This will be the last post in the series detailing our trip to see Phish.  Part One here, and Part Two here.

The morning after the show at Deer Creek we slept in a bit, grabbed breakfast at the hotel, then hit the road.  The traffic heading back on 65 was much worse than on the trip down. Much worse.  It probably added about an hour to our trip.

We made a side trip to Three Floyds in Munster Indiana for lunch.  It was alright.  I wouldn’t go out of my way to go there, but if you’re a beer nut and happen to be traveling through Indiana on I-65 or I-80, it may be worth checking out.  Their beers are okay, but not outstanding, and the food was good, but certainly nothing to write home about.  The brewpub itself is tucked away in the middle of an industrial/business district – it’s really just a bar attached to the front of the brewery.  (I wonder if they had to get special zoning for that.  You really wouldn’t expect to find any kind of restaurant or bar where it was located.)

Back on the road towards Wisconsin (the rest of the ride was pretty uneventful).  We stopped at the Brat Stop, to pick up some brats for grilling in the lot the next day, some New Glarus beer (we got the Imperial Saison and the Berliner Weiss), summer sausage and some really good cheese.  Seriously.  I know the whole Wisconsin=Cheese thing is a bit of a joke, but you really can’t get good cheese like that elsewhere.  Especially aged cheddar.  The oldest aged cheddar I’ve ever been able to find in any gourmet food store in Chicago is 3-year.  We got the 9-year.  (They have older than that, too.)

We checked into the hotel (The Geneva Inn) and set up shop on our balcony overlooking the lake.  (Make sure you head over to Flickr to check out the pics from The Geneva Inn.  There are some really great shots taken from the balcony.)

We spent the rest of the evening relaxing on the balcony, sipping beers and snacking on sausage and cheeses, listening to music and playing cards.  It was a nice relaxing break, especially after the hectic previous day.

The following morning (Sunday, if you’ve been keeping track), we got up and headed to town for breakfast, then hit some of the shops.  (There’s really not much in Lake Geneva – pretty much the same types of stores that you can find in any small town tourist destination.*)

After that, it was back to hotel to get ready and pack the cooler for tailgating at the concert (we actually kind of felt like blowing off the concert and just spending the evening on the balcony again).  We were on the road pretty early and hit absolutely no traffic on the back roads between Lake Geneva and Alpine Valley (a nice change of pace) and got to the lots right after they opened.  Since I had sprung for the premium seating, we got a great spot just a few hundred feet from the venue gates.

The rest of the afternoon was spent grilling brats and drinking beer in the lot.  We got up and walked around to check things out a couple of times, but mostly just hung out enjoying the afternoon until it was time to go in and find our seats before the show.  The concert was really great, especially the second set (the first set kind of petered-out towards the end).

And, that’s pretty much it.  The next day we drove back home with nothing but our memories of a great weekend (well, our memories, some great cheese, and a couple of bags from shopping at the outlet mall that’s just north of the Wisconsin-Illinois border).

*UPDATE:  I wanted to point out that I’m referring to, specifically, the little down-town shopping area.  There is, of course, plenty to do in Lake Geneva.  But, if you’ve been to any touristy small-town, they all seem to have the same kinds of shops in their down-town area.

This is the second post in a series detailing our trip to see Phish last weekend. You can read Part One here. (I promise this post won’t be as long!)

After finally making it out of the city, and out of the rain, we were on our way to Indianapolis. The rest of the drive was pretty uneventful, apart from some heavy traffic on 65 due to construction. That set us a little further behind in our schedule, but it wasn’t too bad.

We had enough time to check into the hotel, run to a grocery store (to pick up some hot dogs, buns and condiments) and get to the venue with a couple hours to spare to grill out, drink some beers, and just plain ol’ relax.

The time came to head in and find our seats. We walked around the inside of the venue to see if there was any good beer for sale (there was, but not as good as the last time we were there), then headed into the pavillion.

Our seats were right down in front. They were row “F”, but with the way the venue is laid out, in our section that was second row. And, with the way the rows curved around, since we were the two end seats, we were pretty much front row. (See the photoset on Flickr for some pics to get an idea of the view.)

The band hit the stage with the usual excitement coming from the crowd. The first set was amazing. (I’m not going to bother with a full review of the show – that’s bot really the point of these posts.)

After the first set we headed back out to the venue to hang out, rest a bit (from all of the dancing – if you’ve ever been to a Phish show you understand) and wait for the second set.  That’s when things took a turn.

During the set break, a storm started moving in. It was off in the distance, but you could see the lightning shooting across the sky. It looked impressive, and the crowd roared every time it happend, but we were starting to get a little worried. Eventually, there was an announcement made over the sound system, but we couldn’t hear what was said from where we were. (It turned out to be Page telling the people who had lawn seats to go wait in their cars!)

We headed back into the pavillion, only to see that the equipment on stage was being covered up. We waited a bit, wondering aloud to each other whether there would be a second set or not. After a couple of minutes they started to take the speakers that were hanging above the front of the stage down. Since our seats were almost directly under the speakers on our side of the stage, we had to move.

We headed back out of the pavillion out of fear that, if things got as bad as they were when we were leaving Chicago, people might start rushing the pavillion for cover. Once back out by the concession area we debated whether we should wait to see if there was going to be a second set (it was about 10:30 by this time, and Deer Creek has an 11:00 curfew), and eventually decided to just head out and try to beat the storm.

We got to the car just as it started to rain. We felt lucky, given the events of earlier that day. The drive back to the hotel was quick and uneventful – the strom wasn’t getting bad yet.

When we got back to the hotel, it still was just a light rain. Back in the room, I decided to check the official Phish Twitter feed, and sure enough they had started playing again. Damn.

It was nearly an hour and a half after the end of the first set when they started the second (they must have decided just to pay the fines they would receive for breaking the curfew). I’ve read it was good (I downloaded it, but haven’t listened to it yet), so I’m disappointed that we didn’t stay. If it wasn’t for dealing with the terrible storm in Chicago earlier that day, we probably would have. But, having just been through that, I guess we were a little bit spooked.

Oh, well. We had a good time, anyway.  And the next day we would be on our way to Wisconsin for a day of relaxing in Lake Geneva, followed by another show the following day.

This past weekend we went to go see Phish at Deer Creek and Alpine Valley (pictures from the trip will be forthcoming on Flickr).  This will be the first in a series of posts detailing our trip.

Friday morning started out with some final packing and last minute errands.  I happened to be out (dropped the recycling off, filled the tank and checked the tire pressure) and on my way back home to pack up and go when I heard on the radio that we were under a thunderstorm warning.  It was in the north-west suburbs and I hoped that it would stay to the north and not affect us.  But, the sky to the west looked pretty bad.

I got home and told Carrie that we had to hurry up and try to beat the weather.  (If it did hit, at least we’d be driving south and heading out of it.) I took a quick shower (like 5 minutes, tops) and by the time I got out it had already started raining.  It started slow, but quickly escalated.  Within minutes, it was a downpour, and even started hailing.  Crap.  I ran out and pulled the car up in front of our building so we could load up, but things were getting worse.

I ran back inside, where Carrie was collecting our luggage and other things by the door.  I checked the local radar, hoping that I would see a small blob that would pass quickly.  No such luck.  It looked like it would last at the very least a half-hour, but likely much longer.  If we waited for it to pass, we’d be potentially severely behind schedule.

So, I started lugging stuff out to the car to throw in the trunk.  As the street was already flooded, I had to stand on the curb (which itself was under at least an inch of water) and toss the stuff into the trunk from the side.  I had to do only one thing at a time, since I couldn’t set anything on the curb, and had to open and close the trunk each time to keep it, and the stuff in it, from becoming drenched.  I fit as much as I could in this manner (obviously, I couldn’t really arrange everything to fit properly), and told Carrie to grab the rest of the stuff and meet me in the alley, so she could get in the car without trudging through the water – the alley being on slightly higher ground.

(It is worth mentioning that at one point I was standing in front of our building, in the rain, yelling and swearing: “God DAMMIT!  Why couldn’t this have waited five fucking minutes more!  Five FUCKING MINUTES!” I don’t remember exactly when in this narrative that occurred, but I’m sure all of our neighbors think I’m completely insane now.)

I climbed into the car through the passenger side (there was no way I could get to the other side of the car at this point, as the water was too deep), scooted across the back seat, and opened the driver’s side door enough to swing around from the back seat to the front.  I was completely soaked at this point.  (The umbrella was useless in this heavy rain, and I couldn’t really hold it while I was trying to load the car anyway.)

Carrie was just getting to the alley behind our building when I pulled around.  We drove off and headed back into the streets.  Unfortunately, most of the streets in our neighborhood were already flooded and littered with large tree branches, and we had to drive a few blocks up and around to get out to the main streets. 

We still had to stop to pick get some ice before hitting the road, so that our beer and food would keep cold during the three-and-a-half-hour-on-a-hot-day drive.  I figured we could just hit the gas station on our way out to Lake Shore Drive, and I could parking under the cover by the pumps and just run in to get the ice.  When we got there I ran to the door to find it was locked.  The girl inside was trying to tell me to pay through the window, thinking I just needed gas.  This is the night-time procedure at the gas station, but it was 10:30 in the morning.  I don’t know if the girl just didn’t want to clean up the mess from soaking wet people coming into the store, or what.  But, since I couldn’t communicate with her effectively through the glass to explain that I just wanted a bag of ice, and more importantly was I standing in a torrential downpour, I ran back to the car.

I was angry to the point of shaking as I explained to Carrie that the door was locked and the attendant wouldn’t let me in.  I spent some time swearing and besmirching the attendant’s character.  We drove to the grocery store up the street, as we still needed to get ice before we hit the highway.  Luckily, while it was still raining, it had subsided a bit from the monsoon by the time we got there.  (It didn’t matter much to me at that point, since I was completely drenched, but Carrie was merely a little wet at this point.)

We spent a little time in the store getting the ice and a few other things to take with us for the drive.  It was nice to be out of the rain, plus there was a chance the rain might pass while we were in there.  But, such was not the case.  At least it still wasn’t as bad as it had been only minutes earlier when we were at the gas station.

Back out to the car, we loaded the ice into the cooler in the trunk and got in the car.  Luckily, we had a couple of towels that Carrie packed to dry off a little with.  Plus, one of the bags that I couldn’t put in the trunk and put in the back seat instead was my own luggage.  I was able to change my shirt, socks and shoes before hitting the road (I had no desire to drive that far in wet shoes).  Carrie couldn’t change, but she wasn’t as thoroughly soaked as I was.

Out to Lake Shore Drive.  There was standing water along the outer lanes, so we had to keep to the middle two lanes.  Some people tried driving in the outer lane, sending up walls of water as they drove by.  At one point, there were three lanes closed due to a very large tree that had been blown over on to the highway.

Soon enough, we were far enough south to be out of the worst of it (which was starting to taper off, anyhow) and on our way to Indianapolis, not too far behind schedule.

Next up: Deer Creek (which I refuse to call by their new corporate moniker).