While some people play down getting another year older, it’s my wont to embrace the anniversary and make it a three- or four-day holiday, sort of like Labor Day weekend, but nuanced with a bit of self-indulgence. It was made even easier to pull off this year since my birthday–June 21–coincided with both the first day of summer as well as Father’s Day. This year’s birthday was number 53, and was dubbed The Jubilee Plus Three and was heralded by, what else, three events:
- Working the Bands In The Backyard music festival on June 19-20
- Attending the Brewers-Rockies baseball game with Monica, Enedina, and Mañuel on June 21
- A hike along the North Folk Trail with Scott Smith on June 22
Bands In The Backyard
For Days 1 and 2 of the jubilee, I reprised my role as one of the house shooters at Bands In The Backyard, a two-day music festival held in Vineland. My role there was to shoot a bit of everything, from Meet & Greets with artists and fans, performances, festival goers, and vendors, and post it on Facebook. The Day 1 headliner was Toby Keith. The Day 2 headliner was the duo, Montgomery Gentry.
It was interesting working with the Toby Keith team. They restricted how images of Keith were to be used. The “Bands” shooters had to sign a waiver which stipulated the photographers will “only be using the photos/images/video of Toby Keith’s performance at Bands In The Backyard festival in Vineland, Co on June 19, 2015, for the festival’s archival use only, and not for use by media outlets or promotions, nor personal (including social media and websites) or retail use.” Which I get. What bothered me was the additional requirement from Keith representative Meredith Louie that “photos/video for the festival’s social media the individual images/videos must be sent to me and approved by myself prior to posting.” That was new to me. Welcome to the Big Time. I guess.
But them’s the rules, so I sent three photos from Keith’s set for approval. Two were okayed. But looking at the “Bands” Facebook page, those pre-approved photos of Toby Keith’s performance have since been taken down.
While Keith and Montgomery Gentry both gave crowd-pleasing performances, it was second-billed acts Eli Young Band and Chris Janson, that impressed me. Eli Young Band took the stage early Friday evening, Janson late Saturday afternoon. Both acts are up-and-comers, and both are hungry. I’d say Eli Young Band has a larger catalog of hits, fan base, and gave a more polished performance but couldn’t match Janson’s stage presence. That guy might be rough around the edges, but man, is Janson high-energy. The Mountain Dew he was clutching during his Meet & Greet session might have had something to do with that.
It was a long and hot two days of shooting, but it was also a satisfying two days of shooting. It’s something I hadn’t had the opportunity to do of late. And was a nice way to kick off my birthday.
Birthday/Father’s Day at Coors Field
What a difference a month makes. In May, Monica, Enedina, and I watched the Dodgers beat the Rockies in 40-degree weather during a Mother’s Day game at Coors Field. On June 21, the second leg of the jubilee, and my birthday proper, we were back at Coors. But this time with my father-in-law Mañuel joining us to take in the Brewers-Rockies Father’s Day game. It was a bit warmer, too. By the fifth inning, temperatures were in the lower 90s, a fitting first day of summer. Fortunately, section 131 where we were seated, is just below the press box and in shade the entire game.
Did I mention it was Hat Day? Each of us got a free Rockies cap. I tucked mine away in my camera bag. To the annoyance of my wife and daughter, I was already sporting my Giants cap, as in current World Series champion San Francisco Giants. Both Monica and Enedina should be happy knowing I wear the Rockies cap on mornings I run the dogs.
Our view of the game from Section 131
The Rockies beat the Brewers, 10-4 in a battle of basement-dwelling teams. Neither team has any pitching to speak of. And I’d venture to say it seems unlikely the teams’ managers, the Rockies’ Walt Weiss and the Brewers’ Craig Counsell, will be with their respective teams by the season’s end if they stay on their current course. That these two last-place teams drew over 41,000 fans to the game amazes me. We did see Nolan Arenado, the Rockies brightest star thus far this season, and Enedina’s favorite player, hit a home run.
North Fork Trail Hike
Hey Mike, So, assuming you survive Little Woodstock on the Prairie with minimal injuries, are you still up for a nice hike up into the cooler-than-here high country on Monday? I’ve got some ideas…And happy almost birthday!
Day Four of the jubilee was spent on the North Fork trail near Cuchara, with Scott Smith and his dog, Lacy. It’s rated as an “easy” six-mile hike (twice that if you’re named Lacy) that tops out at just under 11,00 feet and offers spectacular views of the Culebras, a subrange in the southern Sangre de Cristo mountains.
The trail itself had opened just a couple weeks earlier due to lingering snow. There were deep drifts in shade and snow melt left long portions of the path in shallow standing water. The North Fork trail gets it name from being the headwaters of the Purgotoire river. And they were gushing with runoff . Yet even with all the moisture, it was evident the lushness that graced southern Colorado this spring was beginning to wane in the high country on this second day of summer. The grasses, Scott observed, were beginning to get “a bit crispy.”
My hikes with Scott are typically underscored by two certainties: stunning vistas and my inability to keep lunch down. Thankfully, I avoided the latter this go-around. The was a component to this outing that did make it unique: a relatively close encounter with a young bull elk. It came on the heels of our spotting a herd of what had to be fifty elk cows and calves.
We took a short break on a hillside after the herd took flight. Scott asked if I thought if it’d be okay to let Lacy off her leash. I opined, “I think it’s more likely we’ll see a bull moose before we see any more el-” And then, not more than 30 yards away, there appeared a bull elk in velvet, a four-pointer. There was a stunning stillness as all parties realized each other’s presence. Scott said it was probably a four-way tie as to who’s eyes were bigger: his, mine, Lacy’s, and the elk’s. I recovered from the shock in time to snap a photo of the elk as it bolted down the hillside.
It could have gone the other way. He could have given a go at stomping us. We were on an open hillside with no where really to hide. Or run. Not that fleeing was a real option for me. At elevation, I think I’d have a hard time out-running Scott over any distance. Unless he happened to, um, trip and/or fall. Regardless, the elk encounter was a highlight of my birthday celebration.
The Jubilee Plus Three was an eventful, satisfying four days. It was fun shooting “Bands,” it was great spending an afternoon at Coors Field with my family, and capping it off with a hike along the North Fork trail with Scott and Lacy was a nice way to wrap it all up.
I slept great that night.
