BEYOND PARTY COVE, INDY, THE MALL & THE BARBEQUES
No football news today, just sliding into the Memorial Day weekend, the official start of "the season" here at the Lake. It's the first weekend of Party Cove, the Midwest's version of a floating Sodom & Gomorrah, a 2-3 thousand boat flotilla lashed together, dedicated to all things important, topless girls, endless alcohol & a lot of very bad behavior.
Memorial Day weekend has always been about auto racing too. The proclaimed "Greatest Spectacle in Motorsports" that is the Indianapolis 500. Tens of millions of viewers worldwide plus nearly half a million people at the Speedway, the rich & famous in luxury boxes, the corporations that own blocks of seats on the front straightaway & the tens of thousands of party goers that populate the infield, a larger, land-based version of Party Cove. Only a few hours after the Indy winner pulls into victory lane, the call of "gentlemen start your engines" will be given at Lowe's Motor Speedway for NASCAR's Coca Cola 600.
If you watch those motorsports, you'll certainly be bombarded with sale ads. Some people start their Memorial Day weekend at the mall, taking advantage of a buy one, get a second at half price come on. Everybody's got grills & patio furniture on sale, even stores you wouldn't think would carry those items. The newspaper is stuffed with flyers urging you to celebrate Memorial Day weekend at Home Depot or Target.
Maybe a picnic in the park or a backyard barbecue is how you'll celebrate the Memorial Day weekend. Burgers, brats, ribs or some chicken cooked on a grill is hard to beat, I know we'll partake in this more than once this weekend. Some lemonade, sweet tea or ice cold beer round out any barbecue, at least they round out my barbeque's. Great to see family or friends, relax a little, enjoy the unofficial start of summer on the deck or patio.
Our weekend will include family, the 500, some NASCAR, grilled chicken, a bunch of laughs & a few cold beers, if my gout will allow it. I wish your Memorial Day weekend includes all the things that make you & yours happy. Through it all, I sincerely hope that while strolling the mall, watching cars tear around the track at nearly 200 mph or twisting the top of that longneck Budweiser, you'll toast those who long ago made all of this possible & to those who's Memorial Day weekend is committed to the constant vigil that is necessary to keep us safe & free. Thank your grandfathers, dads, aunts, uncles, brothers, sisters, cousins, sons, daughters & friends who believe serving our country is important enough to stand up & take that oath. To be far from loved ones, possibly being put in harm's way, possibly injured or even giving the ultimate sacrifice, dying in the service of our country.
Say it out loud....thank you. Thru the parties, barbeque's, races & the sales, those two words can bring you back to what Memorial Day was originally intended to be, plus it will make you feel good, I promise. Just say it with me.......thank you. Thank you dad, thank you uncle Bill, thank you uncle Dick & thank you to my father-in-law Hugh. Thank you cousin Gary & thank you to my nephew Jason. Thank you to Scott Benson, thank you Mike & Chad Rudolph, thank you Bob Antoniak, thank you Tim & Beth Layden & thank you to all the people I served with way back when. Now I feel better too, please have a safe holiday weekend & enjoy every minute of it.
Memorial Day weekend has always been about auto racing too. The proclaimed "Greatest Spectacle in Motorsports" that is the Indianapolis 500. Tens of millions of viewers worldwide plus nearly half a million people at the Speedway, the rich & famous in luxury boxes, the corporations that own blocks of seats on the front straightaway & the tens of thousands of party goers that populate the infield, a larger, land-based version of Party Cove. Only a few hours after the Indy winner pulls into victory lane, the call of "gentlemen start your engines" will be given at Lowe's Motor Speedway for NASCAR's Coca Cola 600.
If you watch those motorsports, you'll certainly be bombarded with sale ads. Some people start their Memorial Day weekend at the mall, taking advantage of a buy one, get a second at half price come on. Everybody's got grills & patio furniture on sale, even stores you wouldn't think would carry those items. The newspaper is stuffed with flyers urging you to celebrate Memorial Day weekend at Home Depot or Target.
Maybe a picnic in the park or a backyard barbecue is how you'll celebrate the Memorial Day weekend. Burgers, brats, ribs or some chicken cooked on a grill is hard to beat, I know we'll partake in this more than once this weekend. Some lemonade, sweet tea or ice cold beer round out any barbecue, at least they round out my barbeque's. Great to see family or friends, relax a little, enjoy the unofficial start of summer on the deck or patio.
Our weekend will include family, the 500, some NASCAR, grilled chicken, a bunch of laughs & a few cold beers, if my gout will allow it. I wish your Memorial Day weekend includes all the things that make you & yours happy. Through it all, I sincerely hope that while strolling the mall, watching cars tear around the track at nearly 200 mph or twisting the top of that longneck Budweiser, you'll toast those who long ago made all of this possible & to those who's Memorial Day weekend is committed to the constant vigil that is necessary to keep us safe & free. Thank your grandfathers, dads, aunts, uncles, brothers, sisters, cousins, sons, daughters & friends who believe serving our country is important enough to stand up & take that oath. To be far from loved ones, possibly being put in harm's way, possibly injured or even giving the ultimate sacrifice, dying in the service of our country.
Say it out loud....thank you. Thru the parties, barbeque's, races & the sales, those two words can bring you back to what Memorial Day was originally intended to be, plus it will make you feel good, I promise. Just say it with me.......thank you. Thank you dad, thank you uncle Bill, thank you uncle Dick & thank you to my father-in-law Hugh. Thank you cousin Gary & thank you to my nephew Jason. Thank you to Scott Benson, thank you Mike & Chad Rudolph, thank you Bob Antoniak, thank you Tim & Beth Layden & thank you to all the people I served with way back when. Now I feel better too, please have a safe holiday weekend & enjoy every minute of it.
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