The Domestic Travel Recap Post, Part 2: Indiana!

Gary, Indiana, Gary, Indiana, not Louisiana, Paris, France, New York, or Rome! Everyone I know needs to go watch The Music Man.

Domestic trip number two was to Indiana, for the third annual Ukulele World Congress. I may or may not have told most of the people I know that it was just a general music festival, but only because I am loathe to admit in person how much of a serious geek I am.  It was a ukulele festival.  It was also FABULOUS.  So sue me?

No seriously, it was the best weekend of my life that I can remember.  For starters, while we were still on our way down, we stopped at a CVS, where I found myself in line behind an old guy as he ordered pictures.  The cashier asked him for his first name, to which the old guy responded (in a thick drawl) "Well, my name is Maurice, but my friends call me Pete."  First thought:  What is this place?  Second thought:  This is fucking awesome.

And it truly, truly was.  I'm also at a loss for how to explain it, other than "there were a lot of people with ukuleles and everything was fabulous."  I used the word fabulous a lot over the weekend.  I got to see a lot of old friends and make a bunch of new ones.  I kayaked, and almost died in the process.  I went up on stage twice, and almost died in the process.  I dared Jon to pour a shot of tequila on his pancakes and he did it, and now I owe him money.  There were hot tubs.  There were bonfires.  There were marshmallows as big as my face.  There were bra-less dancing hippie ladies.  I drank bourbon, and I did not die in the process.  It was fabulous.

A lot of truly wonderful music came out of the weekend, and there are about a million videos floating on the youtubes.  One of my personal favorites was this video, which took place not on stage, but in one of our cabins.  It's an original song by Narciso Lobo, the guy in white, and I'm sitting behind the camera having my mind blown.

I'm also out of words, so here are some pictures, most of them courtesy of Colin (who, at the time of this posting, has not yet given me his permission to use them, but I'm just kind of assuming it.  Thanks Colin, you da best!):

In other news, today Jovanna, Patricia (two of my friends from the Bolivia trip) and I went archery-ing, or whatever you call it.  The point is, I got to shoot arrows at things (not people), and it was really fun.  Also really difficult.  I never realized it was so hard to kill someone with a bow, so I think, should I ever find myself in a zombie apocalypse or whatever, I will ditch the bow and just radio in the napalm, assuming the air force isn't already compromised.

In other other news, I am leaving on Wednesday which is...really soon.  I'm still waiting for the complete and utter panic to set in, but we're so close to take-off date, I'm beginning to think it might not come at all.  It helps that I have Red Lobster as my "Option 2 for Immediate Future," and that reminds me that I need to get the hell out of here, because Endless Shrimp is coming up fast.

In other other other news, I have had this song stuck in my head all week, so now, you can have it!

Adios!