Twin Cities - October 5-10

Next stop on the tour was the last for Lizz :( We went up to St Paul, MN to visit some friends of ours. Hadn't seen Zach and Heather for quite a while and it was really cool hanging out and catching up with them. Lizz only got to spend one night with them before I had to take her to the airport and bid her farewell. The next couple of days I pretty much just relaxed and hung out except for making a trip out to the Mall of America, the largest mall in the US. Didn't really check it out in great detail, but it seemed pretty large from the bit I saw and it did have a rollercoaster in the middle!

On the 7th was the Stryper concert in Minneapolis. Got there early and was hooked up with a VIP pass for the night :) Since I was there early I could have had a prime spot in front of stage, but instead I decided to take advantage of my VIP pass and head up to the balcony overhead. I also got to hang out with Kelvin from the Stryper Forum who was also a VIP. It was a great show and fun hanging out with Kalvin and his wife. After the concert Kelvin let me hold a bass guitar that was used by Travy Ferrie (Stryper bass guitarist) in a one off concert they did a couple of years back. It was pretty cool.

After another couple of days rest and hanging out with Zach and Heather it was time to move on... Oh and there was snow in St Paul!

Chicago - October 4th

Another long bus trip to get us back in time for another awesome Stryper concert. We arrived in the afternoon with just enough time for a quick hangout with our friends, one of whom was having her birthday that day. So off we went to the concert, taking our friend Kim with us to experience her first Stryper show. Word on the street is that she loved it. At the show we ran into Ron Braun - the guy who draws the Stryper cartoon pics.

Dayton, Ohio October 3rd

Another few hours on the road driving back to Dayton and returning the rental car. Covered over 1000kms going Dayton - Knoxville return (via Cincinnati). Done pretty well driving on the right but wrong side off the road even if I do say so myself. Were experienced some excellent hospitality from Mike (from a Stryper forum) and his wife Christiana who drove us around, feed us, and put us up for the night. Couldn't have asked for better hosts! Unfortunately security wouldn't let cameras into the show, so no photos from that night. One other highlight from that night was getting shown inside the tour bus for a quick tour!!!

October 2 Knoxville

The drive from Cincinnati to Knoxville was fine. Was supposed to take about 4 hours, but we took a detour and went to the Cumberland Falls, billed as the Niagara of the South. It wasn’t anywhere as large or powerful as the Niagara, but it was still a pretty cool waterfall. After that we carried on to Knoxville for the Stryper show. Turns out that there was a major college football game on in town so downtown was very busy, well very busy for a small town. Unfortunately Flight Patterns had some car trouble and they were unable to make it down to open for Stryper, but we still had Manic Drive who are pretty cool as well. At the show I met up with another Stryper forum friend “Stryper Freak” and his family. This was in a theatre so it was designated seating. Quite different from the other shows, but didn’t distract from the enjoyment of the show.

October 1 Creation Museum

We took an overnight bus to Dayton, Oh picked up a rental car, and drove down to the Creation Museum just outside of Cincinnati, Oh. Had really been looking forward to seeing this since they announced they were building it several years ago. It is basically a museum that tells history accurately using the Bible as the foundation for interpretation. For example fossils are seen as evidence of the global flood in Noah’s day rather than evidence of millions of years of evolution. It was a really good museum and I highly recommend it to all. It had heaps of models, including several animated ones that spoke their story. As you went around the museum it told the story of man from creation through to babel and then to Christ. They also have a petting zoo and botanical gardens.

September 26-30 Chicago

Whilst the Stryper tour went up to Canada Lizz and I took off to Chicago to catch up with friends from Moody Bible College. We stayed on campus, Lizz with the girls and me in the boys doom. It was quite fun since I have never experienced doom life before. Although we didn’t get to catch up with all our friends which was a shame, it was great to catch up with those whom we did. Chicago is a pretty cool city. Its one of the largest cities in the US but it doesn’t feel like a massive city. As well as catching up with friends we walked all around downtown, the lake front, to the sears tower etc.

September 25 Mt Clemens (Detroit)

Up and early to travel to Detroit for the next Stryper show. This time we have meet and greet tickets. This will be a chance for Lizz to meet the band in person. Before the show we met up with Joel (another Stryper forum friend) and his buddy. Whilst we waited to go in another couple of forum members came up and said hi which was cool. Once we were inside we were watching the band go through sound check and Tim started talking to me as he recognised me from earlier, then Mike joined in indicating that he remember (parts) of my TV spot. It was so cool to have the band recognise me and talk to me! During the meeting part Lizz got to meet all the band members except for Michael whom wasn’t feeling well. I also gave the member their New Zealand gifts I had brought over but had left at the hotel the other times I met them. The show rocked again of course. Flight Patterns are rocking as well.

September 24 Cleveland

We didn’t get up to much in Cleveland. Decided to have a bit of a rest after days of walking hours and hours every day. Went to the show, Stryper rocked again of course. At the show caught up with Mike, another friend from one of the Stryper forums and his wife.

September 21-23 Washington DC

With a couple of days with no shows and then a show that is too hard to get to we decided to head off to Washington DC for some sightseeing. I will be back later in the tour to see Stryper and ACDC here but Lizz will be back home by then and she really wants to see Washington. We ended up arriving late in the evening on the 21st so simply rested up and spent some time planning on where we wanted to go and see over the next couple of days. The next day saw us head out to the Holocaust museum first. It is actually quite a substantial museum and we ended up spending several hours going through the place. It was very moving and sad to think how on earth humanity could have done this. We then walked over to the Washington monument (the tall pointy thing) and the Lincoln memorial. Our next stop was another place to remember the fallen – Arlington Cemetery. This is where JFK and his family are buried and also thousands of war veterans. We saw the Pentagon from inside the cemetery but did not go into it. After all that walking it was time to crawl back to the hostel and get some rest.

The next day we headed over to Capitol Hill. This is where the US Congress sits. This is made up of the Senate and the House of Representatives. We were able to go into the viewing gallery of both houses and see them in action. We also went on a tour of the old section of the building. Very cool building with exceptional architecture and statues etc. We then went through a tunnel into the Library of Congress. I assumed that this was going to be a library of legal/political books for the politicians to use. Whilst it included that it was a lot more as well. When ever someone submits something for copyright they must submit an extra copy that goes into the Library of Congress. So every item produced books, articles, music etc is in the Library. Also the architecture is awesome and tells a story. After this we went across to the Supreme Court and then up to the White House. Covered the three branches of government in the one day. After that we went back to the hostel to wait until our overnight bus.

September 18-19 New York & New Jersey Shows

After a bit of sightseeing it was time to head off and meet up with other Stryper fans before the New York show. It was great to meet up with people that we have known for a while through the Stryper forum but not in person. We met at a place just across from where the concert was being held. At the table was Shagg and Becky, Jeff, Deb, Judy, Yaz, Scott, someone whose name escapes me for now, and me and Lizz. After hanging out for a bit we headed over to the concert to get good spots. This was going to be the first time Lizz sees Stryper in person. The show was a blast, the crowd was really into it and everyone had a blast. Lizz really loved her first Stryper show and can’t wait for more.

The next day after a bit of sightseeing we headed over to New Jersey to meet up with Shagg and Becky to travel down to Asbury Park to see the show at the Stone Pony. Luckily I was able to take in my video camera and was able to take some good footage. You can find that on my you tube page. It was another awesome show and once again we had good spots close to the stage. Having such a great time.