Perfect Day in Eau Claire

Eau Claire Wisconsin- Don’t judge this city just by how it looks when you first enter it. Ugly strip malls all over and a truly horrid looking hospital are the penetrating forces of detestability; yet, through University Drive down a steep hill the senses are filled with a lighter atmosphere. Bright green trees stretch across the side of a beautiful river. (just ignore that smell of alcohol).

I didn’t visit Eau Claire for its…amenities. I drove those 1½ hours to visit a dear friend who in her third year of college at the University Wisconsin of Eau Claire still gets a little home sick. She complained about the ugliness of the city but did not complain about the hundreds of stairs that lead to the university’s class buildings. I wondered, as we ventured down the endless steps, how she could never have mentioned this to me before. At the bottom I said, “That’s a lot of stairs.” All she replied was, “Ya.” That’s all anyone can reply. When over a hundred stairs that they have counted every day as they climb their way back to the top of the hill have haunted their very dreams. No wonder UWEC is considered one of the most active universities.

Emily and I had tons of fun Friday. She gave me the tour of her apartment and the tour of the campus. We went for a walk and tried, with little success, to skip rocks on the river. We ate at the Acoustic Café. They make amazing hogies! We saw Hyland play a free concert on campus, and after walked to the Budget Theatre to watch Transformers 2. Shia was cute as usual, but they could have cut about 45min of that movie. Walking back to Emily’s apartment after the movie gave me a minute to think about all we had done. It seemed like a perfect day.

When preparing to journey to see Emily, the biggest event we had planned on was Hyland’s concert. Although I really enjoyed that, I must confess that I can’t compare any part of that day to any other part of that day. But to be fair to what I had been looking forward to…

Hyland was great that night! They have a great presence. That’s probably because they tell everyone to stand up in the front and get into it. Which is what we did because I love that; even though, Emily would rather sit. Between songs they are good at talking about nothing as they catch their breath. It keeps everyone’s attention. With all the technical difficulties Jon (the lead singer) was having, you’d think they would have bombed this show. First, his mic disconnected, then he missed his que, forgot words, and broke the same string off two different guitars. But somehow they still put on a fantastic show. It must be that they just have great music.

The one thing that bugged me about their show, is that they did not say anything about God. They are a Christian band. So naturally, some of their songs clearly represent a Christian view. But I have this ‘crazy’ notion that Christian bands are representing Christ. That means that they should be telling people about Christ. Wouldn’t playing a show at a public university be a perfect opportunity for that? I’m sure that could be hard and maybe scary to do. I know I don’t take all the opportunities I am given, but the purpose of every Christian is to point others to Jesus Christ. Just some food for thought.

The picture I have put up for this posting is quite silly. I took this picture of myself for Hyland’s look-a-like photo contest. Jon, New Vest, Lewis. I don’t think I’m going to win.