Confessions of a Summer Traveler

 It's been a couple days here in Ashland, now. I've seen 2 1/2 plays (more on that later), met some neat people, ate some tasty food, and shopped. Wait a minute, you're saying to yourself, this guy said he'd start with the Lake Tahoe trip! Right, right. How could I forget? The trip to Tahoe was put into motion almost a year ago, when tickets for Weird Al went on sale in September 2024 for a show at Harrah's. I've seen Al play many, many times, but if there's a concert within driving distance odds are I'll go. Along the way, the venue was changed to the amphitheater behind Caesar's, which at the time seemed JUST FINE. I decided to extend the weekend by going to the last weekend of Tahoe's Shakespeare Festival, with the closing show the night before the concert. I went to the Tahoe festival a couple years ago and saw Much Ado About Nothing (which I loved); this year they were staging Twelfth Night, which I don't know anything about.  At the cru...

 So here I am, sitting in my hotel in Ashland, Oregon, waiting for the first play of my trip to begin a bit later. I started thinking about the things I'd like to share about my summer adventures, but because so much of my vacations have been solo, this seemed like a mostly satisfying compromise.  Two years ago, I took a couple short trips - one to Santa Cruz with one of my best friends; and one to the Midwest to see a power metal festival and catch some Twins games on their home field. At least for the first one I had some company. Amanda took me to see Rocky Horror Picture Show for the first time (I didn't particularly love it) at a midnight showing full of super fans; we browsed a local bookshop where I encountered the first book in Becky Chambers' awesome sci-fi series; and we went down to the beach and chilled.  On my trip to the Midwest, I started in Minnesota. I'd never been, despite my grandparents being born there. I had tickets for 3 games against the Tigers, ...