Mike and I slipped away a couple of hours to the east with some fun and dear friends for a little "weekend away." I unknowingly left my own parents with children who fell sick as the weekend progressed, but they handled it like the true heroes they are and Mike and I had a blast.
It was a quick trip. Friday evening got us there and we found some yummy barbecue.
Saturday we explored the John Deere museum and then made our way to the Army arsenal museum where we managed to get our visitor ID's and find where we needed to go without any weapons being drawn at us. Ha. Actually, everyone we encountered at Rock Island Arsenal was extremely friendly and helpful. The young man who did our background checks to get our ID badges was even a homeschool graduate - I do so love to see homeschool graduates "in the wild."
I guess I failed to get photos at the arsenal museum, which is a shame considering there was a great deal to see and even the historic buildings everywhere were amazing. Luckily, Lord willing, I'll be back at the end of the month with the kids for a homeschool field trip.
Among the displays at the John Deere museum were the first model and most recent model combines. That was really something to see.
This big guy will do 300 acres a day. I know I kept saying "that's quite a machine." After seeing the number of computer screens in the Deere equipment on display, Mike decided his IT degree could come in very handy should he ever choose to switch careers.
and then back out to find a yummy supper before the weekend's headline event....ZZ Top and Lynyrd Skynyrd in concert.
Everyone's food and drinks were delicious - and I'd tell you where we ate if I could remember the name of it. Alas....
Mr. Fross took us for a short tour of the greater Moline area after the concert and we were tucked in back at the hotel by midnight-ish.
Did I get a burger stacked with fries and covered in queso for supper?.....I more assuredly did, and it was delicious.
The guys timed everything perfectly and the crowd was much tamer than our last concert experience so parking and entering the concert venue was very easy. We realized how much the venue location changes the vibe - downtown STL became the concert crowd when we were there in November, while this was very calm given it's location and parking situation. We were below the median age of attendees (a great start to the night!) and security was a very different experience.
The opener {Black Stone Cherry} was pretty good and Skynyrd was exactly what I expected them to be. I have to admit, I came for Skynyrd but I enjoyed ZZ Top every bit as much. They were a delight, with two of their original band members still thoroughly enjoying every minute on stage.
Our rock-n-roll buddies...
In the same way that I grew up listening to Shania Twain if my mom was driving the car, if Dad was along it was classic rock for us - which meant a lot of Lynyrd Skynyrd. In this way I knew a lot of their songs, especially the major hits. My favorite Skynyrd album is hands down Vicious Cycle, but I didn't anticipate them to perform many if any songs from it, and I was right. They did put on a great show. They did a nice tribute to their last original member who passed last year, Gary Rossington during Tuesday's Gone.
Duet action - Skynyrd and ZZ Top
The concert time flew.
Free Bird was their encore song, and they did a nice tip of the hat to original lead singer Ronnie Van Zant.
Sunday morning was a slow start...
We allowed ourselves to hurkle-durkle (look it up - keep your mind out of the gutter 😉), had slow breakfast, and made our way back to Iowa and the children.
It was a perfect weekend away. Good friends, quiet time with the hubby, knowing the kids were safe with grandparents...
I am thankful for opportunities like these.
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