Bilbao... never wanna go home.

We are in Bilbao Spain today and if you have never been here but have a hankerin' to get out of town- look no further people, I have the town for you.
It is perfection and that is hard to come by.
We showed up today and were greeted by about 20,000 people walking the streets in front of our hotel. There is a massive festival going on and you know, that would normally make me hate a town, but this festival was different. These people are different. They are happy. They are sweet, lovely, kind, generous and the cops even let us go down a closed street, and drive right in front of a stage. Take that Switzerland.
Our hotel is amazing with a jet shower and two balconies facing the center which is where, now, about a million people are walking around. I wish I remembered the name of the event that is taking place because for once it is important.
We were directed by the hotel receptionist to walk down the street and choose any restaurant, she said they are all great. We have heard this before, every day in fact for the last 5 weeks but this time she was right- well either that or I just have a nose for this sort of thing. I saw a place, that looked great and even though all the tables out front (in the adorable alley that was packed with people and people playing instruments, singing and dancing) were dirty, we walked inside and were sat in the back. I like to sit outside but it looked like we had just missed the made rush for dinner. We are always a little later than everyone else, which in this case and many more, was good.
The food was amazing, Basque food is like that. We had marinated artichoke hearts and lobster salad, steak and risotto. I picked out a great bottle of wine, I'm pretty sure there were no bad bottles on the list, that is Spain.
After dinner we walked the streets and made our way back to the hotel, where Eddie hurried me to get out the door. That is a daily (and Daly) occurrence, I need to wash the road off of me, change baby clothes, make sure everyone is packed up- it takes a lot. You may be saying "why doesn't Eddie take care of the kids while you get ready?" well... because he is a man I guess. I'm kidding. Sometimes he is helpful, sometimes I tell him to do this and that but other times it is me getting ready while he is on his phone and telling me to hurry up... then I come out and I'm like "where's the baby's shoes?" "is Quattro's bag packed?". Then there are a lot of "no's" and then 20 minutes later we are out the door. Which to tell you the truth is not that big of deal, I mean, rock n roll is a lot of what we call "hurry up and wait". That is the name of the game. You hurry to make "load in" and then wait around for sound check. You hurry back to the club to hear that the set time is moved back. You just deal with it and over the years Eddie has learned to just deal with me needing some time alone in the bathroom to paint my toenails or take a shower. Even though he relentlessly bugs me to "hurry up!!".
We left the hotel and had to go get the guitar and merch from the car. We were in a pickle with what to do, either drive to the club (more favorite) or walk. Our parking garage closed at 9 p.m. and if you know anything about Spain, you should know that these people stay out LATE! Except, apparently, the parking garages... so either we take the car and then after the show drive around and look for a parking space or we get the shit and hoof it to the club. Luckily it was like a 15 minute walk to the club, by way of the parking garage. Finding parking is usually not a big deal for us, even in the middle of the night with a baby buuuuuut, there are a gazillion people on the street, so I'm guessing parking would not come easy- or ever. And there would most certainly be a ticket, if not a towing on our hands tomorrow. I don't know if you read the Basel post, but homeboy got the shaft in Switzerland, so we are all about following the rules (except for accidently blowing through a red light at 11 p.m. last night pulling into Bordeaux, France.
So we chose to walk. Baby,, stroller, bags, check! Merch, guitar, Oprah, check!- the works. (Oprah is Elvis' baby). We had to walk straight through the madness which drove Eddie crazy, Q and I loved it and Elvis fell asleep. There were freaky street performers, the kind that look like statues and then move. Yuck! Breakdancers, the absolute best I have ever seen! and I have seen a lot.
The club is cool, the staff is nice. That is what I love about Spain, they really care about how you are doing. And throw a 10 year old kid and a baby in the mix, these people really know how to treat people. Why don't I live in Spain? Oh, I will... this is where we will retire. And even though Eddie will never officially retire (ever heard of Willie Nelson?) we will move here when our kids are grown. This is where we will start a new chapter and it might just be in Bilbao. Really, it is that fucking cool.
I"m backstage now. Eddie is playing "Dead Homies". I was walking out to watch the show but I keep getting locked out of the backstage where Elvis is still asleep in her buggy, so I'm staying back here. I am comfortable leaving her back here while I sneak a peek but not if I have to keep getting Q to sneak through the stage door to run around and let me in. I'm a chill Mom, but not ridiculous.
What else? Not much, I mean, I am really just kind of shocked that this trip is almost over
(Eddie is playing "On the Couch"!! I had to run out and risk another lock out but my reentry was a success). I has been nearly 5 weeks and we are home in a week. I am SO excited to get home and yet really sad it is over. We have been planning this trip since the end of last summer.. there's so much work that is involved. It's a bit like Thanksgiving. All the prep, the recipe search, the shopping, the hours of cooking and then BOOM 8 minutes later- it's over. This has been (and felt) like more than 8 minutes but in some ways I wish it could go on forever. I guess it kind of does, so that is why I can go home with a smile on my face and a tear in my pocket. I alway miss the road. Always.
Today Eddie and I made a bet that in 6 months that if he can't do 10 pull ups (and me 5) he has to wear a speedo to the public pool in our neighborhood at family swim time. He hasn't decided what he wants me to do, I'm completely comfortable taking my clothes off (have you seen the cover to his solo records) so he will have to dig deep. He on the other hand is not really a take your clothes off kind of guy, never has been so this should be good. We started talking about it because our friend Jordan got in kick ass shape doing that P90X and he has been talking about it. And I like my body, I would just like to be stronger. I want to know I can kick someones ass in a dark alley, not just feel like I can.
In other boring news, I miss my animals SO damn much. I laid in bed not sleeping (oh, did I forget to say I'm an insomniac? I'm off the sleeping pills on the road for some stupid reason I forgot to pick them up before I left. Which is good and bad. I am happy not to take them every day, I don't like to take anything every day) and thought I felt my cat, Elwood, walking up from the end of the bed like she does every night. She waits about 5 minutes (I'm guessing she is making sure I am really going to bed and I'm not going to get out) and then like clockwork, climbs into bed, sniffs my eyelids and lays down next to me. Awwww, I miss her.
Now I'm going to go since I'm all sad and weepy and to top it off Eddie is playing "Roadworn and Weary".
I was thinking about what to do with this here blog (that I love so much) when I get back home. I tried to keep it going last time but when I got home I just felt like I was way too boring to write about. If anyone has any ideas about an angle I can exploit while I'm not on the road, things that might be interesting to a reader, please tell me because I really do enjoy writing. I am wouldn't care (lying) if 12 people were reading, getting this stuff out there- thinking about in 10-15 years my kids can read about their life as children and my life when I was young and maybe, possibly entertaining a fan or two or a mother or father- I'm cool with that. I'm a writer man, it is what I love to do. I have things pulse through me all day, things I can't wait to get on paper or in this piece of shit computer. I wait and wait until I'm not behind the wheel to get a chance where a tiny girl is not climbing on me, Quattro is tired of playing UNO (our road game from way back) and Eddie doesn't need me to "HURRY UP!", so sit down and empty myself, to rid myself of the words trampling my mind.
Good night people.
Thank you Bilbao.