Celebrate We Will

I am back from one AMAZING weekend. 

I am on such a high right now from how incredible the concert was that I'm going through a little bit of a withdraw.  

Just reliving it is going to be as much for me as it is for you…..

Friday Morning, Audi arrived at my house by 9am and we were on the road shortly after.  The drive down was not too bad and we arrived in Atlantic City by noon. 

As soon as we checked into our hotel, we realized that something wasn't right.  You see, when we booked our room, almost EVERY single casino/hotel on the boardwalk was booked and/or extremely overpriced. (think $1000 for 2 nights!!) We were able to find a close by Ramada that promised free shuttle to and from the concert 24/7.  Well, as soon as we got there, we found out that this particular hotel was in a not so great part of town and that the shuttle would not be going to and from.  It was a one time ride per person and they would not be picking people up after the show.  So we were going to have to walk 3 miles on the highway to a shady party of town at 2am with tons of crazy people out and about.  Being two responsible girls that we are, we had to come up with a plan B ASAP!

We decided to head inland to the boardwalk to discuss our options over some drinks and lunch….

 After a few hours of roaming aimlessly for another place to stay, I remembered that Toly and I stayed at Balley's last year and that he had a pretty high rewards status with them.  Luckily, I had all of his rewards cards so we decided to press our luck to see if they had rooms.  Fortunately, they had rooms open and they even came out less expensive than the crappy little Ramada. Even more, we were even able to get ALL of our money back from the Ramada.  Phew, crisis averted!

We hightailed it back to the Ramada to get our things and checked in safe and sound in the comforts of Balley's Casino.

Feeling much more relaxed and safe, we were finally ready to get our Dave on…..

The festival was held at Bader Field which was completely transformed to accommodate 100's of 1000's of people.

I've been to many Dave concerts, but this was my first "festival" experience.  I wasn't sure what to expect but Audi reassured me that it would be something I would never forget.

We walked around, got completely dirty, and found a nice spot in the middle of the field to wait for Dave to come on.

Finally, it was show time!

The first night was awesome but totally mellow.  I almost died when he started playing "Crash" though. Out of all of the concerts I've been to, he has NEVER played my favorite song.  I can't even describe how incredible it was to hear it live.

Saturday, we woke up and hit the beach.

After a few hours on the hot sand, refreshment was needed…..

 And a little later, more refrehsment….

We finished up our afternoon with some shopping and then got ready to head over to the field for night 2!

We wanted to get there early because OAR was playing right before Dave.

Even though I didn't document all of my eats this weekend, I had to remember this one because it won for the best thing I ate all weekend….

Vegan Veggie Curry Pita 

Oh, and I can't forget these…..I could not get enough for this drink!

Vodka with Fresh Squeezed Lemonade 

So last night, Dave was phenomenal.  Some of the songs he busted out….Big Fish, #41, Stay, Everyday, Proudest Monkey, Crush….and with the MOST AMAZING encore to Two Step.

I am speechless.  We had to miss the last night because both Audi and I had to be back today for previous commitments, and I admit, I'm feeling quite sad about it.  Based on last night's performance, I only imagine he will close out this thing with a bang.  

"Celebrate we will, 'cause life is short but sweet for certain!"