A Dream Cruise and a Concert

Every August, Woodward Avenue from Ferndale to Pontiac gets overtaken by classic cars.  It’s the annual Woodward Dream Cruise, and car enthusiasts from all over the country will descend on Michigan to join in the celebration.  Many of the classics line the parking lots along Woodward, but the majority are cruisin’.

This next one is for you, D-mann!

 A rat-racer powered by a CAT!

The boys, especially Tom and Nick, love the old cars, so since we were home for the weekend and heading to Detroit later in the day anyway, we decided to head down in the morning and check out some of the cruisers.  We saw quite a variety of old cars, trucks, motorhomes, and even a boat!

How’s that for a limo . . .

Nicolas would love to take this monster truck on the sand dunes!

This orange convertible was one of my favorites!

The cruise stretches for miles along Woodward, passing through several communities, but the bulk of the action is in Royal Oak.  We found a place to park, and walked along the side of the road, watching the cars cruise by.  We even saw Elvis (or three!) go by on a trailer!

The Big 3 car companies all had big displays, and the Ford display was in Ferndale, so we drove down that way to check it out.

Mustang Alley was reported to have a collection of privately owned Mustangs representing every model sold in every year since the Mustang was introduced.  There was even a “Mustang Garage” where owners could get performance parts installed on their car.

Nicolas felt pretty comfortable in this new Boss 302!

Bryce liked the paint job on this Mustang!

It wasn’t all Mustangs, though, and there was a nice display of super duty trucks, too.

Bryce liked this custom F-150, with its matching ATV!

As we were making our way back to our car, we spotted a well-known face in the crowd ahead of us, and managed to say hello and introduce ourselves as members of the extended Ford family.

It was none other than Alan Mulally – the CEO of Ford Motor Company, and Tom and I were quite honored that he took the time to pose for a picture with all of us (He even suggested that this would make a good Christmas card photo!).

That was our celebrity sighting for the day – we didn’t get nearly as “up close & personal” at the concert! 

So that takes us to “Part 2” of our busy Saturday . . . we arrived at Ford Field to find it already packed and bustling with activity.

Check out those motorcoaches – I wonder which one is Kenny’s?!

We finally found a place to park, got into the stadium, and made our way up, up, up to our seats . . . OK, it wasn’t that bad!

Not too many people in their seats yet, but it filled up later!

We got there just in time for Uncle Kracker’s opening act,

and then Billy Currington.

We were pretty surprised at the number of his songs that we knew . . .

Since I still don’t have a case or a zoom lens for my new camera, I took my old dependable one.  It has a pretty good zoom, but had quite a bit of trouble with the lighting.  I found that my best pictures ended up being of the jumbotron, as long as the lights weren’t too bright.

Next was the Zack Brown Band, who we really like, and I got my best pictures of the night . . . I think it was the blue lighting that helped.

When they sang “Free” it reminded me of the RV-Dreams Rally in Sevierville, TN

Tom, Nick and Bryce were all enjoying the show, and we were ready for the big guy to come on stage. 

Soon enough, it was time . . .

Kenny puts on a really good show, and his band does a good job, too . . . the three guitarists were really good.

The show ended with Kenny Chesney and the Zack Brown Band together on stage, and the entire audience on their feet . . .

. . . it was a great show, and we all really enjoyed it . . . even from the “cheap seats”!