Hamilton Trip

And now, a lengthy, photo-filled recap of my weekend roadtrip to see Hamilton with Sarah and Steve!!

We left around noon... we took my car, and Steve drove us the whole way, which I was so grateful for - I don't love driving and navigating in places I'm unfamiliar with, and he taught me a couple new things about my car that are helpful to know! lol

We stopped for lunch at Ed Walker's, a cute little Elvis-themed diner in Fort Smith, Arkansas!  (About halfway through our drive.)

It was my first Airbnb experience, and it was a pretty good one... the house with a shared living room and kitchen was definitely preferable and felt more safe to me than staying in a hotel room by myself.  My bed was super comfortable, but it was a modern home design with all wood floors and no bedroom doors, so that was interesting!

Documenting my first glass of tap water in years... not bad at all, but my mind goes straight to dramatic Erin Brockovich quotes. lol  I was crazy thirsty after our drive, and we stopped at the house for a few hours before going to dinner and stopping to grab some bottled waters.

On Saturday, we had dinner at Samantha's, a Red Rock-level restaurant that we all really enjoyed!  Our waitress was chatty and full of good suggestions for what to order there, along with where to go for brunch the next day!

We had a late dinner and were done around 10:30pm, then they wanted to go out and check out some of the local bars.  Outside of line dancing at The Caravan, the bar scene has never been and will never be a place I find fun or feel very comfortable... some bad memories and bad vibes all around. We were close to our house, so I went back there and had a lovely, cozy night in whilst they explored the town and got some cocktails and came back a little after 2am.  Once upon a time, I would've totally just gone along to people-please but felt miserable the whole time, so it makes me happy that I've reached the point where I can be honest about what I want and genuinely not care if others find it lame.  I'm sure they appreciated having some couple time, and I so preferred to skip the bars and enjoy the house and have a nice long chat with Mom, so it worked out well on both sides!

The plan was to sleep in, but parents of tiny babies have a different definition of sleeping in than Aunt Lindseys. lol  Steve said the sun woke him up, so we were up and ready and headed to brunch by 9:30... I had set my alarm for 10:20. lol  We went to Loca Luna for brunch... the croissant French toast was good!  This was Steve's Mimosa, but I borrowed it for a cute cheers-ing pic! lol

And one of them with their morning coffees!

Steve brought along the Baby Yoda, and it made me laugh seeing it on my dashboard!

We went to an outlet mall to shop around a bit... they got some cute stuff for baby Kate, and Nancy called to FaceTime with them!  This was their first time being away from her overnight, but it seems like everyone got through it pretty well!

These oversized sunglasses seemed crazy-big, so we got a picture in them to be funny... then we both looked at it and said, "Hmm, cuter than we thought!" lol

We went back to the house and took a short nap and then got ready to leave... 

They were running a bit behind and then needed to go back for some medication... and the lovely Italian restaurant we planned on was closed on Sundays... so we grabbed Wendy's and ate in the parking lot as our pre-show super late lunch or early dinner.

GET EXCITED!!  I'm glad Steve spotted this trailer - a perfect photo-op spot!

We were there for the last day of this play at the Robinson Performance Hall, which in my mind means the cast probably really gave it their very best - either that or they're always fantastic!?

Thanks to our fancy fast food dinner, we were there when the doors opened at 6:00, and we had time to shop a little and take some pictures and get to our seats early!

"The room where it happens..."  We had an excellent view, and being able to see their expressions made me realize the importance of being closer to the stage for live theater performances!

Truly fantastic cast - I especially loved our Hamilton, Washington, Eliza, and Angelica!!  The music and lyrics are exceptional and brilliantly written by Lin Manuel.  I teared up several times, and I wanted to stand and applaud long before they reached the final scene.

If I could be any of them in real life, it would obviously be Eliza.  But if I could play any role in this play, it would 100% be Peggy/Maria Reynolds!

The only places open to eat after the show were pubs or fast food.  As soon as we walked in here, the aggressively loud atmosphere and the smell of smoke and alcohol were all coming in strong.  I was alone at our table for several minutes whilst a random guy at the bar bought Sarah a drink... then got one for Steve too when he came over... then asked what I was drinking when I finally joined them...  turning alcohol down in a room full of tipsy/uninhibited people where many of them seem to think it's a necessary ingredient to having fun has never been my favorite thing.  So I was feeling pretty exhausted and over it all, and then a lady walked in with an adorable Corgi puppy, and my stress melted and turned to joy! lol  She sat down near our table and said, "You can pet him if you want!"  Umm, yes, please!!

His name was Tucker, and I'm unclear on why she brought a presh baby puppy to a bar late at night, but I think he was enjoying that atmosphere about as much as I was, so I tried to shield him and be a comforting presence. lol

Cuteness!

And in the end, our food there (bought by the same guy, who was apparently very generous when he drinks) was not the best, so we stopped by Taco Bell after all that... where there was a ca-razy long line for midnight tacos.  I voted that we not try to eat them in my car, so we had a 1:00am feast and chat at our Airbnb house when we got back (after shoo-ing away a random neighborhood cat that wanted to come in and join us)!

The next morning, we basically packed up and left.  We took a couple pics in the cute backyard... this = the shirt I bought at Hamilton.  The "Rise Up" part of My Shot is something I've always loved, and it felt like an appropriate shirt for President's Day!

We spent almost no time out there, but the backyard area was cute!

This is taken from the edge of my bedroom and bathroom area.  There were pocket doors for the bathrooms, then the living room and kitchen in the middle, and a hallway on both sides that led right into the bedrooms with no bedroom or closet doors!

We had breakfast at Mugs Cafe, then got gas and started our trip back home!

We got caught up on life during our 4-hour drive there, and we talked at length about Hamilton and all our thoughts about the play on our way back.  Sarah will be switching over to weekend nursing shifts soon, so they mentioned that this was their last weekend to do anything together for a while, and I felt a little bad for crashing it.  But I think we all had fun for the most part!  This was the first time I've gone anywhere outside of Oklahoma since the pandemic hit... all in all, a fun long-weekend road trip and an excellent theater experience!! ❤