Sunday and the Quintet Concert

Saturday night and Sunday morning were interesting. The hotel we usually use when we visit our daughter had dramatically higher rates and a two-night minimum which didn't work for us, so I figured for one night we could step down and use a budget hotel, especially given the limited time we'd be there. You know you've stepped down dramatically when the hotel clerk makes you pay in full when you check in. Such was the case at this place.

The rooms were very small, and the only way it worked at all was that our son decided to stay at the school with his sister. She hadn't know he was coming - it was a surprise. She's been wanting him to come up and visit all year, and we finally dragged him up there for her important concerts, and I think she really appreciated it.

The hotel was nearly empty when we checked in, but by the time we got back there late Saturday night it was crawling with people, and crawling might be the appropriate word. It was a collection of folks that I'm not used to sharing a hotel with. Not terrible, but I made sure to remove all valuables from the car even thought it was parked only about 4 feet from our front door. They were a noisy bunch, that's for sure.

After we checked out my daughter called to inform us that she had been throwing up all morning and wasn't sure what she was going to do to feel better by the 4pm concert. We did some scrambling, and thanks to a very helpful pharmacist at the local Long's Drugs, got her some medication that finally did the trick. She was doing great by the time we left her room and headed to the concert.

Sunday night featured the school's two Honor Quintets, a brass group and the Woodwind group that she was invited to play in. They performed about a 35 minute stand involving two interesting pieces, all of which I'll post to YouTube later this week.

After a terrific hour of music we dropped her back at her room and started the 7-hour trek home. One commenter on a previous post said "gotta love cruise control!". If only. The only cruise control on my Explorer is my right foot which I keep planted firmly on the accelerator.

On the way home we made our usual two stops for gas, and at the second stop at the bottom of the Grapevine we encountered the highest gas prices I've seen in California:

In the morning we had filled up for $3.89 in Rohnert Park and that was the lowest price I'd seen in weeks. I'm sure glad I don't own that diesel bus anymore.

We got home at 12:20 pm and everybody was up again at 5:30. It will be a long day, and on Wednesday, I'm on my way back up north to move the girl out for the summer. I really miss $2 a gallon gas, and I never thought I'd say that.