Do the Dew (tour)

Mainly because of video games (on the Wii, DS and iPod touch) Jake and Tanner are really big skateboarding fans. They both ride their boards out front but are anything but death defying so it's not from actual skateboarding that they got this obsession. Anyway, the Mountain Dew Action Sports Tour is on TV in our house on Saturday afternoons and the boys both really like to watch all the action sports, from skateboarding to BMX to wakeboarding to snowmobiling. They are also big fans of the X-Games on ESPN.

The Dew Tour makes a yearly stop in Salt Lake City. This year we had a friend who works for one of the sponsors who was able to score us some tickets and vendor passes, so we hooked up with their family and all went down for the weekend. We pulled the kids out of school 1/2 day on Friday and drove down to Utah Friday afternoon. We got in just in time for dinner and to get settled into our hotel. The next morning the boys and I headed down the street (we were within walking distance) while Marisa and Faith (having no desire to see the skateboarders and BMX'ers, headed to the zoo).

We met up with our friends and walked down to the event center together. Jake and his best friend Tyler were very excited to see it all. We went and watched the Gatorade Rising Stars skateboard park finals in the morning and walked around the festival village for a while. Tanner really wanted to see the BMX finals, which involved standing in a very long line and sitting for a very long time in the sun, but was very cool. They were running behind and the guys were taking a lot of warmup runs, which to Tanner were as good as the contest itself, because after the 2nd run that actually counted he said, "Dad, can we be done now?". So we left and walked back to the hotel and met up with Marisa and Faith for family nap time.

After naps, Jake and I went back for the skateboard finals while Tanner, Marisa and Faith hit the pool. Jake was really excited for the finals and knew most of the guys competing so he was a lot of fun to watch it with. The event started at 5:00 (again, long line, hot sun) and we had to leave at 6:15 to meet up with everyone for dinner but it was a really good competition and he and I had a good time.

Downtown was packed. Finding dinner was a little bit of a challenge (and to be fair at that point after a full day in the hot sun, my patience was a bit low and I had had enough of "little skater punks" to last me for a good long while), and what in the hell is up with that downtown "grid" street numbering system? How you are supposed to know where you are and how to get from one point to another is a mystery to me. Anyway, I was ready to get back to the room and rest. We got some food for the kids and Marisa and I had room service while watching Notre Dame lose to Michigan State with the kids.

We got up and had a great breakfast in the morning and got out of town and drove back home. It was a really fun trip but I am looking forward to some downtime (such as it is in our house) over the next couple of weeks to recharge and get ready for fall. I'll be ready for the Dew Tour again next year maybe and we're going to try to get down for a Jazz game this season, so we'll be back again soon.