The genesis of the weekend plan was to get Golden Tickets seats to Rick and Bubba. Tickets for the show go quickly so I monitored the website for a couple weeks until a new month was opened up. I got them for Friday April 15th. I had been to the show once before when Simon worked there as Darth Banker, but had not seen the new studio.
Keeping the secret from David was pretty tough. He knew he was going on a trip, just not the final destination or who was going to be there. The 3 of us in the know had to tip toe around the issue. David and I can see each other's calendar online, so I put that we were going out of town that weekend to try and throw him off. When the discussion came up shortly before the trip, I had to put on my poker face and say we were going up to Rainsville to see my grandparents. I think of it like Santa Clause.
Emily blindfolded David for the drive over and tried to keep him disoriented. They arrived in Birmingham on Thursday evening. We met them at the studio where she removed the blindfold and we presented the golden tickets. David was surprised and said we were good liars.
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| On the phone with Emily as she pretended she was talking to her mother |
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| Surprise |
We headed to the show Friday morning around 6:30 AM. It was neat to see the show in person all the way through. It really is as laid back as they make it out to be. Each commercial break is spent playing ping pong and possibly discussing what they might talk about next. We got to join in on some of the ping pong playing. I had several things I had thought about talking to them about, but of course I forgot them while we were there. I have listened to Rick and Bubba since 1997. Its kind of a weird feeling when you're around them, because I know so much about them and they know nothing of me. The ultimate one way friendship.We had a good time and definitely worth the price of admission.
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| Rick |
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| Helms |
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| Speedy |
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| Bubba |
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| Spann Bobble Head |
Friday afternoon we went to the McWane Center in downtown. I had been once back in High School, but didn't remember much about it. We had a good time with the technological/engineering exhibits. We watched the IMAX video on Tornado Chasers. Which ended up being pretty ironic because that very afternoon on our way home, we were surrounded by stormy weather and for a couple hours we watched storm coverage. Fortunately we were spared from the tornadoes.
Saturday we had a relaxing morning and then went out to Oak Mountain State Park and hiked to Peavine Falls. There was lots of water flowing from all the rain on Friday.
After church on Sunday, Rebecca and I had an engagement shoot. David and Emily cooked some pizzas for us for dinner. By the time dinner was over, they decided it was too late to drive back so we kept the party going for one more night. We played lots of Mario Kart over the weekend with the boys winning most of the competition.
Another fantastic weekend with our Starkville friends, proving that long distance friendships are possible. Its always a good time when we're together so we can't wait until our next adventure.
