"And I Never Wanted Nothing More"

Ok, I’ll admit it…I’m a country music fan! And I’m really lucky because I was able to get this past Saturday off to go to the New England Country Music Fest at Gillette Stadium for the third summer in a row. The Country Fest has become a family thing over the past few years, including the location of my cousin’s wedding proposal to his wife, and the anniversary of their wedding day. This Christmas, my mom gave my sister and I tickets, and we made plans to go with my parents, my aunt and uncle, my cousin, and my cousin and his wife (the one who proposed at the Country Fest a few years ago).

Every year the Country Fest is an experience like no other. The people are crazy, but it’s always fun and we can get some good laughs. This year the worst part of the day was sitting in traffic. It took us three hours, rather than the usual forty five minutes, to get to the stadium. But while we were in traffic we still got to people watch. There are cars with “We love Kenny” painted on the windows, music blaring, people lighting grills in the back of their pick-up trucks, people getting out of their cars to find a bathroom or to just go in the woods, and sometimes people with extra “people” with them. Yeah, some things nobody seems to understand.

And we rode in style in our camper, which makes the tailgating experience pretty nice. We joined the party in the parking lots once we were parked, and quickly set up our tent, and started cooking our kielbasa, steak wrapped in bacon, chicken wings, and more. Our spot was right across from the Corona Party Bus, whose occupants were blasting the tunes, mostly country, all day long. It was a fun spot though because we got to have some dance parties. Parked next to us was a bus full of people from Toronto. My new friend Charles insisted on dancing with me to “Don’t Stop Believing” and he also introduced me to his hockey-player friend, and made sure I got his autograph!

We went into the concert in the middle of the set by Sammy Hagar (yes, from Van Halen), and I didn’t know any of his songs. My family and I agreed he wasn’t the best, but I guess he is a friend of Kenny Chesney’s and that’s why he was there.

Next up was Keith Urban, and I loved him! He was awesome on the guitar and put on a really great show with a lot of older, popular songs, but also some new ones.

Finally it was time for Kenny Chesney to perform! Because of the past three years, the Kenny concert is the epitome of summer to me. His music takes on a very tropical and summertime feel (“It’s a sip of wine, it’s summertime”), and being outside in the midst of the crowd, with the warm weather, lights flashing across the people, beach balls bouncing above our heads, and screams for Kenny coming from every direction…I know these memories will take me back to my college summers for years to come.

Kenny loves Boston and loves to come perform at Gillette every year. He always performs his song “Boston” at his Gillette concerts but no where else; it’s a nice tradition. This summer he had some Patriots and Red Sox players, including Teddy Bruschi, Tim Wakefield, and Jacoby Ellsbury, singing on stage with him! The crowd went wild to see our Boston icons. I really enjoyed the concert, “and I never wanted nothing more” than to be enjoying the summer in such special ways.

Stonehill Reunion in Upstate New York

My first vacation of the summer was this past weekend. My friend, Kait, who is living at Stonehill for an internship this summer, and I made the four hour road trip up to Queensbury, New York to visit a couple other friends from school. Kait and I stayed with our friend Carrie, whose parents graciously opened up their home to us. A trip to upstate New York would not have been complete without including Kathleen, my roommate from last year, who is from Clifton Park. Kathleen came and joined Kait and I in “the Q.” Here's a picture of the three visitors:

Our weekend began with a lovely summer dinner with Carrie’s parents, and a quick outing into Lake George (at my request) so we could get some Ben & Jerry’s ice cream. And that was a good idea if I do say so myself; the ice cream was yummy! Back at Carrie’s house, her friends came over for a pool party and campfire. It was fun to meet a friend’s other group of friends; not to mention the new Facebook friends I had a couple days later!

The next morning we had a light breakfast of fruit and crepes, and then headed out with a smaller group of Carrie’s friends to go kayaking on the Hudson River. Kait and I were a little nervous because we aren’t used to being so outdoorsy, but Carrie’s friends were so helpful, except for one thing. I was wearing my clothes over my bathing suit in the kayak, and they decided I should get flipped over. So not once, but twice, during the trip I got flipped into the Hudson! It was all in good fun though, and I enjoyed kayaking. The worst part was being sore for two days from the extra exercise that my arms aren’t used to.

The scariest part of kayaking was our destination. We kayaked out to a rope swing that hangs off of a tree over the Hudson. We all swung from the rope and landed in the river. I only jumped a couple times though because hitting the water from such a height kind of stings the skin. I even ended up with a pretty dark bruise on my leg from holding onto the rope! Rope swinging was something I’ve never done before, and I’m always up for trying new things and being a little adventurous. I don't know if you will believe it or not, but this picture is of me on the rope swing!

Saturday night, Carrie, Kathleen, Kait, and I got dressed up and went to dinner in Saratoga. It was kind of funny, because even without planning it we all chose to wear white pants. (It must have been a Stonehill thing.)

We had a yummy dinner at a little international place. Then walked through the park in Saratoga, and had a laugh because while we were all drinking from the springs that taste more like dirty pipe than water, Kait dropped her camera into the urn with all the pipes for the springs! We had to ask someone for help to get it out! Here I am drinking from the springs:

We also posed for more pictures during our walk through the park. We think this will make a lovely Christmas card picture!

We also had to pose in front of one of the painted horses:

And we rode the carousel! I felt like I was a young kid again. But I also felt like I will be friends with these girls for a long time to come.

Saturday night we had another campfire with the new friends we went kayaking with during the day.

Sunday morning we were going to take a hike, but we woke up and it was raining! So instead we went out for a big, yummy brunch, which was totally fine with me after kayaking the day before!
It was a really nice weekend get-away. And I really enjoyed spending the weekend with a few friends from school. The friendships that I have made at Stonehill are one of my favorite things about Stonehill. I wouldn’t have believed two years ago that it would be my college friends and not my high school friends that I will stay close with over the years, but now I can understand why so many people told me that. I’m extremely lucky though because I am still friends with my classmates from high school, but now I have even more friends from Stonehill.