Brittany Reilly Journal

Hey everyone!  We are here in Dolores, CO tonight…this morning we spent some time hanging out in downtown Durango and then made our way through the San Juan mountains here!  We saw Elk, Buffalo, Alpacas, and even a Camel on the way here…not to mention a ranch called the Black Rhino Ranch!?  Would have loved to see if they were roaming around out there!

We are stayin at a really great place called The Outpost Inn, they gave us a discount since we’re playing in town, which was really nice.  They are really cute little rooms and cabins right along the River.  Our room has beautiful handmade quilts, log cabin style furniture & wooden walls with western art hanging up on them!

I walked down to the river and followed the riverwalk, which was beautiful…lots of fly fishermen and kids wading through the water.  There were some little rushing waterfalls and mountain views-breathtaking.  I waded in the water for a while and then started following a rock path until a big ol snake popped up from under a rock right at my feet with a fish in its mouth!  Pretty cool.

 It just began to storm and it looks like it will continue through the night and tomorrow, I hope that we’ll still be able to get to Mesa Verde National Park!  Looks like we mayyyyy not be playing on the patio anymore-we’ll see!

Well, we had a nice Sunday, I’d say…We went and visited some parks in Longmont-Golden Pond was where we ate our picnic lunch!  I thought that maybe it was the one from the movie, but I wasn’t even close.  Oh well.  We saw some really neat birds, and there were some hugggge fish hanging around the docks.

What a HOT day again-105!  We enjoyed about 20 waters in 15 minutes and had a great lunch!

Oskar Blues is a really great place, we went and ate there, which was good, and then took a little rest before the show.  The sun must have done Grace in, because about 2 songs into our show, she passed out right there on her blanket on stage!  We figured it was just a little nap, but it was like pulling teeth to wake her up 3 hours later at the end of the show!

It was a good crowd-lots of really nice folks, and we had a fun time playing music for them.  The brewery gave us a bunch of stickers to pass out along the road, so if anyone wants any ‘Dale’s Pale Ale’ stickers, let me know, & I’ll set some aside!

Grace was awake at this point, and so we went out for ice cream!  Then we drove into Denver to hang out with my great friend, Meredith.  It was so awesome to see her and Brian and spend even just a little bit of time with them-miss her so much!

Then we drove to Castle Rock and slept good and hard!

Looking forward to a nice day off down in the Great Sand Dune National Park!

Set 1: Good Old Country Sound, Good Hearted Woman, Bar Room Blues, Rockabilly Rhythm, Help Me Make It Through the Night, Born to Run, Ramblin’ Gal, Uncle Pen, Promised Land, Ghosts of the Opry, My Window Faces the South, Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain, Lovesick Blues, Cumberland Blues> Are You Sure Hank Done It This Way, Grandpa’s Eyes, Big Railroad Blues, Harper Valley PTA, Banks of the Suwannee

Set 2: Don’t Come Home a Drinkin’, Old Home Place, Gotta Get a Break, Waymore’s Blues, Leaving You Dear, Driving Nails in My Coffin, Wayward Wind, The Shape I’m In, Goin’ Out Tonight> C’est La Vie, Ash Grove, That’s the Way Love Goes, Coal Miner’s Daughter, E: Sun Shines On Me> Jackson> Sun Shines On Me

Comment: *Brittany Reilly & Brent Hopper Duo ShowLineup: Brittany Reilly (Guitar, Vocals), Brent Hopper (Guitar, Vocals)

Okkkk, so kinnnnd of a long day!

We left Avogadro’s and headed towards Steamboat Springs…where we were supposed to be playing last night!

We started making our way, it was a beautiful drive, weather was great.  We started climbing in elevation-which I was worried about wth Grace-and arrived in Estes Park.  CRAZY town-soooo many tourists, you could barely even move, it seemed!  But we stopped off, fed the fish and ducks, and stretched.

Then we got back on the road, all of a sudden Grace started feeling a bit sick, she said her head and belly hurt and I got really nervous about the altitude…and we still had 4,000 feet to go before reaching Steamboat.

Then we pulled up to the entrance to the Rocky Mountain National Park and they wanted $20 just for us to drive across it to get to Steamboat Springs, so we pulled over to figure out what we were going to do.  We were already nervous about Grace holding up for the show, let alone the drive, so we made the tough decision to cancel….we definately wanted to be there and didn’t want to let anyone down, but Grace comes 1st, so we turned around!

She passed out immediately, and we headed towards Lyons, CO.  Looks like a really cool town, and next time we go through there, I want to go tubing down the river!

It was about 100 degrees out, but I got some info from a hotel about local campgrounds…we drove into Longmont, and then an hour north near Loveland.  Grace woke up and we hit up a Walmart for some groceries and camping supplies.  We stocked up and headed towards the campground-we got all backwards and finallllly ended up there just to find out that they were sold out!  We’re soooo not used to trying to do things on Saturday nights and compete with the crowds…usually our nights off are Mondays and Tuesdays!! 

I called about every campground and do you know where the nearest one was with availability?  About 5 miles north of Fort Collins!  AH!!!!  So 7 hours after we left the town, we returned!

We got all set up and had a ball though.  We roasted corn, tofu dogs and marshmallows over the fire!  We had an awesome set up…we had a corner of shelter and electric hook ups, and a picnic table and plenty of space for our huge tent!  I made a bunch of veggie wraps for the cooler and cut up fruit and all sorts of things for the next few days.  I cooked up tons of tofu bacon for the cooler, and we had our coffee pot set up too!

When we first got there, I had the back of the van open and BAM the huge metal dolly fell right on my bare foot- AHHHHHH oh my gosh, it hurt-immmmmediately there was huge bruise starting-I thought something might be broken by how it started to swell up!  And do you know what I was looking for in the back of the van? My tennis shoes so that I wouldn’t hurt my feet!  Ha, I really just had to laugh about it…

Grace was adorable-she just kept saying how she lovvvvves camping.  She wanted to lead us everywhere with the flashlight-she hung in there pretty late, and then just passed right out!  It sure was a beautiful spot-majestic mountains all around us! 

Even though it took us 7 hours to get from Fort Collins to Fort Collins, I’d do it again for a night like that!  Perfect. 

Ok, so going back this morning just kicked the amazingness of Avogadro’s into gear even MORE for me!!

They had DELICIOUS food…Grace got this awesome yogurt/fresh fruit/homemade granola concoction and a pancake, Brent had some great french toast, and I got grilled veggies with tofu and hashbrowns-wahoo!!!  A breakfast place that serves vegetables and food that I can eat that isn’t just sweet stuff-I love it! 

So I went outside to get a picture of the stage, thinking that it would be empty, and there were about 100 people mingling about! The New Belgium Brewery was there getting folks to sign up for a bike race, and doing all sorts of promo stuff.  They had button making machines, you could pick out a picture from a magazine and make a button out of it!  Free chapstick, bike tire repair kits, free postcards, bottle openers etc etc-fun stuff.  Grace had a great time making buttons and playing in their little waterfall with the other kids again!

 If you’re ever in Fort Collins, stop by for a visit-you won’t be dissapointed!

Wow-Avagadro’s is such a great place! If you haven’t been there-GO! The outdoor area is amazing, there’s a little stream, and a tree house, deck seating, misters, a gazebo etc etc, and the stage is out there as well, we really enjoyed playing there.

There was such a nice crowd of people, we met a lot of really fine folks, and Grace found a good little buddy to play with as well! Grace actually came up to the stage during our set, stepped up to the banjo mic and sang ‘He’s Gone’ with us, it was amazing, I couldn’t believe that she did it!

Narrow Gauge sounded great-they are really creative and entertaining-so talented! I look forward to seeing what they do in the future, should be wonderful!

Thanks to Rob, the owner for having us and taking such good care of us…he’s even treating us to breakfast there in the morning-that’s the kind of thing that makes all of this possible, and we appreciate it so much!

Tomorrow-Steamboat Springs!!

Hey everyone!!

 Here we are in Fort Collins to play here for the first time!  Played at Highland Pacific last night, thanks to Ed and everyone for taking good care of us and having us back there again, and to everybody that came out!  I played the 1st set with Brent, and then our buddy Adrian came up and played bass with Brent for the 2nd set-good stuff!

It was soooo nice to have just a 45 minute drive today, let me tell ya!  Yesterday we drove from about 20 miles east of Des Moines, IA all the way to Denver and then played-whoo! 

We play at Avagadro’s Number tonight, and we’ll be splitting the night with Ashleigh Caudill and Narrow Gauge from Asheville!  Will be lots of good music, I’m excited to sit back after our set and listen to them play! Pretty great to be meeting up with friends all over already-that’s one of th best parts!

Tomorrow we’re driving to Steamboat Springs, and I have a feeling it’s going to be a verrrry mountainous drive!  Looking forward to seeing some parts of Colorado that I haven’t seen before. 

Till next time-

Brittany

ok, so Brent & I left Asheville this morning to begin our Summer Tour!!  We are staying in Marietta, Ohio tonight and then going to pick up Grace up in Bay Village tomorrow morning!

We just finished a fun week of music with lots of Asheville friends, Billy Gilmore, Griff Martin, Brian Jones, Lyndsey Pruett….thanks to everyone for coming out and sending us off-what a busy, good time!!

Our first shows will be out in Denver, CO…it’s cool, it’s only like a 22 hour drive!  Once we get the van all organized and our girl in the backseat, we’ll be stoked to becovering some ground that we haven’t covered in a while, and Grace has never seen the Rockies! 

Can’t wait to start taking pictures to show y’all, please keep up with us!  If you have any suggestions of cool places to go along our tour route, good places to eat, pretty camping spots etc etc, pleeeeease send them along, we’re ready for some adventure!!!

 See ya soon!

Brittany

Set 1: Ash Grove, Dark Hollow, That’s The Way Love Goes, Night In Boise, Honky Tonk Home, Coal Miner’s Daughter, High Lonesome Sound> Rockabilly Rhythm, Ghosts of the Opry, C’est La Vie, Old Home Place, Gotta Get a Break, Uncle Pen> Jackson, Stand By Your Man, Promised Land

Set 2: Clayton Delaney, Dixieland Delight, Ramblin’ Gal, Waltz Across Texas, Lovesick Blues, Cumberland Blues> Let Your Love Flow, Oh Susana, Bar Room Blues, Second Fiddle to an Old Guitar, Honky Tonk Man, Kawliga, Not Fade Away> Jamaica> Don’t Ease Me In, E: Blue Moon of Kentucky

Comment: *Brittany Reilly & Brent Hopper Duo Show Lineup: Brittany Reilly (Guitar, Vocals), Brent Hopper (Guitar, Vocals)

Set 1: Ash Grove, Been All Around This World, Dixie Cannonball, Sing Me Back Home, High Lonesome Sound, Blue Moon of Kentucky, Walkin’ the Floor, Help Me Make It Through the Night, One Woman Man, Jamaica, Good Hearted Woman

Set 2: Bar Room Blues, When I Paint My Masterpiece> Dark Star> Born to Run, You Ain’t Woman Enough, The Weight> I’m Leaving You, C’est La Vie

Set 3: City of New Orleans, Second Fiddle to an Old Guitar, Long Legged Guitar Pickin’ Man> Jackson, Ghosts of the Opry, Samson & Delilah, E: Coal Miner’s Daughter

Comment: *Brittany Reilly & Brent Hopper Duo ShowLineup: Brittany Reilly (Guitar, Vocals), Brent Hopper (Guitar, Vocals)