40 songs, so the whole stadium was celebrating in song for a good hour. Much easier to listen to than screaming. However, once One Direction came out the screaming didn't stop for about 4 hours.

As someone that is not a super fan, a word I would use to describe most of the girls there, One Direction gave a great concert. They played 2 albums of songs with so many firework performances throughout the show that you were really never sure when the show was going to end. Come to find out during the show, the stadium was sold out that night and every night for the weekend. The Chicago Bears should be jealous. Just think, 61,500 thirteen year old's all together busting everyone's ear drums for 3 days straight. 

                               

After the concert we were greeted by hundreds of fathers sitting outside of the stadium. Dads of course would not want to sit through something like that, so they did what Dads do and sat outside and waited for it to be over. Tim sat with them. After asking him how waiting went, he mentioned that he could hear the screaming about 5 blocks away when he had gone to get food. That fact did not shock me. He also mentioned that every time the fireworks went off him as well as the Dad's were thinking to themselves, "Great, it's almost over." However, they were bummed to find that those fireworks were followed by another hour or more of music.

Overall, I would say that the concert was a success.

Waiting for closure

Before finding out that my Grandfather had died, My sister, Tim, and I were planning on leaving for Indiana the morning of that Wednesday. We had the intention of going to the One Direction concert in Chicago that weekend while we happened to be in the area. Since the funeral plans were still undecided, we waited for what to do next. My grandfather died on the Wednesday before Labor Day weekend. Due to the three day weekend it was decided that the funeral would be on the Tuesday following Labor Day. Therefore, my mother thought it would be a good idea if my sister, Tim, and I went to the concert and also brought my youngest sister in order to get everyone's mind off of what had happened.

Later that Wednesday afternoon we all were finally packed and ready to head out. Since my grandparents live only 2 hours from Chicago, we planned on staying at their house. However, the drive is about 14 hours so the plan for the first night was to get to Omaha and stay at my aunts house. We were on our way and had just crossed the Colorado/Nebraska boarder and it started pouring. Literally pouring, and it continued to pour for the rest of the trip across Nebraska. We stayed at my Aunt's house that night and then headed the rest of the way across Iowa the following day. Of course, it rained the whole way across Iowa as well.

One weird thing about death . . .

There was one weird thing about my grandfather dying that I realized about death, and that is who we choose to be our bearer of bad news. I was sleeping when my brother woke my up to tell me that my grandfather had died. I then asked him if my middle sister knew, and he said my mother should tell her. Then, I asked about my youngest sister knew. I was going to tell her, when my middle sister said she would tell my youngest sister.

We all preferred to experience the initial shock of knowing that my grandfather had died with a specific sibling. I suppose it has something to do with how the news is communicated. I tend to be more straight forward and blunt, so when I receive bad news I don't want it to be sugar coated. My brother tends to be more blunt with me than the rest of my family members. I suppose the rest of my siblings have similar reasons that fit their own communication preferences.

With that, our family waited to figure out what was next.

Our Last Goodbye

To end my summer trip, one of my younger sisters asked me to take her to a One Direction concert. We planed on attending one in Chicago because it is not only close to where my grandparents live but it is also on the way to Indiana. Therefore, I figured I would be able to use my sister as woman-power and have her help me move. Our last night in Colorado my family went to dinner with my Grandma and Grandpa (Step-grandpa technically) in order to say our goodbyes. My Grandpa hadn't been doing well for some time before that. He found out a few years before that he had cancer in his bones, and by this time it had spread throughout his whole body for the most part. Plus, he was in his late 80's if not his early 90's; so he had definitely seen some stuff in his long lifetime.

That night at dinner he seemed to be feeling better than I had seen him in a long time. He was joking and laughing quite a bit, calling my Grandma cute, the whole sha-bang. I always took it upon myself to help my grandparents walk (for balance issues). We went to leave the restaurant, walked out with them, and went to say our goodbyes. Tim and I said that we would be seeing them both when I came home and when Tim came up for Thanksgiving. The night ended and we were supposed to be off for Chicago and the concert the next morning.

The next morning, my brother was sitting upstairs and woke me up. He told me that my Grandfather had died in his sleep that night. My Grandma had called my mom and dad, and they were down there to be with her while the Sheriff and the Coroner did their jobs and help her with the initial shock.

Finally, Cowtown USA

After spending some time with Tim up in Wyoming, it was time to head home for a bit. I needed to get my car fixed and decided I could spend some time helping my Dad with his business and my Mother with errands. I remember when I was younger and there were times that I absolutely did not want to help my parents, I suppose mainly out of defiance. Now that I am older and only am only able to go home for a few weeks out of the year, I find myself offering my assistance to my parents whenever I notice something that needs to be done.

Sometimes it's kind of weird. I sitting there thinking "Why did I ever complain about doing this, it takes 5 minutes." However, I'm pretty sure this wisdom came from doing things for myself for the last 4 years. When you are younger, it is easy to complain about doing chores or things that you know if they aren't done, there are other people that will do them for you (in some cases). However, in the case of my family, if you didn't get your stuff done you were not only reminded by my parents to do what you were told or you missed out on something that you wanted to do. Looking back, I regret complaining, however I am glad that I have been on my own to learn to not only do things for my self, but also have a more motivated outlook on simple tasks and chores.

A little exploration never hurt anyone

For Tim and I's last trip while I was in Bairoil, we decided to do a little site seeing. After seeing Independence Rock, I was itching to do a little more site seeing. The next place on the list was Sinks Canyon. The canyon has a river of water that disappears into the mountain.

At the beginning of the year, when the snow is melting, the water fills up the cavern completely. Only at the end of the summer and in the winter is the water low enough to see the details of the cave opening. The water level is still to high and fast even during the later months of the year, that the caverns are still too dangerous to explore. 

 

No one knows where all that water goes. All they know is where it goes into the mountain, and in later years figured out where the water surfaces. They placed markers in the water, and found that at least part of it resurfaces only a few hundred feet down the road. However, it takes 4 hours for the water to go into the cave and then surface; the path it takes remains to be a mystery.

At the resurfacing spot, we found the largest Rainbow Trout I have ever seen. The water literally leaks out of the sides of the mountain as well as springs up from the rock. Fresh, clear, and a ton of fish.

The fish of course eat well thanks to all the visitors. 

These are the kinds of things I love to explore the most.

1 Year Down

On my last weekend in Bairoil before heading back to Colorado and on to other adventures, Tim and I celebrated our 1 year anniversary. For our date, we got some sparkling cider ( I know ....kid like, but it tastes so good) and went for a cruise. Tim had said earlier in the summer that he found this heart shaped pond that he would save to take me to for our anniversary date, and so that is where we went.

Sadly the pond has a lower water level than it had when Tim saw it causing it to no longer look too much like a heart. However, the though still counted and the drive was great. Once we got back from the drive we made one of those frozen Chinese meals and attempted a movie marathon. A simple yet great date. It was a good and relaxing way to end the Wyoming part of my summer, and great that I was able to spend our anniversary with my guy rather then celebrating 1200 miles apart.