Tulsa to See Cartel

 The last weekend in August we flew to Tulsa to see our favorite band, Cartel!

From Wikipedia: Cartel is an American pop punk band from Conyers, Georgia that formed in 2003. The group was featured on the MTV television series Band in a Bubble in 2007 as part of an experiment where they were given 20 days to write and record a full album (Paige's add - IT'S AN AMAZING ALBUM! THEY ALL ARE!). The current members of the band include vocalist/bassist Will Pugh, lead guitarist Joseph Pepper, guitarist Nic Hudson, and drummer Kevin Sanders. 

Their last album was in 2013. Truth be told I didn't jump on the fan bandwagon until about 2016 when we were living in Germany, so 3 years even after they stopped making music. Still, with 5 entire albums, and every single song is amazing, I was hooked, and they quickly became my very favorite band. Imagine my excitement when they started releasing new songs again this year and going on tour! We bought tickets to the closest event - Tulsa, Oklahoma. Not exactly close, but so totally worth it to see CARTEL!!!

The last weekend in August arrived. We dropped Fox & Jane off at Nana & Papa's and headed to the airport. All smiles until we found out our plane was an hour delayed. Oh well, what can you do? We walked around the airport and read our books we brought until we boarded and made the short hour and 8 minute flight to Tulsa, Oklahoma!

Popcorn clouds!

Hello Tulsa! I've never been to Oklahoma so this was all new and fun!

Because our flight was an hour delayed and we skipped right over lunch, we were super hungry. We took a 10 minute uber from the airport to the hotel downtown, dropped off our bags, and scoured the internet and recommendations for places to eat.

First we walked into a place called Que Gusto but it was packed even at 3pm. Must be good but we didn't want to wait. So we walked a couple more blocks to a place called Mexicali and even in that parking lot there were more options like Coney Island. Or should we get pizza? What were we hungry for?! At this point, we were right there with yummy smells beckoning us so we went on in to Mexicali.

Chips, dip, and queso for the win!

I ordered green chili chicken and Chris got a chimichanga. Both were scrumptious! I'd go all the way back to Tulsa just for this meal again!

Top it all off with sopapillas drizzled with honey.

Oh. And then we met Cartel. At Mexicali. No big deal.

I take it back! It's a HUGE DEAL!! WHAT THE WHAT?!?! I CAN'T EVEN! AHHHH!! WE MET CARTEL!!!! I promise I don't stalk them, it was just meant to be. Here's the story: Look under the arms of those two guys on the right (that's Will and Nic, bee-tee-dubs) through the hole in the blue wall and you can see that's where we were sitting. As we were eating our sopapillas I looked through the hole and saw a guy's arm with a tattoo. So many people have tattoos, it's not a thing right? But silly me thought to myself, "What if it's Cartel cuz punk rock band people have tattoos right?!" not even believing it for a second that it could be true. I told Chris my unfounded suspicions and he said he'd check it out on his way to the bathroom. 5 seconds later he came back around the wall divider and said with the most serious and alarmed face I've ever seen on him, "It's them." And I said, "ARE YOU SERIOUS?!?!?!?!". He was. Not even joking. I started freaking out! We HAVE to go say hi! Luckily Chris is always as calm as a cucumber so we checked our teeth (nothing but enamel, dentin, and pulp!) and rounded the corner. Chris introduced us and we told them we literally flew from Denver to see them! Dashboard Confessional who? :) Chris asked if they'd take a picture with me but one of the two ladies who was sitting at a nearby table must have overheard our conversation because she so generously offered to take our pic so Chris could be in it too! OMG OMG OMG!!! TOTALLY STARSTRUCK! HOW COULD THIS EVEN HAPPEN? I mean, I guess everyone eats! But imagine if our plane hadn't been delayed? What if we had stayed in that first restaurant or gone to one of the dozen other places we were thinking of going to? It was simply meant to be. It took me a loooong time to calm down after this. Total Cloud 9 moment. We met Cartel. And now we're besties :)

Okay so we went back to the hotel but before we even got there I had to stop and story the whole experience on instagram haha. Eventually it was time to get ready for the concert!

Off we go!

We walked right by Mexicali again and re-lived that awesome moment when we met Cartel :)

We arrived at the theater, picked up our tickets from willcall, and snapped a few pics.

Downtown Tulsa.

We made it! Let's see Cartel! Ahhh! I never thought I'd be able to see my favorite band play!

This is happening!

Me, so happy.

Our seats were off to the side, about 10 rows back. Not too shabby.

CARTEL!!!

Oh. My. Goodness. They were soooooo good. Like, seriously, legit, amazing live performers.

So passionate!

They played 7 songs and just like that they headed off stage and we're left with amazing memories. Thank goodness for scrapping to get to remember all these moments over and over!

We were hoping they'd come out to the merch table or do a meet and greet but they didn't. That's okay, we met them at lunch :)

I saw the gal they gave their setlist to and asked first if I could buy it (she said no hahaha) then asked if I could take a picture of it.

We went up to the balcony to watch Dashboard Confessional and it was also a really good show! We left happy and so very glad we decided to do this whole trip!

The next morning our flight wasn't until later in the afternoon so we had some time to explore.

We found the unmarked center of the universe.

We walked back to the theater to take another picture under the Tulsa sign.

Across the street is a more colorful Tulsa sign but it's completely fenced in so you can't get any closer than this without getting into trouble :)

I'm all about colorful walls!

Sights from Tulsa. There were hardly any people anywhere, ever, it was kind of freaky!

We ate at Fat Guy's Burger Bar for lunch before catching an uber back to the airport and making our way back home to our kids and kitties.

Wow what a fun trip! We met Cartel! Awww! We saw them play live! And they were sooo good! I hope we get to see them again and have lunch together again ;)