July 1 Short Trip to Treasure Island (MN): Journey Concert

After a couple of cancellations over the past couple of days by our minionsitters, my bride and I had an abbreviated--but still enjoyable--evening visit to Treasure Island Resort and Casino about 45 minutes southeast of the Twin Cities. We had tickets to see Journey but couldn’t work things out to be able to stay at Treasure Island for the night.

My brother in the south metro (Burnsville) learned of our childcare issues through the grapevine and volunteered to watch the minions so we could go to the show. What a great guy!

We dropped off the minions and got down to the casino in good time. They had three lanes opened up for the “in” direction. A passing train held up the entry for about five minutes. We were directed to park in a large field and we hoofed it over to the casino.

The buffet line was huge. The hostess mentioned a wait of about two hours. We found a restaurant called “Currents”. It was a sit-down place that was packed, but the wait was only about 20 minutes. Once we got in the service was quick/great. My bride and I each had a chicken cordon bleu sandwich and fries.

The concert was set to start at 8:00. We left the restaurant at 7:45.

We took at peek outside and saw a huge line to get in to the outdoor venue. We ducked back inside and went to check out the smoke-free slots area. We each made a ten dollar bill disappear pretty fast. I really should’ve noticed that I was spinning 30 X 10 pennies instead of 30 X 1… Pocketed my 10 cent TITO for an excuse to come back…

So out to the concert grounds we went. Zipper merge of two lines of folks to get through the security “checkpoint” and scan tickets. Then to find the seats. Asia, the opening act, was almost down with their set by the time we got to our seats.

We were in the 44th row, but really couldn’t see much even when standing. My bride is 5’2” and couldn’t see a thing sitting or standing. After Asia closed with “Heat of the Moment,” we made a move to the general admission hill behind the reserved seats.

They had a big screen set up, we were able to see, and we had a ten-foot radius of space all to ourselves. A little farther back, but much more enjoyable.

Journey opened with my favorite song of theirs, “Separate Ways.” Hit after hit followed. Arnel has a darn good set of pipes on him! I got to slow dance with the bride on “Open Arms”. Okay, that’s as mushy as I’ll get… Fun to see the different generations rockin’ out. Lots of first-generation Journey fans in attendance!

We left a few songs before the end to beat the crowd out and to claim our minions from my brother. We picked up the minions from my brother’s place and made it home at about 1:30 this morning.

I would like to try Treasure Island again sometime, maybe mid-week when it’s not a holiday. The slots and tables were pretty busy and my bride and I didn’t have a whole lot of time to explore the property.

Worth another try, hopefully including a stay next time, and hopefully soon!

One of the best times I’ve ever had [clothed] with the bride!

RICHARD

 

She kept her clothes on for the rest of the night? (sorry if that's TMI)

 

Nope, she stayed clothed for this one!

Panties didn't make it on stage for this show.
She figured we were too far back.
Especially after my tighty-whities only made it up to row 32.

No afterparty either...

RICHARD

 

I saw Journey at the Hard Rock in Vegas last May. They were tremendous....like you said, endless hits.