Whew boy. What a weekend! I got permission to leave a whole hour early (shocking, I know) and I went home to finish packing. My parents got into town to stay with the kids and my husband and I left probably 10 minutes later. Our drive to Jacksonville was uneventful and we checked into the hotel around 7-ish. Our friends got in about 30 mins later and we decided to try for Cheesecake Factory, even though they’d said all reservations for the evening were gone. Luckily, it was only a 15 minute wait. I happily ordered a beer and ate bread while we waited for food. Mine was amazing: grilled steak tacos, rice and beans. OMG, so much of it too. Ash and I split a piece of Oreo cheesecake and only ate half of it!

It was pouring rain when we got out so we had to make a mad dash. After that, we parted ways and tried to get a good night’s sleep for the long day ahead. Actually, I slept in (7:15 is totally sleeping in for me). Ash and I were leisurely to get up then we went to a grocery store. We took a drive near the venue then went back to gather our friends for lunch. Since I am doing the intermittent fasting, I am not eating breakfast, basically, ever so that’s a little sad. (Granted, Thursday evening I DID eat eggs, bacon and a biscuit for dinner. I can still eat it, just not in the morning!)

After lunch we went back to the hotel and ordered up an uber to get to the venue, which was in Metropolitan park, right near where the Jacksonville Jaguars play. Basically, all 3 stages are set up either in a field or parking lot near the stadium and coliseum. We got there about 1ish and acquired drinks then walked from stage to stage. It was warm but there was a very nice breeze and some shade here and there. There certainly were some interesting people there: people in thongs, people in Jason costumes, people wearing very little at all. But I guess that’s a festival for you. We saw some pretty cool bands; Dead Girls Academy was fun as was Black Label Society. Zeal and Ardor was good too but I was getting tired by that point and a little grouchy. Luckily Ash brought me back out of that slump. We hung around a bit then watched Shinedown, who I didn’t much care for but then, the highlight of the night…

Judas Priest was AMAZING. I mean, spot on for old dudes. Rob can really still hit those high notes and it’s very impressive. What’s better is that my husband, who barely cares about music or getting into bands was loving it. He can’t wait to delve into their songbook and I just love when he likes things I do.

The night ended with Rob Zombie and he sounded terrible, sadly. I used to really like him. We were all kind of done so around 11 we walked a couple blocks and got our Uber back. I found it amusing that hardcore Christians were outside yelling about the satanic nature of all rock music as people were walking out. Really people? Get a life.

I get car sick and I was probably green when I finally exited her car. I was feeling so bad and it was not from alcohol; I only had 3 beers over the course of about 8 hours. The car ride killed me though and I fell into bed with nausea and a headache.

Th next morning, we basically just got ready and drove home but then yesterday was nice. Parents left soon after we got home and I did laundry and grocery shopping and just… hung around. We sat on the deck and enjoyed the nice weather. Oh and at night, I saw my first firefly of the season.

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OK, freebie day and in honor of the awesome Judas Priest show, here are a couple songs I really enjoy: