Ravinia

So to start, this summer we experienced things that we couldn't the first summer we were here. Remember: when we moved here there were 110* temps and no going out and NO A/C yet in the apartment. So we've been trying to hit the things to do this year. One neat thing was going to Ravinia. Ravinia is basically a town that is made for having concerts all year round. Check it out here http://www.ravinia.org/ . Val and I didn't know what to expect. We went with her coworker Diana and had tickets for k.d. lang and Lyle Lovett. You'd think weird combo huh?

We started doubting this whole ordeal when we heard we wouldn't be able to see the stage and we'd just be listening to speakers on the lawn. For those people in the Texas area, I was picturing the Woodlands Pavilion with a drape behind it and then us cheap folks sitting on the grass. Boy was I wrong.

Ravinia is GORGEOUS!! And everyone goes all out. They have short legged tables with their candles and wine and cheese. I've never seen so many people with picnic baskets all in one place. We were tacky rolling up with a cooler of beer and crackers. I felt 'under dressed' if you will... anyways, we didn't take many pictures but this is somewhat the layout of it:

And then the show began...it was interesting to listen to a show and not watch it but in this setting it was great!! k.d. lang's soulfoul voice made it wonderful and wow can she belt it out. Lyle Lovett was surprisingly enjoyable. We were just dissapointed Ms. Lang only got 45 minutes and was opening for him...what?! How dare they?! And we weren't allowed to take pictures for whatever reason...but we snuck a few with the zoom!!

It was a great event and we're definitley doing that again. The park is also right next door to the Botanical Gardens which I've been dying to get to, so we're thinking of a weekend there! And so easy to get to! I had no idea. So for having extremely low expectations for this it was a wonderful surpise!