Colorado Connections

Yes, I realize that Colorado is a connecting state (via Four Corners) to Arizona.  But I didn't plan to be referring to Colorado for the third of four days of blogging!  

When we got to Arizona in January, someone mentioned that we needed to go to the Arizona Opry.  Since then, several people have mentioned it and I thought I had better check it out and it turns out to be the Barleen Arizona Opry.   The Barleen's were a family in Estes Park, Colorado that started a theater and the father and eight kids all played instruments and sang.   I went to see them several times during my summer stay in Estes Park in 1980.  I even have an cassette tape that became one of my favorite.  There were twin girls, Barbara and Brenda, who were 18 in 1980.  In 1987, the family started a dinner theater here and they are celebrating their 30th anniversary this year with the twins still performing.

As we are winding down our stay, we heard one more person say that we should go to the "Opry."  I know that hubby is not big on country music so I was surprised to see a variety show listed as one of their events.  So yesterday, I called and made reservations for tonight's show, a Variety show.  When I told the lady on the phone from the theater that I had last seen the twins in 1980, she told me to be sure to talk to them at intermission.

The dinner meal was really very good!  Then the show started with about a dozen people on stage and over the course of the show, they all sang solos or lead the songs with others harmonizing.  They were great!  And what I noticed is that they all seemed to really be having a good time on stage, it was not canned action.

During intermission, I spoke with both twins and got a selfie with them (check out my Facebook post of earlier).   They are heading back to Estes Park this summer to do special shows at the Lazy B Ranch for Chuck-wagon Dinners and Western Entertainment.  That's another place I went to during my stay in Colorado!  A couple of the band members are going to Cody, WY to perform for the Cody Cattle Company, which we saw in 2015.  Another great show!  I looked at the CCC website and sure enough,  the two guys from tonight's show were there in August, 2015 when we saw the show.  

Connections make for a small world!