Hello Everybody!
Some of you may know that every summer I join my parents and their group of close friends in Rhinelander, Wisconsin for the Hodag Country Festival. I've been going since I was 14 and since I've missed the past two years, I made sure that I was going this year! Even though I am not the biggest fan of country music, I absolutely love the atmosphere and the people that I get to share it with.
For those of you who don't know what the HODAG is, it is a 9 day music festival with some of country music's biggest entertainers and some newer ones as well. Here is the link to the festival's website https://www.hodag.com .We usually only go for 5 days because those are the days that count!
Wednesday, we set up camp and get settled in before we each take a lawn chair or two down to the stage and wait in the dreaded chair line. We wait with coolers full of drinks and our chairs, enough for ourselves and then some, for an hour or two until our 'sections' are called off and we run walk briskly to our spot with chairs in each hand to our designated spots where we want to view the shows.
Almost every year we get the same spot.
And this was one of those years.
This year I was not with everyone to sit in the chair line as I came up later on Thursday (aw gee too bad huh).
Mom, Dad, Uncle Jill and A1 waited up for me to walk to the show that night and to meet up with everyone.
Including myself, our group had a total of 28 people! It was fantastic!
The 'small' version of our group on Sunday after almost half of everyone left.
My Dad and I lit off a Chinese paper lantern that I had brought and it hadn't got about 30 feet off the ground and the security guards were there in no time telling us that they had to confiscate the rest of them or we would be kicked out. Well, they didn't take the rest of them but we didn't light off any more. It was beautiful none the less.
Friday, my great-uncle, 'Howie' and friends of his host 'Margaritaville' at their campsite and just about everyone is invited. They go through like 400 cups of margaritas, it's amazing.
Great-Uncle Frannie and his Hodag Hair
Later on that night we listened to Joe Nichols and Justin Moore. I've seen Joe Nichols before so I was familiar with him, but Justin Moore was new. And when someone is a Hodag virgin, especially a performer, they are surprised by how the crowd greets them when they introduce their band literally everyone waves their right hand across and says, "Hi (persons first name that was introduced)!" It is my absolute FAVORITE part of every show. So his band was a little taken back.
Dad with beer in hand, because there is no other way.
Mom& Joanie/Eve Uncle Jill prepping for pudding shots!
My beautiful mom. Where I get my crazy fun from.
Beautiful Roda with her uber tan skin and Philippina features.
Uncle Jill with the turkey baster-becuase this is some serious hands-on work. Not.
Mom loading up the paper 'glasses'. I got angsty with how messy she made it and took over.
The next day was so ungodly hot we left our chairs for a few hours just to go back to camp and cool down. And that night we watched The Band Perry which were fantastic! We got back to camp around 10:30-10:45 and sat around the fire and laughed all night.
Didn't realize how weird my toes looked, sorry for the body phenomenon. P.S it looks like I have a massive under-bite (ew).
It's safe to say I got a bit of sun
We've appropriately named this guy 'corn cob'. He was a Hodag virgin; can you tell?
Sunday, we went down at about 3 and stayed until the king of the Hodag, Mr. Neal McCoy was all said and done. At the age of 56, he still climbed to the very top of the stage roof and 'rapped' the story of the Beverly Hillbillies. It was a show that I never want to miss.
After the shows were done, everybody carried their chairs and coolers back to camp and sat around the fire once more. We listened to 'Uptown Funk', Three Dog Night, The Grass Roots, and of course a bit of The Beatles. Mom and I were the last to go to bed and the last to wake up the next morning.
The emptiness of the grounds on Monday morning.
Oh yeah, I bought a sweet keychain too.
A very relaxing weekend indeed.
We packed up, said our good-byes and headed home. I followed Mom&Dad most of the way and eventually passed them once we got closer to home. Sent the obligatory 'made it home safe' text and once I got settled in that I was home, I cried. Even though I had just seen everyone a few hours ago I missed them so much, especially my parents.
Even though I can see them anytime I'd like.
But, I can't wait to go back next year!
xxoo
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