Grateful Gnomads

19/08/2024

What a special weekend that was at Mondegreen. It meant so much to us to finally attend a Phish festival successfully together.

We were a few hours from Curveball when it got canceled in 2018, and I was there stuck in the mud at Coventry back in 2004 when we all thought we were losing our favorite band. Many happy tears were shed this weekend to finally check a great Phish fest off our bucket list.

We’ve got a bunch of clips and pics to share, but for now see how we held up over the course of four days camping in the hot and humid Delaware summer. The first four pics are from Thursday and it goes on til the rainbow at the end that showed up as we were leaving the fest yesterday evening.
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12/08/2024

My favorite band in my home state with my favorite people. Is it possible to plan a better birthday party than that? Turns out it is, because BMFS sat in with Phish for two nights in Grand Rapids and it was AWESOME!!!

I was a bit apprehensive about kicking off the last year of my 30s, but after that birthday party I say bring it on!! Yeah my back hurts and I’m still tired almost a week later, but it was 💯 worth it.

Thanks to all the friends who came out and celebrated with us. You sure know how to make an old wook feel special 💕

Next stop - Mondegreen!
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08/08/2024

Can’t this wait til I’m old, can’t I live while I’m young?

Another successful Deer Creek run in the books. It’s always special but this one was something else. The older we get, the more grateful we are for these weekends dancing on the lawn with our best friends.
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06/08/2024

It’s my birthday! And I get to see Phish in my home state to celebrate. Thanks for all the messages and calls today. Y’all know how to make a wook feel special. Hope to see some of ya here in GR.
🎉 🐟 ⭕️ 🥳

02/08/2024

to the last time we saw Phish at Deer Creek in 2022 🐟 ⭕️ 🌽

We’re headed back tomorrow for another 3-night run and we couldn’t be more excited! Rachel hasn’t seen them since last August so she is primed and ready for some Phish tour goodness. Bring on the Sammy Smiths and the grilled cheese with bacon in every bite 🍻 🥓

If you’ll be at Deer Creek, Grand Rapids, or Mondegreen, let’s party down 🎉
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29/07/2024

Great weekend in Detroit Rock City 🤘🌆

We went to an awesome French-themed Olympic opening ceremony party, did a nice biking bar hopping trip around downtown, and ended the weekend with a fancy dinner for mom’s birthday.

This was one of the only weekends this summer that we didn’t have plans to travel for live music, so we made sure it was full of family and friends.

Next stop - Phish tour 🐟 ⭕️ 🎉
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22/07/2024

Secret Dreams are made of these….

What an unbelievable weekend dancing with the dinosaurs and so many of our ancient gnomies. Shout out to the guys in for crowning me as the Sandwich Cage champion and the dope merch.

Thanks to for throwing one helluva party and all the friends old and new who threw it down with us.
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12/07/2024

What an exciting time to be a Phish fan. They recorded a Tiny Desk this week, were on Fallon last night, and the new album dropped today. Oh and summer tour starts in one week!

This is one of our favorite blogs to write every year. At the Gorge in 2021, a guy came up to us and said he printed the whole thing out and kept it in the car while doing the entire summer tour. It's moments like those that keep us writing these as a labor of love.

If you have some recommendations to add (breweries, restaurants, things to do) for any stop on summer tour, let us hear them! We will add to it next week.

Most importantly - we'll see you out there for nine shows at Deer Creek, Grand Rapids, and Mondegreen!!

Cancel your haircut, quit your job, and load up the van. It's time for Phish summer tour 2024! Get the scoop on the tour in our annual guide.

11/07/2024

Pure Michigan. Great Lakes Great Times. Water Wonderland. Oh and finally getting to meet our niece 💗
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10/07/2024

Many moons ago, we met at a Biscuits festival. We went to a few more over the next few years before moving to Asia and made new friends every single time.

It took way too long but we finally made it back to one, where we got to enjoy the holiday weekend with a bunch of old friends - some we hadn’t seen in years.

Not surprisingly, a bunch of new friends were made once again. Something about this band and the parties they throw just brings people together.

That’s why we’ll always be B4L. Long live the Disco Biscuits! Can’t wait til we can give it Another Spin🌲 👽 🌲

03/07/2024

It’s great to be back in Detroit Rock City 🤘

We had a fun weekend visiting with family and friends. You know we had to get some pizza from my childhood favorite spot, but we also hit a fancy new French restaurant Bar Pigalle 👨‍🍳

Tuesday night shows are rough but I’m so glad I went for it to see Karina Rykman and My Morning Jacket … holy smokes was that a great show 🤯

I thought we might take it easy this weekend but apparently we don’t know how to do that. BISCOLAND here we come 🌲 🌭 🌲
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28/06/2024

A long layover in LaGuardia used to be a nightmare 😱

Not anymore! We’re sipping craft cocktails, eating salmon and roast beef, living our best lives. This is the new Chase Sapphire lounge here and it’s yet another example of why travel hacking is the only way to go.

If we were out in the terminal, this would have been a $200 tab easily. Instead we’ll leave a nice tip for the bartenders and get on our flight to Detroit full and beautifully buzzed.

Need some help getting started with travel hacking? Hit us up! And have an awesome weekend 🤘

24/06/2024

What a fantastic first weekend of summer 🌞

We saw a bunch of live music - Juneteenth celebration downtown followed by house beats, then Spafford at a brewery on Saturday night 🎶 💃

Sunday Funday was a 5-mile hike at the Pink Beds Loop followed by a scenic Parkway cruise 🥾 🚗

The reward was some hot chicken and cold beer at one of our favorite places 🍗 🍻

Last but not least, watching a live stream on the front porch, sitting in the hammock with lightning bugs providing an extra show ⚡️ 🕺

This was our last full weekend in Asheville and we made it count! Now to crush this work week before we head up north to Michigan ✋

19/06/2024

These drone photos were not edited 😮

That’s just how beautiful the Lagoon of Seven Colors in Bacalar is. This town in southeastern Mexico sits near the border with Belize and several hours away from the tourist hot spot of Tulum.

It’s quite a bit of effort to get there, but it’s worth it to go kayaking out in this crystal clear natural wonder.

See that tiny dot in the last pic? That’s us in our kayak way down there! It was very stressful launching and then landing a drone from a moving kayak in the middle of the lagoon but we did it!

If you want to see more, cruise over to our YT channel and check out the 2-minute drone video we just posted 🎥
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🇲🇽

14/06/2024

Join us on a journey backwards down the number line…

It’s fitting for that it’s Bonnaroo weekend. 15 years ago, we met up in Knoxville and went to Rachel’s first Phish show with a huge group of friends. It was kind of our first date really…

From there we all headed to The Farm for ‘Roo where Phish was also headlining. It was a life-changing week for us and the start of our journey together. We spent that whole summer traveling the country going to shows and festivals and have never looked back.

While we haven’t been back to Bonnaroo since, we’ll always celebrate this weekend as an important anniversary. Also how cool is it that us geriatric Millennials can just live stream it with the comfort of air conditioning and flush toilets? Plus the beers are way cheaper on couch tour…

Have an awesome weekend everyone. Get out there and see some live music. You just might meet your future life partner there 💗
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12/06/2024

A smattering of what we’ve been up to in Asheville…

⚾️ Cheering on the Asheville Tourists
🍻 Checking out breweries
🥾 Blue Ridge Parkway cruises and hikes
🎵 Plenty of live music
💗 Family time
🧜‍♀️ A mermaid rave

No wonder why we love this town so much! Our time here this spring is almost up, so we’re trying to make the most of it. We hope you’re having a great spring wherever you are!
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29/05/2024

Some highlights from the first presents: 🧚 🌞 🏕️

We had such an epic weekend with our favorite bands and favorite people. You can check out some of the music on our stories, and stay tuned for a full recap of the festival!

For now we have to get on this plane to Asheville 🏃‍♀️ ✈️
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22/05/2024

As we get ready to head to the inaugural let us once again say THANK YOU and 🙏

For 20+ years, you threw the best fest in the Midwest. We’ve made so many memories and friends there over the years and we will be forever grateful.

We’re sending all of our love to the extended famoe.ly and we’re going to do our best to keep this Memorial Day weekend tradition going. Dust or mud, rain or shine, we’re coming out to dance and celebrate. We hope you’ll join us!
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22/05/2024

20 years ago I skipped prom to go to my first (swipe to the end for a few pictures from that year, including me with Jon Fishman). Many friends questioned that decision, but it ended up being one of the best I ever made.

I went every year until I moved to China and then missed out on a bunch. We came back to this side of the world and I brought Rachel to her first SCamp where we worked as volunteers.

The next year I applied to be a Camp Counselor and got a spot on the “unofficial official media team.” A few years later I got to introduce at my 10th SCamp - the first jamband I ever saw and one of my favorites ever.

This year marks the first year of our new adventure where I’ll get to see my 150th show. It’s been a wild ride and we can’t wait to see what this next chapter has in store.

Hope to see some of you there to kick off another summer of live music!
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16/05/2024

Dead & Company kicks off their historic 24-night residency at the Las Vegas Sphere tonight. While we wish we could be there for opening night, we decided to channel the FOMO into something useful and put this blog post together.

It includes info on Shakedown, Phan Art, the Dead Forever exhibit, after-parties, and some of the best things to do in Vegas outside of the usual show activities.

It's going to be a fun summer in the desert and we hope to get out there for one of the weekends in June or July. You know our love will not fade away....

The Dead and Company Sphere residency is happening from mid-May to mid-July. Click to read all about it and get some Las Vegas travel tips in this guide.

09/05/2024

Primus sucks!

Epic Wednesday night in Asheville with one of our favorite bands ever.

06/05/2024

It feels so good to be back in the Land of the Sky!

Every time we return to Asheville it really feels like “home.”

The Blue Ridge Mountains and the French Broad River. Salvage Station and the Music Hall. New Belgium and DSSOLVR (and all the other amazing breweries). Biscuits & gravy. The RAD. We could go and on and on about all the things we love here.

Have you ever been to Asheville? Tell us what you love about the city and also what else you’d like to know. We’re planning to write some new blogs and edit some new videos for ya on one of our favorite places so let us know what you wanna see!
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01/05/2024

Great times with Umphrey's McGee at the tenth edition of UM Bowl in Boston 🤘

Six sets over two nights including five special theme sets with a whole lot of face-melting improvisational goodness.

I have now seen this band 149 times and am very excited about hitting the 150 milestone in a few weeks at Summer Camp Presents: Solshine Reverie along with so many good friends. Get your tickets and come join the celebration with us!

23/04/2024

🎶 I want a round room at the end of the day 🎵

You know what’s funny? In typical Phish fashion, they didn’t play “Round Room” on their inaugural 4-night run at Sphere at the end of the day. That would be way too predictable.

Instead they took us on a journey through the atmosphere and out to the stratosphere over the course of the weekend. I’ve seen way more concerts than I can count at this point and have never seen anything even remotely close to this.

I flew out there with one ticket to one night and could not afford the crazy prices some were charging, but I had hope. I ended up getting a miracle (a free ticket for those unfamiliar with the lingo) for the first night and then a face value ticket from a friend for the third night. It was sensory overload of the best kind, and while I was bummed to miss the final night, it was nice being home on the couch with Rachel to watch the stream.

So grateful for this band, this venue, these friends, and this life 💗 🐠
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09/04/2024

And that’s a wrap on Texas Eclipse. It was a long, dusty, hilly, and rocky trek in and out of the venue and the last day of music got canceled, but we still had a blast.

We powered through and saw a bunch of amazing music - both old favorites and new discoveries. The art installations and hidden stages were all impressive. The drone show was out of this world. And the clouds moved just in time for us to experience 4.5 minutes of totality.

There are lots of complaints flying around the internet now, but we’re glad we made the trip and put in the effort to experience this cosmic event with some awesome people. Huge thanks to our Austin crew for taking us in straight from South America with the most basic camp setup. Y’all made the trip and we are so grateful, especially to for hosting us!!

Now it’s time for sleep and laundry before a busy few days of work and then southern Biscuits this weekend!
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05/04/2024

Nos vemos Colombia ✌️ 🇨🇴

Last time we were here, we left on a humanitarian flight. It was weird.

It was so nice to return to find football stadiums full of fans and clubs full of dancing. What a special place. We always leave a little piece of our heart behind when we depart.

Special thanks to for letting us hang out with and enjoy the view. And to the homie .rap for all the good times. Que chimba parcero!

We’re deep in the heart of Texas and packing for … here we go!
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28/03/2024

The first rule of being a digital nomad - be adaptable. Things don’t always go as planned and you need to be able to, shall we say, surrender to flow.

We had planned to stay in Jericó for a week but had to cut the trip short when the dentist here said we should come get some fillings replaced before we go.

So we worked a full day and headed to town to catch the evening bus back to Medellín. Of course it was full.

We found a $20 last-minute room in a house that’s in a cultural space with an art gallery, a cool bar with lots of trinkets, and live music. It was Tuesday, so we figured tacos and tequila sounded good for dinner.

After around 4 hours of sleep, we were on the first bus out of town at 5am. We punched into work before 9, both had our dental appointments, and came back to finish the work day.

This kind of travel disruption used to drive me (Sasha, to be clear) crazy. I’m a planner and I like when things go according to it. But I’ve learned to just roll with it and make lemonade (with some tequila of course).

Now we’re down to our last few days in the City of Eternal Spring. April is about to be a crazy month and we can’t wait to tell ya all about it!
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26/03/2024

Scenes from a workcation….

We had a great stay out here in Jericó but now it’s back to the big city!
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25/03/2024

Take me to the river…

We’re loving our first crack at co-living out here in the beautiful Colombian countryside. We’re staying at outside the town of Jericó and it’s been amazing so far.

We have lots to share from our time here, but let’s start with a photo tour of the place. Check out the amazing co-working space, the rooms, the garden, the food, and most importantly, the adorable pets!
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