Split Week Soup: El Paso, Little Rock

Last week was our first split week, which, as you may have guessed, is a week during which we're in two or more cities.  We arrived in El Paso, TX on Monday, had shows there on Tuesday and Wednesday night, flew to Little Rock on Thursday, and had five shows there on Friday through Sunday.

                                                       Plaza Theatre, El Paso, TX

El Paso was pretty cool.  The hotel was right across the street from the theater, and less than a mile away from the U.S./Mexican border.  As you may have guessed, the culture there is largely Mexican.  Therefore, I had to dust off and use my Spanish occasionally.   The road leading to the border was lined with dozens of tiendas selling huge quantities of nearly everything for very low prices.  I spent my first day trying to gain courage to go into these stores, and the second day actually doing it.  I didn't buy much, though.

Our hotel in El Paso was the historic Camino Real (not the Casino Royale, as I had initially misheard).  The hotel bar was featured on a televised broadcast of the 100 best bars across the nation- the network of which, I'm not quite sure.  Over the bar is the largest Tiffany glass dome in the country.

Little Rock was extremely refreshing.  The weather there was in the upper 50's and lower 60's and was my first taste of fall weather.  There were very, very few trees there changing colors, but I'll take what I can get.  It should hold me over until I'm in the Midwest in a few weeks.

                                             Robinson Center Music Hall, Little Rock, AR

I'm really enjoying the traveling.  People love the sit-downs (staying in one place for a while), but I'm liking the more frequent changing of scenery.  Fortunately for me, this week is even more crazy than last week.  We're not just in four different cities, but four different states this week: Montgomery, AL; Tallahassee, FL; Lafayette, LA; and Orange, TX.

Also, I like our bus more than I thought I would.  Having the cast and the band on one bus helps us to interact more, and I don't mind sharing a seat.  It makes for a cozy home-away-from-home.