While we were discussing possible plans for the weekend over dinner Friday night, I threw out the idea of attending one of the local political rallies that would be taking place.  Colorado has become a key state in this election and the presidential race is pretty much dead even here.  Both Romney and Obama would be holding a rally near us on the weekend.  I told the kids that if any of them wanted to attend either one I would be game for taking them.  Knowing that it was an important time historically, and would be a memorable occasion.

My older girls weren’t interested, but my youngest piped up enthusiastically and said she wanted to go see the president.  She is in 4th grade and has a good awareness of what is going on in the world.  I could tell there was a part of her that recognized this as a great opportunity, and possibly a grand adventure.  She is Dad’s ‘adventure buddy’ after all.

The fact that Dave Matthews was performing was a cool bonus.

Information was scarce about the actual logistics and timing of the events.  I didn’t even know for sure whether it was indoor or outdoor, but planned ahead and took warm clothes.  We definitely needed them as we were out in the cool November night air for about 7 hours.  I tried to shoot some video of Dave singing, but was shivering so bad by then I couldn’t hold the camera steady.

He played and sang some good stuff (“You & Me” and “Mercy” among others).  During the song “Don’t Drink the Water”, Dave transitioned into “This Land is Your Land” with the crowd singing along and clapping.  Very cool moment.

This video of “You and Me” is definitely worth a watch/listen:

Leaving home at 4:00 in the afternoon, we wouldn’t get back again until after 1:00 in the morning.  It was a long haul with lots of lines and waiting, but totally worth it.

The running joke in our family is that a typical ‘Dad adventure’ involves some or all of the following – crying, being lost, long periods without food or drink, exhaustion, waiting, boredom, mental breakdown, and physical injury of some sort all rolled up into one MEGA-awesome experience.  This outing would be no different.

Seeing the whole event through the eyes of a 4th grader was the best thing ever, something that I will treasure in my memory for a very long time.  The way her face lit up like only a kid’s can with ‘HOLY COW THAT IS THE PRESIDENT!!  HE IS RIGHT THERE!!’ written all over it was priceless.

It was neat to forget about all of the politics for a while and just enjoy the moment doing something unique and special together.