Ten years ago, as a retirement gift, my bride, Sally, got us tickets for a Jimmy Buffett concert being held in Burgettstown, Pa., about 20 minutes from Pittsburgh. I love Buffett’s songs, many of them neat stories set to music, some of them allowing listeners to able to relate to in their daily lives. A Buffett concert was always on my Bucket List, so this was something I was going to savor.

Having never been to a Buffett concert before, we had no idea what to expect. Our son Jon was home from college that summer (2008), and working for our son-in-law, Jeff, in the Pittsburgh area, and so he told us he’d drive us to the venue, then pick us up after the show. We figured that would be great, as we wouldn’t have to fight traffic or pay for parking, so we accepted Jon’s offer and he picked us up at our hotel and drove us to the outdoor pavilion where the concert was being held. When we got there, what we witnessed was beyond belief.

Talk about a tropical paradise!! Parking lots were bustling. People dressed tropically including wearing hawaiian shirts, grass skirts, sharkhead or parrrothead hats, bathing suits and a few unusual outfits that can’t be described in this forum. Fortunately for us, we wore Hawaiian shirts so we did fit in, fashion-wise. Everywhere we walked, as we wanted to take in all the atmosphere, was amazing. We saw flatbed trailers adorned with palm trees, sand, small swimming pools, canopies set up everywhere, grills smoking, food sizzling and people sharing refreshments, Jell-O and most importantly pleasantries with anyone and everyone who walked by. There were inquiries of “where ya from?” and “how many Buffett concerts have you been to?” — talking like they knew everyone with whom they encountered. It was like we were welcomed into a new club, new clan or new family of friends, understandably called “The Parrotheads,” and we were the newest members.

After enjoying what we were seeing and experiencing, it was time to go into the venue, find our seats and enjoy our first Jimmy Buffett concert and scratch this off of our Bucket List. Little did we know that this would be the beginning of a tradition of annual tropical vacations with Jimmy Buffett and the Coral Reefer Band.

For that first concert, Sally got us row 14, center stage seats and a great view of our rookie Buffett show. Again, it was magical. Some people in their mid-lives, some at the beginning of their senior years and some just beginning their lives as adults, singing the lyrics to the songs as loud as they could, many swaying arm in arm to the rhythm of the steel drums being played as part of the melodies and stories being told. Many people, younger and older, slow dancing in the aisles and on the lawn, to the peaceful escape of slow songs pouring out from the hearts, voices and instruments of the performers on stage. It was a blast to say the least! And so it began.

For the next four years, we made the trip back to Pittsburgh, sometimes with friends Buzz and Mary Jo (R.I.P., MJ…love ya!) or Steven and Gina, and a couple times just by ourselves. After year one, we always drove so we could be a part of the tailgating experience, welcoming fellow Parrotheads to our setup as they walked around the parking lot, offering some Jell-O and friendly words as they enjoyed their experience.

In 2013, Sally and I took our tradition to a different city and venue, travelling to Virginia Beach to share our Buffett tropical vacation with our son Jon and a few of his friends. It was fun to show our son (in his 20s) and his friends that his old folks could have fun almost the same as he and his friends have when they go to a concert of their favorite performer. (We just do it slower and achier.)

In 2014 we were back in Pittsburgh for our annual reunion with our Parrothead family and the traditional tailgate experience. It was, once again, what we expected: a great time, and anticipation to what 2015 would bring. Unfortunately, (but fortunately too, to ease her discomfort), 2015 brought double knee replacement to Sally, so we were out of commission for traveling and “concerting” for that summer. We did get back to Cleveland for a few ballgames in August and September and had to do so with the aid of a wheelchair, but there was no way we could do Buffett that year. So, we had a Margaritaville Party on our deck that summer, inviting friends, some who’d been to Buffett with us, and some who’d not been, but were lovers of Jimmy’s music and stories. Ironically, we held it on the same day as Jimmy Buffett’s concert in Pittsburgh, and I streamed the concert on my computer and it was there for us to enjoy, though, truth be told, we did more “tailgating” on the deck than “concerting.” The result was the same though. A great time was had by all thanks to Jimmy Buffett.

That brought us to 2016 and the tropical vacation was once again on our summertime calendar. The Pittsburgh concert was scheduled late, but we were patient and when it was announced, we went online and got our seats for the next leg of our Buffett journey. The venue changed its policy in 2016, not allowing us to line up outside the parking area until 3. (In past years we could line up much earlier.) Because of that, people who were at the arena area had to find someplace else to wait. We drove down the road a bit and found a parking area and pulled in to wait with the dozen or so other cars who found the same lot. We parked next to a couple and their daughter and son-in-law and just started talking with them and others near us. When we were allowed to go to the Pavilion in Burgettstown, we drove behind the couple and their kids whom we were talking with as we waited. As we entered the parking lot in Burgettstown, we were directed to follow a certain road and when we finally parked, it was right next to Dan, Amy, Jordyn and Bill. As we began to set up in a very crowded area, Dan invited us to share their canopy rather than put ours up in such a congested area. We tailgated with them and many others around us, and became friends with the Millers from Fremont, Ohio, and sat together with them in the concert as well.

When we left the concert, we swapped numbers and email information, friended each other on Facebook and promised to keep in touch, which we’ve done. When the schedule for Buffett’s 2017 tour came out, we thought we’d meet up again in the Pittsburgh area but The Coral Reefer Band was not scheduled there this year. Amy found they were going to be playing in Clarkston, Michigan (Detroit), so we went online, got tickets, and planned to celebrate Buffett 2017 with Amy and Dan, which we did recently on July 11. Before we knew about the Buffett concert, we hooked up with them on social media to get tickets for Billy Joel at Progressive Field on July 14, so we got to be a part of two amazing concerts within three days with two friends whom we didn’t meet until last August. Once again, Buffett was great (despite a huge storm that hit during the encore leaving about 15,000 plus like drowned rats), as was Billy Joel, whom we saw for the first time.

The best part of all the Buffett experiences though, has been, and always will be, being able to box up our troubles and problems for a day, as we share the parking lot experiences, then enter the venue and listen and sing along to Buffett’s stories set to music in each of our annual Escapes to Margaritaville.

So what started out as being a one-time Bucket List thing, has now become an annual tropical vacation for Sally and me, and has earned us the right to be called Parrotheads. It’s brought us great times, new friends and many wonderful memories. It’s now become something we look forward to each year, and Lord willing, it will continue for many years to come.