Lilith Fair

Ever since I was a teenager I've dreamed of going to Lilith Fair. It's basically an all-girl pop/rock/alternative music concert held in the late 1990s.

When I heard that Lilith Fair was back and coming to the DC area I was ecstatic ... once I found out that Missy Higgins was going to be at Merriweather I knew I had to go.

Missy Higgins isn't very well known in the US, so she was on one of the side stages. That was great, because it allowed me to get really close to stage and take some great pictures. Here's Missy:

Sara Bareilles was playing on the main stage when we came back from watching Missy and I just have to say, Wow! Of course I'd heard her songs on the radio, but it wasn't until I heard her live that I realized she actually has a really great voice.

Cat Power was up next, but that wasn't really our thing so we left to get something to eat. Merriweather has lots of lawn seating so even though we had assigned seats, we got comfortable on the lawn while we ate our dinner.

Funny rooster statue in front of the Barns:

Courtyard Hounds (two of the Dixie Chicks) and the Indigo Girls were up next. They had some pretty catchy tunes so that was a lot of fun. The crowd really got into it.

The night ended as it always does, with the fabulous Sarah McLachlan:

She invited everyone back on stage, first just a couple at a time, until the final song of the night when she invited everyone to come out and sing with her. What a great night! Can't wait until next time :)


Trip summary:


Rating: 9/10
Distance: 28mi
Time spent: 7 hours
More information: http://www.lilithfair.com/

Virginia Beach

Time for another visit to Virginia Beach -- although to be honest the beach was just an added bonus: my real reason for traveling to Virginia Beach was to attend the Country Throwdown Tour.

Love Heidi Newfield! This was the first time I got to see her live and it was Amazing!

Little Big Town.

Time to hit the beach ... The weather was fabulous so it wasn't long before I hit the water. What a change from the last time we were here in May! Unfortunately there really weren't any waves so I picked up a pair of kick fins at one of the local surf shops and that helped a lot.

Lots of dolphins that day ... we saw at least 10 of them:

Time for a visit to my favorite pizza place in VA Beach. It's super simple, but it's a nice tradition.

There are many nice murals throughout the area. Keep your eyes peeled and you'll find them

After a nice lunch we head back to the beach. There's a free concert on the beach because of Memorial Day and it's started to get crowded.

The sun's starting to set:

View from one of the hotels. Ours was a few blocks back from the beach so I snuck into the one we stayed at last time and snapped a quick picture from their pool area. 

So who was playing? Hall & Oats! I'd never heard of them, but I actually knew a lot of their songs. Strangely enough they played a lot of their big hits during their warm-up earlier in the day (we were lucky enough to sit near the stage during the afternoon so we heard the whole thing), but not during the show?

We got up early the next morning to watch the sun rise over the ocean.

Isn't it beautiful?!

Rudee Inlet in the early morning hours. There were already a lot of people our with their fishing rods.

One more picture of the sunrise ... it's actually a statue, not real people.

Because I had such a great time watching Heidi Newfield perform and there weren't any real waves, we decided to leave the beach early and catch up with the throwdown tour in Bristow. We'll be back some other time ...


Trip summary:

Rating: 9/10 (what can I say? I love Heidi!)
Distance: 210 mi
Time spent: 2 days
Entrance fees: free
More information:
* http://www.vbfun.com/
* http://heidinewfield.com/
* http://www.countrythrowdown.com/