Mormon Tabernacle Choir at Red Rocks

Chris and I purchased tickets for a Mormon Tabernacle Choir performance at Red Rocks way back in January or February. The tickets hung out on my shelf above my computer screen for months and most of the time we just forgot about them. We then began planning a trip to Canada to visit my parents and to attend Chris' family reunion. When we finally began putting events into our calendar, I noticed that the concert was on Monday, June 29 and we had a flight scheduled from Calgary, AB to Kamloops, BC on July 3. We wanted to be in Canada for Canada day on July 1 which meant that we either skip the concert and make the loooooooong trip to Alberta beginning on the 29th, or we attend the concert and cram the loooooooong trip into a one-day drive. We opted for the second scenario, but we weren't looking forward to it. The trip is about 13 to 14 hours without stops--kids usually add time to stops.

We had planned to attend the concert with friends, but at the last minute we had two extra tickets and decided to take Amy along--Misha would have been bored in the first ten minutes. We left early since Red Rocks is about 45 minutes to an hour away in good traffic, and we also wanted to have dinner. Chris' favorite restaurant was our first stop--Texas Roadhouse--and he is quickly convincing our daughters that steak is the way to go as well!

We had well over an hour before the concert started and I suggested that maybe we could stop at Colorado Mills mall. While there, Amy's sandal broke and so we were on a mission to find her new shoes. No luck, so we cut the straps off and made them into flip flop type shoes. Cool at first, but they worked some blisters by night's end.

We shouldn't have stopped at the mall, and I felt so awful. We were miles away from Red Rocks when traffic backed up and it took us forever to make our way. We later found out that the choir was late and had the road blocked off for half an hour to get their buses through. We were at least a half hour late for the concert and since it was our first time at Red Rocks we had no idea about the climb we were in for. I should have taken a picture. We climbed hundreds of stairs. I grabbed on to Amy's hand and just pulled her along behind me. We finally were seated way up high (65th row and there are only 70 in the venue). The music was beautiful and the view was amazing. My pictures don't do it justice.







I had most of our stuff packed, but I knew there was still plenty to do once we got home and we wanted to be on the road by 5:30 am. Probably for those reasons, I didn't enjoy the concert as much as I could have. As we were nearing the end of the final song, I leaned over to Chris and said, "I think we should leave now." I usually regard those who leave events early with a little disdain, but it was 10 pm and there was still so much to do at home. Chris nodded his head and we began the long descent down the stairs. We saved ourselves at a minimum an hour in getting out of the venue and parking lot; I was relieved. Since we didn't go to bed until 12:30 am and my alarm was set for 4:30 am, I am glad we left a couple of minutes early.