this last weekend was the best weekend EVER! i had no idea Idaho could be so COOL!!!
we landed in boise friday afternoon and took a 2 hour drive next to a winding river up to Cascade/Donelley, ID to perform in a benifit concert for a new local whitewater park, known as Kellys whitewater park. the whole drive i could not get over how beautiful it was! as usual, i wasnt too sure about what i was getting into, but i was liking the way this was looking! we drove until we made it to our home for the weekend at the Tamarack resort. ive never vacationed in the mountains so i was super excited when we pulled up to our "chalet"! it had wooden balconies all around and it was 3 stories tall and it was just awesome! a few minutes after we got there, i was checking out the balconies and we had a neighbor drop by! turns out it was Mark Pickard, the man responsible for bringing me out, and he invited me dinner at the lodge where the "family" was going to be eating... he made sure to tell me they were cool and it would be fun... which brings me to one of the reasons this weekend was so cool... the family!
after we settled in we decided to go check out the Lodge to eat some food and meet the family! come to find out, there was alot of family in town... like over 100 people! i couldnt believe that all these people were related but they sure were! and they acted like it too. the love they had for each other was contagious! after about 5 minutes we were starting to feel like family! dinner was served on a patio overlooking a golf course and the lake and that was where we had dinner everynight. as the evening went on i got to talk to alot of family and started to learn a bit more about why i was here. Family had come from all over the place to celebrate the life of Kelly Brennan and the unveiling of her statue at kellys whitewater park. the following day when the ceremony would take place, and later that night, the concert, would have been kellys 36th birthday. at the unveiling i sang somewhere over the rainbow and i was followed by a local choir that sang beautifully before the family shared stories about kelly. i was moved to tears a few times and just overwhelmed by the love and joy expressed about kellys life. i truly felt honored to be there that day.
after we saw the statue, it was time for soundcheck! we drove a few miles to the airport where the concert was to be held and it was unlike any airport i had ever seen! it was all grass! haha and it made for a great place to have a concert! there was a few times through out the show that i would catch myself mid song just marveling at the mountains in the background! it was so awesome! and the crowd was unbelievable! there was close to 2000 people there that evening and they were all having a great time! there were people of all ages dancing and singing... it was AWESOME!
now the original plan was to be leaving the following morning but everybody else was planning on staying till tuesday, so after double checking the schedule, we changed some flights! and thats when the concert turned vacation! Jordan had come out with me to play and we were accompanied by our wives which was really fun! it was the first time we had all gotten to hang out since jordan got married! Sunday morning started with a time of fellowship and then we went and did a 4 hour long zip line course! it was pretty awesome... the longest zip was 1000 feet long and 7000 feet above sea level! at one point we landed in a tree house that was over 100 feet up the tree! it was pretty cool flying through nature but then it started to get really windy and COLD mixed with a little rain! haha luckily we were nearing the end. ready for some food we went to the Lodge! the lodge was always a good hang and the food was top notch! everything was local (except for the lobster.. haha) and it was soo goood! one morning we had some muffins with huckleberrys and the lady serving it was like "ya ipicked those huckleberries this morning" how AWESOME!!! i actually ate some along the trail in the zip course... dont eat the red ones... anyways after dinner we ran into town because we were set on making smores! we grabbed our materials and then went and stopped by the party house! it was a house reserved only for the good times.
monday morning jordan and i got up early and went golfing! i had never been on a golf course and i thought now was a good time since there was nobody at the resort but us and it was a world class golf course! it was awesome and now i have conquered my fear of golfing. haha after golfing we had lunch and went out to shoot skeet! another first for me and it was so much fun!!! we shot guns for a few hours until it was time for our massages.... hahaha we had to stop shooting guns to make our massage appointments! so we headed up to the cabin and had our much needed massages before dinner. after dinner we went back to our place to make some smores! we stayed up all night playing games until i couldnt stay awake anymore... but the car was picking us up in an hour.. ouch! and thats when vacation was over. haha
this weekend was inspiring. it was inspiring to see so much love between a family, something so rare. it was inspiring to see life celebrated and remembering that our days indeed are numbered. it was inspiring to sing a song and see people dance under the open sky! it wasn't just another concert... it never is.
don't stop dreaming, never stop believing!
jason
Comments
Pages