Bluegrass-A-Rama
Attentive readers (Hi, Sherry!) will remember that I won tickets to go to a Bluegrass festival. The dates are from 11-14 August, and I am able to go for two days.

Unfortunately, I'm driving cab tonight so I won't be able to go on Sunday. I am spending a good part of the day out there today. Last night, I decided to take a trip out there to get the lay of the land. I wasn't expecting much. Wowzers, was I wrong!

El Rancho Manana is much more than I thought it would be, and I will have photographic evidence of this in tomorrow's entry. The place is huge, with a lot of horses and camping opportunities for hundreds of people in tents, campers, and everything in between. There's a lake, a bunch of trails, and a concert area that is unbelievable.

Smack dab in the middle of Minnesota, there's a giant bandstand in the woods with top of the line lighting and sound and a 40-foot stage. I can't believe I've lived in this area for as long as I have without knowing about this place -- or having been there.

The lineup of artists is impressive, but I'm no expert. This is an early stage of my enjoyment of this music, and I don't know a lot about it.

I know when it's done well or not, and the people playing were pretty good. But my ear isn't sophisticated enough to tell you much about the music itself. It all sounds somewhat the same to me.

This is similar to how the blues used to be for me. After many years of devoted listening to the blues, talking about that music, reading stuff about it, and just plain obsessing on it, I can now pick out the various styles, artists, back-up bands and other details of a song or concert.

But at first, it was all the same.

So I'm getting ready now to head back out to the Rancho. I'm packing a lunch, the camera, a bunch of notebooks and pens (I'm always looking for stories for the newspaper I write for) and bug spray. I'm also bringing one of our folding chairs.

I plan on soaking up a lot of music out there today, and I'll have pictures tomorrow. but first I have kitty business to attend to (one of our princesses needs her box cleaned), and a workout at the World's Least Intimidating Health Club.