What could be more American?

What could be more American than Baseball and Country music?!

We caught wind of a Trace Adkins concert being held at Chase Field after a Saturday night AZ Diamondbacks game... how could we resist that kind of fun!?

We gathered up Megan (James was at his bachelor party in VEGAS!!) and headed to the Sliders restaurant outside the ball park for food and drinks at a halfway reasonable price before heading into the game.

Our tickets for the game itself were the definition of "nose bleed," and would have made a great set piece for "Vertigo." A sellout crowd showed up to watch the Tigers beat up the Backs.

After the game we made our way down from the 300 level to the first base line where they were setting up the stage, and found some pretty decent little seats. It was a cool, very low key set up, no stage lights etc. I'd guess about 15,000 people stayed for the show... and what a show it was.

They didn't really need to use the jumbo tron, because Trace Adkins is HUGE. It made sense he opened with "Swing" ("Swing batta' batta' swing, batta' batta' swing!) because we were after all in a baseball stadium. Then he went on to really pack a lot of songs into what was probably an hour long show. Some highlights include "Ladies love country boys," "I got my game on," "You're gonna miss this" and "Songs about me."

My favorite song of the night was "American Man." Everyone that had one "raised a glass to the man who never asked any praise for a job well done." "Picture of his wife and kids as a bookmark to keep his place inside the Good Book, the words he believes and lives by."

He showed a comic side after "Hot Mama," when he said his Grandmother was embarrassed by the lyrics when she first heard that song... then he said "You don't want to know what she said about this next one..." and launched into "Honky-Tonk Badonkadonk" to close the night. That, of course, had everyone on their feet and dancing.

It was a really great show, and the baseball stadium made for a surprisingly good venue. Really hope Trace puts Phoenix on his tour again next year!

Riry Hras a Brerfdray!

Bailey's best friend is a Beagle named Lily, whose parents happen to be our good friends James and Megan who we met in puppy class last summer. This May, Lily turned one, and her loving parents threw her a birthday party! The puppies had a great time eating the "Pup-Cakes" from The Bone Appetit (http://www.azboneappetit.com/) and us parents had a good time trying to get the party hats on them and get them posed for a picture... NOT AS EASY AS YOU THINK!!!

HAPPY FIRST BIRTHDAY LILY!!!

McGimpsey Get Busy

The first weekend of May the Casa De Taylors hosted good buddy of Psi U fame... Shtooooops!

Dave came in on a Thursday night, and we had a good time just catching up and kicking back over some BBQ at the house. We cashed it in early Thursday because we had a tee time the next day at 7:50 am, to which Dave said, "shtoooops that's early."

Early or not, it was well worth it. We hit the links armed with a little rum, a little water, and a choice cigar. Dave beat me in fairways, but I was happy to complete the entire round having only used one ball! The Lakes at Ahwatukee never saw such amazing talent.

After touring the NBC affiliate station with Dave's old boss, and then some time by the pool, we headed out to watch the Mets stomp all over the D'Backs. We finally got tired of staring at only each other all day, so we headed out to meet the ladies for some sushi and dancing... Dave was a hit.

Out with us were friends James, Megan, Paco, Dria, Sarah (don't judge me!), Alex, Desiree, and Sarah's roomie Kate. James, Dave and I did our best Lee Hotties to try to fit in, but it didn't work out so well... I think we looked more like the seagulls from Finding Nemo. You decide:

Saturday was completely chilled. Spent some time hanging out by the pool (James, Megan & Lily were in attendance too), then watched Big Brown destroy the field in the Kentucky Derby.

Sunday we took a road trip out to Goldfield AZ, a ghostown of the Mammoth Mine that produced over $4 million of gold in its day. After lunch at the town saloon, complete with live country music, we took the mine tour and train ride around the town. The mine itself was a weak re-creation of the original that was flooded in the 1920's, but the guide on the tour was very entertaining. We'd probably skip the train ride if we had it to do over, but there was a great view of the town with the Superstition Mountain in the background!

Finally we headed out a beautiful, but curvy Apache Trail Hwy past Canyon Lake to the town of Tortilla Flat, AZ... population 6. The only restaurant in the town had one dollar bills signed by people from all over the world for wallpaper, and actual saddles as barstools. I'm not sure I would have made it as a cowboy as 30 minutes in the saddle was plenty.

Dave left Monday back for Oly... and Teri and I went back to work. It was a great trip, and we look forward to the next set of visitors! --jt.