Back from Break, Let's go WEST! (Spokane)

Yep, a goat....but not just any kind of goat.  Though unassuming, this meek metal animal packs a powerful special skill.  Just inch your way towards it...SLOWLY...slowly...have your piece of trash or pine cone or small object you never want to see again in your had...push button to right of goat....now feed your trash to the friendly animal...don't be shy...go ahead...and watch it...WOOSH!...the goat has sucked up your trash so quickly you barely know what to do with yourself ;)  You HAVE to try this if you go to Spokane.  It is one of the left over exhibits from the '74 World's Fair held at the fantastic park right in downtown Spokane.

We also met a fascinating street musician called Tommy G from the 509.  Kara and I found another fantastic breakfast spot, Madeline's (which has coffees the size of the milchekaffes I found in Germany!).  This guy was playing is guitar in the corner of the cafe, singing with more soul than I've heard in a while from a white guy :)  We got to talkin for about 30 minutes or so, and he has quite a life story.  I found him in the park a couple days later "busting" (defiantly playing on a bench with his case out for money...which is currently illegal in Spokane).  So, I guess I broke the law with him and bought one of his CDs....take that Uncle Sam!

(This is another famous landmark in the park.  We made a cast photo before we left!)

All in all, besides the small hail storm we got, Spokane was a great little town.  I was excited to get to our next destination because it is near my sister in CA!

Raleigh and Appleton

Raleigh was definitely a highlight for me, coming back home in a way.  I grew up in North Carolina and even went to school at UNC-Chapel Hill which is near Raleigh, but I never actually spent that much time IN Raleigh.  I believe, as with many cities, they are trying to revive the downtown and are making nice strides.  It was nice to get to know my own "backyard" a little better.

The best part was seeing old friends.  My parents came, my voice teacher (pictured above), a couple friends from college as well as one guy who voted me in the all male a cappella group I sang with, The Clef Hangers.  The Clefs were a HUGE part of my time at UNC.  I also got a chance to reconnect with the scholarship foundation, the Morehead Scholarship (now called the Morehead-Cain Scholarship), that helped change my life by bringing me to UNC.  Below is a photo with my girl in front of one of the most famous UNC landmarks, the Old Well!

Appleton was probably the nicest city we've been to.  Granted, we've gotten great treatment everywhere, but Appleton kicked it up a notch...cranked it to eleven, if you will.  I celebrated my birthday out there, and a number of people in the restaurant (who I did not know) insisted on singing to me and buying me a drink.  Granted, they were a little tipsy but genuine :)  Our audiences were so boisterous that we had to hold for applause and laughter in places we never had to hold before!  What a way to close out the 2nd section of our tour.  We're looking forward to getting our original Laura back, and I'm looking forward to getting my girlfriend back on tour :)

See you in Spokane, Washington!

Florida Sunshine: Tampa & Naples

For me, Tampa was more than just hope for warmth.  It also meant a chance to see family...LOTS of family.  Most of my father's side of the family live(d) in Tampa as I was growing up.  Consequently I have many memories of making the 12 hours drive down from NC after Christmas to spend the rest of the holiday with the Masseys.  60 or 70 degrees on New Years Eve was always weird though!

I was able to stay with my aunt during the week and see almost all 6 of my cousins and their families.  My oldest cousin is a pastor in a new church.  He asked me to sing on that Sunday and played for me as well.  That marked our first "duet" together :)

While it was warmer than Toronto, it wasn't ALL that warm.  In fact, it was quite windy.  That didn't stop us from enjoying the awesome art fair that was going on right outside the theater downtown.  I liked it so much that I made my first real grown-up art purchase.  I was nervous :)  But I got to meet the artist of the unique piece and can't wait to hang it up in my apartment back home!

*I have to mention that I was surprised at one performance by the older couple that was camping next to us last summer in the Adirondack Mountains (see an earlier post).  Can you believe they remembered us from upstate NY!!  I love those kind of stories :)*

Naples gave us the first chance to hit the beach...and we did as soon as the rain stopped :)  It was SO WONDERFUL to sit in the sun.  I definitely got a little more color than I bargained for...cause I guess I was enjoying it too much :)

I also found this fantastic cafe only a couple of miles from our hotel called the Sunburst Cafe.  The owner is Jerome, a Boston transplant who probably makes the best muffins I have ever laid eyes on.  Unfortunately I couldn't eat them myself because of the gluten, but by the smell and my cast members reactions I could tell he knocked it out of the park.  Plus, he was SO generous, giving more than a plateful as gifts to the cast.  The best part was that he brought his family to see our show on Saturday night.  I feel like I made a friend!  So, if you are ever in the area you will be delighted with the food and welcomed by the owners of the Sunburst down in Naples. I got to borrow Melissa's convertible (shown in the pic above) and it was AWESOME! :)

We also had to say goodbye to the smallest member of our cast, Carly Sonenclar, who played Carrie.  She will be missed!

Soon we'll be back in my home state, North Carolina!

Canadia: Our friends to the North!

Toronto was our longest sit-down of the tour (5 whole weeks!).  It finally gave us time to really get to know a city.  I was able to rent an apartment north of town and used the subway to get everywhere.  Though it's not quite as extensive as the NYC Subway system, it definitely takes the cake for punctuality!

We were in the beautiful Canon Theater pictured above.  It is owned by one of the biggest producers of theater in Canada, the Mirvish's.  Though the audiences were a bit quite and the reviews were less than stellar here, we had a great run.  In fact, the size of the audience grew steadily over the 5 weeks, indicating that we are a word of mouth audience favorite...the kind of show I would rather be in :)  Funny enough, right across the street was a music venue with quite a sensible name (see below ;)

The weather was pretty good considering we were in Canada in the dead of winter.  Actually, my parents in NC got more snow from all of those crazy storms in February than we did!  We did take advantage of some winter sports.

But I wouldn't have been able to take part in this ice-skatery if it weren't for the good folds at the Sports Medicine Clinic.  My PT, Chris, was great!  Check out how pain free it was:

That new fangled thing in the bottom picture is a laser that helps accelerate tissue recovery.  Medicine has definitely advanced since I was a kid...oh no, I'm starting to sound old! 

All in all, it was a wonderful stay in Toronto.  Everyone from my dresser, Woody, to the doorman, Mahesh, was so friendly in the theater.  I got to see some of my Canadian friends that were in The Three Musketeers with me in Chicago.  Plus I got to experience both sides of the coin: watching with amazement as America defeated Canada in Hockey at their first meeting and then eating a good dose of humble pie when Canada defeated America in the final game.  It was great to be in the host country during an Olympic season.  

Onto sunshine in Tampa, Florida.  I could use a day with just a T-shirt on :)

Anniversaries are die besten!

I was reminded by the our dear Julia, now known as Julschi, and Kirsten that today is the 1 year anniversary from my debut as Tarzan in Germany.  I can't begin to tell you what a wonderful year it has been, full of adventures, new friends, new languages and lots of flying!  I thought I would post some of my favorite pictures from my trips back and forth to Hamburg.  I was nervous and excited that first trip out in February...but every time I came back, I couldn't wait to get off the plane and be reunited with the show, friends and fans, all of which I have come to care for deeply!

(One of the many nights we spent at the Boston Hotel lounge)

(After a long day in Lubeck, our reactions to a dinner of currywurst. I guess I missed the memo that it was a "crazy face" shot)

(Breakfast with my girlfriend at my favorite neighborhood morning spot.  Check out those beautiful, huge milchekaffes!)

(One of the first sunny days for me in Hamburg. My German friend from 3 years earlier came to visit and we went to Blankenese)

(Luckily this picture isn't real!  These are Mark's crutches. It was my birthday, so we had to have some fun :)

(from my wonderful birthday night.  I was so touched by how many of the cast, crew and fans all celebrated with me!)

(And my wonderful German friends showing support for this ole American boy).

It's just a glimpse from the past year of Hamburg, but it was definitely one of the bright spots.  Thanks to all of you who made it so memorable.  Hopefully I can return the favor someday.

I'll post about Toronto soon.  We've never been in one place longer than 2 weeks!...ha

3 Stops, Constant Snow

It is definitely winter!  Our first stop after the break was in Fayetteville, Arkansas, and it gave us the coldest temperatures yet on tour.  This was unfortunate because Fayetteville was a great small town with a college campus attached (similar to Tempe).  But there was a gluten-free pizza place!  These are rare finds, so congrats AR!  I was also able to see a friend of mine that I met this past summer in NYC.  I was his "artistic" mentor for a couple weeks.  It was very serendipitous to be able to catch up with him again and hear the new things in his life.  Otherwise, much of my time in Fayetteville was spent in the theater or the hotel....too cold!!!!

Believe it or not, Omaha was much warmer. Funny enough, even though it was warmer, I ended up getting really sick for the first true time on tour.  It was a cold that has been circulating our cast for a week or so.  I almost lost my voice.  But, somehow I was able to pull it together (lots of steam and mucinex!) and didn't miss a show.  I have to admit, I was a little loopy for some of the shows.  It felt like I had a couple beers before the show...but I was clean! Ha.  One day I was walking to the post office which happened to be much farther than I anticipated.  On my way back, I decided to take a different route and came across the building pictured above.  I had nothing to do for a while, so I decided to take a peak inside.  And take a look at what I found below!

It turns out this was an old Union Pacific train station from back when trains were the major source of transportation.  It is now a museum about the history of Omaha and a home to various other permanent and traveling exhibits.  The city recently refurbished the lobby to it's former glory.  It is a amazing how this country was settled and how certain cities made it and other ones passed by the wayside.  I must have spent about 3 hours looking around.  A must see!  We also took a trip to the Omaha Zoo which has quite a collection for a midwest town.

And now we are at our last stop (Madison, WI) before the "international" portion of our tour in Toronto.  And I have just added another first to my career in the business.  I had to call out because of an injury today.  This is also the first time since I got cast in Little House back in 2008 that anyone else has played the role of Almanzo!  Luckily, we have great understudies in our company.  I'm sure Will, one of my understudies, will knock it out of the park today.  Having been an understudy in other shows before, I know how exciting it is to finally get to go on.

So, here's hoping the next memories won't be sickness or injuries :)  It makes us grateful for the times we are healthy.

New Years in the Appalachians

Wow, it was so great to be home with my family.  We PRAIRIE folk are lucky that we all get along and enjoy each other's company.  However, everyone needs a break here and there when you are seeing each other ALL THE TIME :)  So, this holiday break was the perfect timing.  On top of it all, we had a white Christmas in Denver and one at home in North Carolina.

This is the house I grew up in (pictured above).  You are only seeing a portion of the house, an original log cabin that my parents found in another section of the mountains, took apart, reassembled here, and then built the rest of the house next to it.  One of the best parts of the house is actually what it allows you to look at from a cozy dining room table.  See below!

It is hard to leave a place like this.  However, duty called and I answered.  I soon found myself in the next stop on our tour (Fayetteville, Arkansas) missing my mountain home.  One gift I gave to my father this year was a new ax for chopping wood. It was needed, to say the least.  His other two axes were hanging on by a thread...soon to be the culprit of a home tragedy!  So, before I left, Dad made sure he got some action shots with his new ax.  The "sensible" one is at the top of this posting.  The "home tragedy" is below.  Thank goodness I like my brother, or it would have been off with his head!