Friday, June 8, 2012, I made the trip to Tulsa to see my daughter. We had tickets to the Barry Manilow Concert and planned to make an evening of it.
I got there mid afternoon so we had a chance to visit before getting ready to go out to dinner. We decided to go to a place we had been to before, The Spaghetti Warehouse. Food was delicious as always and it was filling but we knew we would do some walking later so figured we'd walk it off.
When we left the restaurant, we found a parking garage not far from the Center where we were going for the concert. We got parked, walked the half block to the center and waited until they opened the doors. It was a nice evening so not to bad to have to stand outside to wait.
Once inside, we got in the line and as we approached the ticket taker, I was first and she told me to step over to a table near by as my ticket would be upgraded. At first, I thought it must be my age or maybe we were the 1000th customer or something. I waited to see what they said to Melanie as I didn't want to sit somewhere else without her being close. But they told her the same thing.
They didn't sell out all the seats so were filling in on the others and boy did we get a deal. We were fairly close to the stage and just high enough that our view wasn't blocked and we still could see the big screen. We were given light sticks to use during the concert which was fun too.
This was my first concert so I was really excited.
But back to our walking experience for a moment. When we were admitted, we went looking for the vendor's booth to get our T-shirts. We found one small one and he said we had to go on around the other way to a larger one. Well, he must have been turned around in his directions as we started walking and almost encircled the inside of the center before we found it and it was just a ways from where we entered. But we got in line and got our T-shirts and then found out seats.
And we were in for the show of our lives. Barry Manilow still has a great voice and entertained us with many of his songs and added some humor along with it. He also had a video presentation going on behind him which made it enjoyable as well. We took pictures, videos and sang along and applauded and really enjoyed it all. The people around us were all friendly and it made it a real enjoyable experience.
When we left, we exited at the opposite end so it meant another long walk back to the parking garage. See, we did get to walk off all that good pasta we had. LOL
We went back to her apartment and changed into our shirts and then went over to her place of employment, Magoo's. She'd been telling everyone I was coming so they wanted to meet me and I wanted to meet the ones she always talked about. We got a bite to eat and of course had a couple of drinks but we also had some laughs and good times. We even got up to dance once which was fun.
By the time the evening was over, I was tired but it was a good tired and I had so much fun but then when Melanie and I go out for an evening, we usually do have fun. We laugh and play and I have to say she makes me feel younger. But usually the next day I realize I'm not 40 something anymore but wouldn't change a thing.
I left yesterday morning to come home and took a nap yesterday afternoon and by evening I was feeling pretty good. Legs were a little sore and knees a little stiff but it was well worth it and I think if the opportunity came up again to see a favorite, I'd do it all over.
There is something about seeing them perform live that beats listening to the records or CD's or watching them on a TV special.
So we had a great girls night out and a lot of memories to last forever.
