summer plans, already

My firstborn son (ha) will be named after the pianist, Benmont, in the brown coat and red shirt 

Tom Petty is touring this summer, and you all know how I feel about Tom Petty. Love him. He's coming to Nashville, Atlanta, and Dallas and/or Houston (they're interchangeable aren't they?), and I'm smack dab in the middle of those. At first, we were going with Nashville because it is about an hour closer than the others, and it's not in Texas.

But a wild thought crossed my mind today-- ATLANTA. If we go to Atlanta, we can drive over the morning after to Charleston and stay with my friend from London, Betty, who I haven't seen in three years! Plus I've never been to Charleston and have always been looking for a reason to go. My secret plan (haven't told the husband this yet, he's still absorbing the extra time in the car I just tacked on), is on the way home to sneak down to Savannah for at least a quick drive-through and maybe a lunch if we're lucky.

Charleston beaches, here we come

 

So we're turning this into our summer vacation. It will be pretty economical-- only one hotel the night of the concert, otherwise we'll be at Betty's house, plus the gas, food, and tickets. We had thought, sometime last year, that this was the year we'd get to make it to Italy, but with the way the economy has been, neither of us have gotten the raises we expected, and neither of us feel comfortable asking for two weeks off just yet. We're moving back to our original plan on that trip and expecting to go the summer of 2012, as a 30th birthday present for me.

This will definitely do in exchange for now. Not only do I get to see my favorite band in person again, but I get to hang out with one of the coolest people in the world in one of the most beautiful cities in the world for a whole weekend. I'll take 12 hours in the car for that any day.

We're in the Tom Petty fan club, and as members we get to log into the presale tomorrow morning at 11 am central. Wish me luck on getting good seats!