*Spirit West Coast*

Ok, so it's been about a week since my cousin and I made the long, arduous trip down into Laguna Seca, and Monterey for a single day of nothing but Christian bands, alllllll day long.  It was an interesting journey, but we had the most incredible time!!!


So, I happened to win 2 FREE one-day passes to the weekend event. (Weekend, lol it was Wed. thru Sunday night!) I just got to pick which day I wanted to go...so I chose Friday because Phil Wickham and Matthew West and Skillet were scheduled to play on that day.  And I have to say, it was the most incredible thing ever...

                                      A peacock we saw at Casa De Fruta on the way in :)

                               The Main stage where the speakers performed, and all the major acts :)

 After 3 p.m., there are no chairs of any type allowed on the grass, only blankets, and we got there a little late, and it was already packed with people!

This is one of my very favorite performers...Phil Wickham, he was the first to go on, and his voice is incredible in person...what an awesome man...and he and his wife are expecting their baby very soon!!!

 Sadly, most of my shots of the singers are from the big screen, because we were to far away to actually see them or get good shots with a regular digital camera lol!  But it worked out fine for us!!

He led us in a lot of worship songs, it was great, he really got the audience involved.

 On some of the songs from his new album, he put the words up, and when he did, most people started to sing along, it was great...

 Our spot on the grass, with our "free-refill" lemonade cups lol...they better be free refills for 8$ a whack!

 Does anyone know who this is at first glance?   Matthew West...what an incredible worship leader, and he got the audience most involved, told some stories, it was amazing.

 Everyone's hands were raised with certain songs, what a blessing just seeing that was for me...it really moved my heart.

 Matthew came down into the front rows of the audience and was talking to people, putting the mic to them so we could all hear them sing his songs, it was soooo funny!

 This young woman, bless her!!!  She was the Sign Interpreter throughout the ENTIRE program, from Phil Wickham, through Matthew West, through the speaker that night, Chip Ingram and then through Skillet!  And she never missed a beat :)

 Now these are my few pictures of Skillet, but it was dark, and they are the main event, and they used lots of bright lights and pyrotechnics, and so I couldn't get many pics of them, but here's a few :)

                                           This is the lead singer, he also plays bass in the band.

 Boy, we thought there were tons of people in the beginning? Oh no no no...It was absolutely PACKED when Skillet finally came on...and they are a hard rock band, and play mainstream as well, but they make no bones about it, they have hearts for Christ, and they are proud of it!

I just had to share this picture out of sheer amazement...this is their drummer, she's British, and only about 110 lbs. soaking wet...yet she rocks the drums, and manages to not pass out, while singing back up vocals too!


So I was just very excited to share this with you, It was an immensely filling day, but I ended up driving home at about 11:30 that night, so needless to say, I was exhausted....oh man!  But I wouldn't have traded it for anything, the whole day was just so inspiring, amazing, and we had soooo much fun!
Next year we plan to go, but we would like to go camping, and go for at least 2 days...we shall see!