Sedona

First morning post insanity hike: UGH!  Even after dosing up with ibuprofen I could hardly move.  Actually it was all in the calves. My feet hurt a bit, but they hurt all the time so I hardly notice anymore. Thankfully my knees, which honestly felt mildly injured at the end of the hike, didn't hurt at all in the morning, and nothing else was particularly sore besides my calves. But let me tell you, you notice it a LOT when you can't use your calves properly!  I was somewhat comforted that even Jonathan felt a bit sore the next morning. 

The pain didn't get me at all when stepping up--I think if I were helicoptered to the bottom of the canyon I could have hiked out again. However, even a single step down was enough to make me stop for several seconds and figure out how exactly I was going to manage it. 

We had to get back over to Bright Angel to pick up our car, so we decided, despite feeling somewhat decrepit, to walk there along the rim.  It's only a mile and is flat, and gave us another chance to take in the views before leaving for Sedona.  Along the trail we came across a beautiful elk which we didn't see until we were literally right beside it, maybe 8 or 10 feet away. 

I also don't think I mentioned that it was really, really cold in the morning and evening--below freezing. Although it warmed up to tank top and shorts temps during the day, we were completely bundled up with hats, scarves, gloves, and the works both in the morning and basically as soon as the sun set in the evening around 5:30 or 6pm. 

We had tried both of the previous evenings to get a reservation at El Tovar, the nice restaurant at the rim, but it was pretty booked up. Since we were having a leisurely morning and didn't get over there until around 9am, past the rush, we decided to have breakfast there.  It was amazing, and we also got to try prickly pear sauce on our corn cakes--yummy!  Jonathan is going to try to replicate this at home. :-)

After breakfast we collected the car, returned to the room for our luggage and headed to Sedona. The drive was gorgeous and we had some really great conversations along the way as well. 

Because we were so sore (interpretation: I was so sore) we abandoned the plan of doing a hike in Sedona. We stopped at the uptown shops and visited the olive oil shop, did a bunch of tasting and had them ship several bottles for us. 

Then we headed down to Tlaquepaque and found a spectacular restaurant, Rene. Although it was the middle of the afternoon by this point and we were nearly the only people at the restaurant, there was a woman playing the piano and singing old jazz standards. So we just sat out in the Spanish courtyard, ordered tapas and listened to the music. Absolutely idyllic. 

We went back uptown for ice cream and then headed out towards Phoenix along 179 with all the red rock views. It was right about sunset, and the rocks were vibrant. 

Once we got to I-17 we started turning our attention to the fact that the next morning we were scheduled to fly right into Hurricane Sandy. Jonathan spent over an hour on hold trying to reach the airline to find out if our flights were scheduled to go or not. In the end it appeared that our flights were to run on schedule, so eventually we left our Starbucks wifi in Scottsdale and headed over to Karen and Bradley's condo that they had kindly offered to us. We were supposed to stay there Thursday night, and in fact Jonathan did stay there, without me.  It was fun to see their pad,  including a piece of art that they bought at an art sale we hosted in our house several years ago.  It was also fun to see Karen's many crocheted creatures around the house, as well as little touches like crochet samplers used as window valances. We were also fond of the saguaro cactus made from barbed wire that "grows" in their front courtyard. 

The Grand Canyon

Up at 4:15 to get ready for the epic hike.  At 5am, just before we left our room, the alarm clock in the room went off. Yikes!  It's a good thing we had gotten up early because if we were planning to sleep in it would have been a real bummer for the alarm to go off unplanned at 5 in the morning!!!  

It's difficult to park over near the Bright Angel trailhead, but we took our chances and drove over since the shuttle bus doesn't start until later in the morning (meaning 5:45am)   :-) 

We started down the trail in the pitch black with the use of our headlamps. There were a surprising number of other folks doing the same thing, so as you looked up and down the trail you could see a drawn out string of lights bobbing along. Very shortly after we started we were passed by a couple that were running down the trail. It turns out that they were going rim to rim to rim, meaning across to the North Rim and then all the way back (a 42 mile trek).  Suddenly it made our crazy hike seem almost sane!

It was pretty incredible to have the canyon gradually take shape around us with the dawn. The first part of the hike takes you down between massive rock faces and although we couldn't see them, we could tell they were there because of the quality of our voice echoing. If we shined our headlamps up on them, we could barely make them out--or at least see that our light was landing on something solid. 

After the second rest stop (did I mention that I absolutely LOVE composting toilets?) we apparently reached the "fun" part of the trail.  First we saw a dude hiking in full Batman costume. When I took his picture, he gave us his email and asked us to send him the picture later.  We also met people coming the other way who would send messages with us to other people further down the trail, such as, "OK, when you pass the guy with the green backpack, tell him he might want to empty out the rocks that I filled up his camp shoes with," etc.   Basically we were having a ball!

The thing that surprised me the most on the trail was how we saw so many lush areas. From the top of the canyon the whole area appears to be so arid, sandy, and dry, but down at the base of even the little side canyons, where the little streams run down, it's an amazing thread of vibrant green. At Indian Gardens there was apparently a native American tribe that farmed there for centuries. It is so picturesque there with big, beautiful shade trees, sprawling meadows, and then of course these massive red and white rock faces rising up on either side. 

We made it down to Indian Gardens in good time. We had been carrying less water to that point because we knew we could refill there for the rest of the hike.  Below that rest stop was my favorite part of the hike--a winding slot canyon with smoother rock than other areas along the hike, and the lush stream in the bottom, the random tree reaching up to where our trail hugged the edge of the cliff, about 20-25 ft above the stream.  Spectacular!!

Below the slot canyon we had a bit more to descend, but much more gently and before we knew it, we were at the river!  I probably would have been more emotional about our arrival if I hadn't suddenly taken notice of the fact that my ankles, calves, and knees were completely shot.  Somehow when you are hiking down you just don't notice for a long while, and so it was pretty much when we stopped at the river that I realized how much pain I was in. It was 9am and we had the whole day hiking ahead of us, going up!  To say that I was worried would be a bit of an understatement but I was relieved to discover that when we started going up, the different set of muscles I needed for that were still fresh and strong. 

From there we hiked along the river for a couple of miles as we had decided to go up on a different trail.  The other trail was supposed to be four miles shorter (which also means a lot steeper!) but we decided that it would be nice to cut the distance, as well as just have a different set of views on the way up. In the end we only save ourselves two miles rather than four, but we were still glad we chose that route.  Plus, the hike along the river was pretty awesome.  When you are down in that lower slot canyon where the river is, you can only see to the top of that little tiny crevasse--it's hard to get any feel for the massive greater canyon. It actually *feels* like you have huge walls rising on either side, but then you come out to a few spots where you can see all the way up to the rim and it is positively breathtaking!

When we got to the bridge we were about 15 minutes past the point at which we had decided our turnaround should be, so we bypassed the side trip to Phantom Ranch. It would have added an extra mile for us, plus we would have started our ascent too late. That was disappointing, as we were hoping to postmark a postcard from there--apparently they carry the mail out by mule, and it's kind of a novel thing to do. Anyway, we headed straight on up to meet the South Kaibab Trail. 

It was pretty grueling, but spectacular. By the time we got to Skeleton Point, which is where you come out of the lower river canyon and onto the plateau, I was literally in tears and not at all sure I was going to be able to make it.

Somehow I was able to put mind over matter and work through it. One way was by just forcing myself to walk normally (rather than hobble) and pretend that I wasn't in pain. Interesting how when you do that, you actually do experience less pain. Important life lesson. The other way was to look at a place up the trail and decide that yes, I was capable of getting at least to there. Maybe not any further, but at least that far. If I couldn't manage either of those approaches, I would resort to just focusing on putting one foot in front of the other. 

We found a completely amazing place to stop for our lunch, at a red rock outlook somewhere above Skeleton Point. It felt delicious to rest, but the pain was fifty times worse when I started again, so I decided against any more long breaks. It was easier to not break the rhythm and momentum. 

Our trail up was along a ridge, as a contrast to the valley we hiked in on the way down. In many places we had sloping cliffs going thousands of feet down on either side of the trail. I didn't feel particularly frightened going up because the trail feels close when you have it directly in front of you, close to your face and hands. However, when I would turn around periodically to take in the view, I was glad we didn't hike down that trail. It seems much more scary with everything dropping away in front of you. 

After many, many, many agonizing steps, we made it to the top. I had started talking to some people at the rim when Jonathan noticed that the shuttle bus had arrived at the parking lot. We were anxious to get back, shower, and find some real food that didn't involve salty nuts or Luna bars, so we were in fact forced to run--yes, that right RUN, to the bus stop. I thought I would collapse and die!  I guess that's the motivation of food...

We somehow climbed the stairs to our room and showered, but the real fun was going back down to catch the shuttle over for dinner. It turns out I simply couldn't go down the steps. At all. Eventually, by hanging into Jonathan with one arm and on the rail with the other, I could sort of hop down, crutches-style, as if I had both of my legs in casts or something. Then,  believe it or not, we had to run to the shuttle bus AGAIN!  

Once on the bus, we realized that we had forgotten the car keys (the car was over near the other trailhead, which is also close to where all the restaurants are). After debating what to do, we decided to just take the bus back to our room after dinner and get the car in the morning. 

Our dinner was great, but we were so tired we could hardly stay upright. We basically went straight to bed when we got back around 8:30, and we slept for 10 hours!

Taliesen West

Flew US Airways Friday morning and got to Phoenix at 9am. Jonathan was anxious to see Taliesen West before we headed up to the canyon. Best detour ever!!!  In addition to it being simply a spectacular place, and the fact that we hit the jackpot with an awesome guide (ask for Kathie D), I actually got to play on the Steinway in the living room. Our guide asked if there was a pianist on the tour that could play for us and there was no way I was going to pass up that opportunity!  So amazing to play on the instrument the Frank Lloyd Wright probably played on himself! I hope I can go back and actually do a concert sometime.

I learned that Wright's two absolute essentials in a living space were 1) a fireplace, and 2) space for a piano. For clients who said they didn't have a piano his response was, "Get one!  And learn how to play it.". Also, when asked who was his favorite architect, he replied, "Beethoven.". How can you not love this guy?

The drive up to the canyon was beautiful and we arrived in time to see the sunset. We ate in the Bright Angel Lodge and walked back to our room at the Yavapai Lodge by way of the Rim Trail, illuminated by a nearly full moon.

Airport déjà vu

Well, here we go again... hopefully I will actually make it out of Pittsburgh this morning.

Some random and unrelated observations from the airport:

After I purchased my breakfast for the plane just now, I realized that I still had in my backpack the dinner for the plane that I bought last night. I guess I will be well fed!

I just spent some time talking with a sales person in one of the shops and she was telling me that her husband has never wanted to go sightseeing anywhere, or go anywhere and do things. I'm feeling fortunate that I'm not in that situation!

Overheard as I passed the Bruegger's Bagels shop: "You're not afraid of butter, are you?" Haha!

Delta strikes again

I attemped to leave today for Arizona to meet Jonathan, who has been in Tucson at a conference this week.  I made the fatal error of booking the flight with Delta, and so naturally instead of being in the air at this moment.... I'm back at home!

My parents already fully moved into our bedroom since they are staying with the girls for the weekend, so I get the surreal experience of sleeping in my own guestroom tonight.  :-)

The good part of all of this was that I had an extra night with the girls and was able to read their stories and put them to bed tonight.  Up at O-dark-thirty and hopefully will arrive in Phoenix by 9am.  Shouldn't throw off our plans for the day by too much--except I may be sleeping in the car rather than doing the driving.

Sunday--heading home

5am alarm, quickie bath, haul luggage out to Basil's car.  Oops, all our luggage won't fit in Basil's car!  Good thing Brian (Basil's cousin) and his wife Beverly are heading back to Joburg as well.  We put some of our luggage in their car and head off.

Three hours later, around 9am, we hit the Zim/SA border. We blaze through the Zim side, and drive across the bridge to the SA border patrol.  Basil groans because the buses are still there.  Evidently there are buses that go through the border each day early in the morning.  It of course takes a lot of time to get all those people through, so it's best to not hit the border when the buses are still there.  Basil deftly maneuvers around a different way and parks at the immigration building and we go inside to assess the damage.  We see that there are thousands of people milling around and winding around in an endless queue.  Apparently they have been there for 7 hours already, and expect it will take another 5 before they get through the line.  Since we need to be in Joburg at 6pm for our flight, this is not really an option.  For some reason I'm overcome with an overwhelming sense of calm that everything is going to turn out.

At some point we had switched around and Erwin and Esther were riding with Brian and Beverly, Gail and I were with Basil and Nathan.  Our two guys have Zim passports, but work visas for SA since they go down there twice a week as part of their business.  Nathan went with us up to the counter for the SA residents (since there was no line on that side) to see if we could get our passports stamped there in order to make it to the flight.  The Afrikaner official there (who apparently proudly announces to everyone he sees that he was born on Hitler's birthday) got angry with us for coming in the wrong line and started shouting at us.  His quip was, "This is Africa!  That's just a casualty of international travel--sometimes you miss your flight!"  Unfortunately he saw that we were with Brian and Beverly and so when they got into the line, he wouldn't even stamp their passports (they are SA citizens!!)  Brian had some other connections that he was trying to work out, so we waited.  Meanwhile we are milling around in the oppressive heat and dust with all the other thousands of people there.  We are sweating and the dust is caking onto all of us, and we recognize that we will have no opportunity to shower or get cleaned up for the next 35 hours... or longer if we can't get through this border and we miss our flight.  We try various methods over the course of the next 2.5 hours.  At one point Basil, Nathan, Gail and I are waiting on one side of the building and Brian's gang manages to get someone to help them and stamp all their passports.  We somehow miss out on that batch, so when we come around and they try to repeat the process, the Hitler guy comes all the way outside of the building and starts tirading us again in the parking lot.  He claims that Nathan was rude to him (huh???) and unless Nathan apologizes, he refuses to even consider our request.  So, regardless of the fact that it was him who was rude (not Nathan), Nathan comes and dutifully grovels to him with Gail and me as witnesses.  Immediately he announces in a loud voice, "All right, then!  Now you can see some true African spirit!!!"  and he marches on into his cubicle, quickly stamps all our passports and we are on our way.  Absolutely surreal!

After you get your passport stamped, you get back in your car and drive across the actual border where the police check all your stamps again, and in our case, search through all the luggage.  One official was looking through our carry-on bags which were with us in the back seat.   I had been pretty alert when he was looking through my bag with my phone, cash, passport, etc.   Next he went through my other carry-on.  I saw that he was unzipping the case for the nice noise silencing headphones that Jonathan had loaned me for the long airplane trip.  I made the mistake at that moment of turning and saying something to Gail.  When I turned back around maybe two seconds later, the guy handed me my bag all zipped up again and I stowed it back into its spot.  Seven hours later in Joburg, I discovered that he had conveniently not put the headphones back into my bag.  There's some good ol' African police for ya.  

We have one more checkpoint to go and we are thinking we're totally in the clear, but when we get to that second checkpoint, we realize that we failed to get some particular stamp on a separate piece of paper relating to taking the car through.  So..... back to the immigration building, Nathan goes running in--we have no idea how long this new iteration will take.  Gail and I are holding hands in the backseat and trying to breathe.  Luckily it takes about 3 minutes, Nathan is back, we zoom through the checkpoints and are out on the open road again.  Very glad to be back in a cool, air-conditioned car by this point!

Now Basil and Nathan, who are driving in turns, are really cruising down the road.... FAST!  Trying to make up lost time.  We do make really good time and since it looks like we have a bit of play for our airport arrival, we stop a couple of hours out of Joburg to get a bite to eat.  It takes them WAY too long to make our food, but we think we have plenty of time, so we are not too worried.  But then, to our dismay, when we get into Joburg, we hit a colossal traffic jam.  I haven't been all that nervous all day, miraculously, but at this point I really start feeling anxious.  It seems ridiculous to have gone through everything we did, and then miss our flight because we are sitting in traffic.  Eventually we slog through and pull up to the terminal a mere 80 minutes before our flight is supposed to leave, 30 minutes before boarding.  Brian and Beverly are already there waiting for us, they have a cart to load our luggage, so we grab our stuff and tear into the terminal behind Brian who is running pell mell pushing our luggage cart.

Thankfully we blaze right through check-in and security and we even have time to go to the restroom, fill our water bottles, and spend about 10 minutes browsing in a shop before boarding.  This is the point at which I discover that my water bottle leaked throughout my entire carry-on bag.  Everything is soaked.  Luckily my phone, charger, passport, etc. have all been stuck in pockets higher up along the sides of the bag, so they take a minimal hit, but everything in the main compartment of the bag is absolutely dripping.  So now we are standing in line to board the plane and as we push the bags along as the line moves forward, I'm trying to fish things out, dry them off, put them in my other carry-on.  Wow!  What a saga!

At long last we are on the flight and I start to relax.  I'm especially excited when I realize that there are maybe three empty seats on the whole massive flight.... and one of them is next to me!!  I have a window seat and the guy on the aisle (who is "sharing" the empty seat with me) turns out to be Neven Matthews,  Dave Matthew's uncle!!  ... Yes, that Dave Matthews!  We hit it off and have many philosophical discussions over the course of the 17 hour flight.  He also has musical connections in SA and helps me with some contacts for potential future performances in Africa.  It's an absolute pleasure to have a nice seat mate and a relatively comfortable flight due to the empty seat between us.

Gail also has a window seat several rows ahead of me.  We don't see each other on the flight very much because it's difficult to visit someone on the plane if they are not in an aisle seat.  However, we arrive in Atlanta in relatively good spirits--we've both managed to give ourselves some sort of modified spit bath in the lavatories on the plane so that we aren't so sweaty and dusty.  I even manage to get my hair mostly wet all over!  Don't ask..... there's quite a bit of water all over the place in there to mop up before I can leave with a straight face.  I have not read up on the FDA regulations pertaining to bathing in the lavatories.

In Atlanta we blast through US customs with no problem, exchanging pleasantries with the extremely polite and professional border officials.  We have a private laugh remembering how one of the things the Hitler guy had said to us was that if you "tried something like that" at the US border (referring to Nathan's imaginary "rude quip"), the Americans would throw you straight in jail.  :-)

I walk Gail to her gate and then make my way over to the next terminal for my Pittsburgh connection.  At long last we have wifi and phone service and so I make the most of my time by making some phone calls, checking email, etc.  Flight to Pittsburgh is uneventful for me, although when I arrive I discover that Gail's flight to San Antonio has had mechanical difficulties, so after deplaning in Atlanta they manage to get on another aircraft and get to TX several hours late.

I'm excited that I arrive on a school holiday and the girls are able to come out to the airport to greet me.  They are there at the bottom of the escalator and come tearing over and jump into my arms.  It's so, so, SO good to see them and I get an added surprise that there with my mom is my cousin Sharon, who is unexpectedly in town for a conference!  I haven't seen Sharon for several years, so it's a very fun surprise!

We head back to the house and I try very hard to keep my eyes open--my goal is to try to stay awake until 10pm, to try to kick the jet lag.  Alas, I only make it to about 8:30.  The girls tuck me in and Sierra reads me a story--I'm in dreamland before she even gets through the first page.

Lovely to be home, but already plotting my next trip to Africa.  It gets into your system, that place!

Saturday

After an early morning walk with Gail, we attended the service for the local SDA church, which had sponsored our trip.  Helen and Basil were hosting a baptism afterwards, so there was a lot of hubbub at the house, getting the swimming pool ready, etc.  During the church service I started doodling on a pad and discovered that it's very fun to draw mazes.  All of this was a good distraction from the fact that it was concert day--generally a time that I spend waiting, waiting, waiting for the concert to begin. (If it were up to me, I would schedule all my performances at 10am!)

There was a huge convoy to Basil and Helen's for the baptism after church.  The choir was very picturesque out in the courtyard, singing during the ceremony.  Once that concluded, we all changed and went out to Hillside Dam for a picnic by the water.  I would say there were about 40 or 50 of us there.

As Gail, Lynn, and I were leaving to go rest and get ready for the concert, I had a conversation with Erwin in which he confided that he wasn't comfortable playing the Piazzolla Tango that evening.  Since it was only 3 hours until the concert and taking out the Tango left a good 12 minute hole in the program, I spent the next bit trying to rack my brain for what I could stick in.  I hadn't brought any solo music with me, and hadn't even thought about anything memorized since before the summer.  I fished around in my brain and dug up a few things that I thought were in there solid enough to play in two hours.  I ended up with a Chopin Nocturne, and my signature modern piece where I "crawl inside the piano."  I went into the house at Helen's and tried it out and discovered that there was a passage that I couldn't remember.  I was at a loss for awhile since I didn't have the music there.  Then I remembered that I had a bunch of my CDs there, and that piece was on the recording.  I went running out to our cottage, ripped open a CD, stuck it in Lynn's computer and listened to that section for awhile until I thought I had it.  Back at the piano, I finally sorted it out until I felt comfortable.  During all this time, Lynn and Gail were incredibly supportive and encouraging (which I really needed, as I was kind of freaking out!)

The concert went really well and when it was time for my solo pieces, I decided to play the modern piece first.  There were no printed programs so after I finished that piece I was waiting for the applause to die down so I could announce the Chopin Nocturne.  Well wouldn't you know it, they just would not stop clapping!  (And here I had been worried whether or not the piece would go over with that audience!)  I bowed.... waited.... bowed again.... waited..... I think I probably bowed three times and finally they subsided.  This just made my day that people liked it so much!

Gail and Lynn sang spectacularly on the concert and the trios with Nathan were awesome.  I did collaborate with Erwin on a Bach piece for 2 pianos and that went very well.  The choir also sang towards the end of the concert and so it was very festive back in the green room with all of us there during the second half.

After the concert it was hard to leave because we knew we wouldn't see anyone again.  We had to pack up and pull out in the car at 5am the next morning.  We just lingered and lingered, taking pictures with everyone, exchanging hugs, getting people's email addresses, etc.  Finally we managed to load up and head back to the house, after which we went up to the kitchen and hung out with Helen's family and the other musicians until after midnight.  Eventually we made it back to the cottage to crash for a few hours before our departure.

Friday

We played for a few more schools today--our first engagement being at 7:15 in the morning!  We were at a boys' school and it was incredible to see how organized they were at filing in and knowing exactly where they were supposed to sit.  They filled an entire gym-like room, all sitting on the floor in neat rows, with the older high school students sitting in chairs around the edge of the room.  They loved the music and especially when Esther started playing the Meditation from Thais, they all started looking at each other with broad grins on their faces.  Really cute!  

We came back to have breakfast afterwards, and had a short bit of time to rehearse some things at the house before we went to the next school around 11am.  That was a co-ed school and we had slightly longer there than we had at the earlier engagement, so we were able to do about half and hour's worth of music.  We later found out this was the school that Helen's kids had attended when they were younger.

The afternoon was basically rehearsal time at the hall, making sure everything is in order for tomorrow's concert.  Helen's son, Nathan, is going to be singing some trios with Lynn and Gail and they sound phenomenal!

The highlight of the day was the little girl that I met at the Academy.  I was sitting out in the lobby checking my email and here comes this little 7 yr old girl carrying a cello.  I couldn't help exclaiming, and of course I had to show her a picture of Sierra with her cello.  Her name was Emma and she had just done her exam and was waiting for the results.  We talked for awhile and then they headed off, but about 15 minutes later she came running back over and her mom said that she had some big news for me.  She was very proud that she had gotten a distinction in her exam!  I threw my arms open in excitement and she just jumped right into my arms for a huge hug!  It was so absolutely endearing and made me realize how much I'm missing little girl hugs.  Nothing quite comparable to it.....

In order for Lynn and Gail to rest their voices for the concert, they did not sing at tonight's meeting, so the three of us stayed back at the house and rested.  The two of them went to bed early and I should follow suit as well, so I'm good and rested both for the concert, and for the trip home.

We have to leave at 4 or 5am Sunday morning.  It's a 10 hr drive from here to Johannesburg and we will get there not that many hours before our flight back to the States.  So I've been figuring this out.....  We will leave Bulawayo at the equivalent of 11pm Pittsburgh time on Saturday night, and I will get home at noon on Monday.  That, my friends, is a long trip.  I'm just hoping that it will go smoothly without the sorts of mishaps I had on the way here.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            

Thursday

Early morning walk with Gail, then breakfast and off to our morning engagement playing for the British girls' school in Bulawayo.  They set up a "stage" for us out on the lawn and we played for the girls during their morning class break.  There was a group of girls that came right up to the front and cheered like crazy for every song.

After lunch back at Helen's place, I called and discovered that my suitcase had been sent on the flight to Bulawayo on the 1st of October.  Hmm.   We called on the 1st and they told me that it was still in Atlanta, and that I would get an email when it was at the correct destination.  Hmmm.  Oh well--I couldn't have picked it up when we were away to Vic Falls anyway, so no big loss.  The nice thing is that I can wear my own gown for the concert this weekend, I will have the CDs that I brought to sell, but most importantly, I will have clothes to wrap all my souvenirs in on the way home!  :-)  I was looking at some of these things I bought and wondering how I'd get them back in one piece, even if I bought a piece of luggage to put them in, since I wouldn't have anything to wrap them with.  Guess that's all sorted out.

I was supposed to have the afternoon to practice, but since I spent it running out to the airport for my bag, I just had a tiny bit of time this evening to get some work done.  Luckily the full day of practice I put in on Monday really paid off and it seems like most everything is pretty well in my fingers by now.  I think this next concert is going to be a good one.

Can't believe tomorrow is Friday already.  This all went by in a flash!

Wednesday

We woke up at 5:00 this morning so we could go see the sunrise from the bridge at Victoria Falls.  The madness of bungee jumpers and zipliners doesn't really get underway until later in the day, so we pretty much had the whole bridge to ourselves.  It was glorious!  And we didn't have any baboons coming to steal our food like we did in the Falls parking lot the day before.  :-)

We returned to our lodge for breakfast and then headed back to Bulawayo.  It's been so great to have this excursion, not only to see these incredible sights, but also because it has given the five of us musicians a chance to really get to know each other and have some real bonding time.  We've been having the most fun!

It is phenomenal to see Lynn in action--he talks to everyone as if they were his long lost brother, and sometimes the friends he makes in the most mundane of situations end up being people that he remembers years later and reconnects with.  For example, we went into an Internet cafe last night so that we could all get online for a few minutes.  As we were leaving, Lynn started talking to the guy at the desk, asking if he had been working at this place in 2006.  Lynn actually remembered this guy specifically, and a ton of details about the conversation they had six years ago.  Lynn got the full update as to what he  had been doing the last few years and when the guy started talking about various things that he does, Lynn says, "Wait a minute!  Then you must know so-and-so!"  And sure enough.... they both had a common acquaintance!  Ok, so that was certainly the most remarkable of the situations, but we've had several instances in which we needed help over the last couple of days.  We had a leaking tire on the way over, so we had to stop at a tiny village and some guys there fixed the tire for us.  On the way back we had misjudged how much fuel we had in the tank and so we had to stop and get some fuel from a different tiny village (they ended up draining some out of a Land Rover there so they could sell it to us!)  In both situations, Lynn was totally buddies with the guys by the end of the transaction, was taking pictures with them, giving them his card, telling them to get in touch with him sometime, etc.  If he ever meets them again down the road, he'll probably absolutely remember everything he learned about them.  It's an exceptional art, and incredible to see it in action--and of course we have a front row seat here!

I've also had so much fun getting to know Erwin and Esther.  As fellow pianists, Erwin and I had an epic discussion in the car this morning about technique, teaching resources, repertoire, and anything else piano-related that we could think of.  Esther, his sister, is good natured and fun-loving and was such a good sport about being squished between me and Erwin for six hours in the car today, not to mention the drive over yesterday!

As always, it's a pleasure to travel with Gail, who is so easy-going and relaxed and easy to communicate with.  And it's really fun to make music together again--it's been too long!
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      When we finally got back to Bulawayo Helen of course had a feast waiting for us.  After our late lunch we got ready and went over to the hall for a bit of rehearsal before the evening session.  Still no luggage, so I'm relying heavily on the good graces of our hosts, and Gail, so that I don't have to wear the same outfit every day.  Hopefully it's not putting out my benefactors too much, but on my part it's somewhat liberating to not have a bunch of stuff here.  Must remember this the next time I travel--if I add maybe three or four critical things to my carry-on luggage, I don't think I should even bother to pack a suitcase.

The stars tonight are spectacular!

Tuesday

Today we left Bulawayo at 5am and drove over to Victoria Falls.  Because of the massive drought the Falls are drastically diminished, but there is still smallish section that is running, and quite impressive.  Unfortunately the whole section of the Falls by Danger Point, which is supposed to be the most dramatic part, was completely dry today.  You could have rock-climbed up the places where the water is usually thundering over (apparently sometimes people do rock-climb those cliffs when the water flow is low like this, but we didn't see any climbers today).  Nevertheless, we had a great time. 

After a rest at the beautiful lodge where we are staying, we went down to our game-viewing cruise on the river.  Wow!  I feel like we totally hit the jackpot!  We saw about 10 or 12 hippos that we watched for a long time, and then further along we came across five elephants munching grass right by the river.  We also saw some giraffes in a meadow through the trees, and also some more common animals like warthogs, baboons, impala, and some really beautiful birds.  It was so lovely to be out on the river and we also got a spectacular sunset.  Can't complain about this day one bit! 

Monday

Monday was basically a practice day for me, so not a whole lot to report.  One fun thing is that we are singing a set of spirituals on the next concert that are arranged as a trio and a singer from here is going to be joining Gail and Lynn for those.  It's going to sound so great!

The people at the Zimbabwe Academy of Music where we are performing have been so supportive and wonderful.  The power here is very unreliable so one minute it's on, the next it's not.  They deal with this with a huge dose of charm and good humor!

There is also a massive drought in Zimbabwe right now, so the water is on a drastic ration--there is only running water in homes about two days a week for a short time.  Our hosts have a large tanks which they fill on these days to keep the running water mostly constant, but since they have so many guests at the moment (I think there are 8 of us) we have to be very careful.  I've gotten really good at taking a bath in an inch of water. :-)

They are, however, feeding us like royalty around here.  Our hosts are in the business of importing fresh produce from South Africa, so they have an overabundance of the most amazing food you've ever seen--avocados bigger than you've ever seen, AMAZING dates, tomatoes to die for..... wow, that's just the beginning.  Anyway, hopefully I will still fit in my clothes when I get home.

Sunday

The choir here, which Helen and many of her relatives sing in, was performing at an event in the morning and Lynn, Gail, Esther and Erwin were all singing with them.  I went along to video the performance.  My favorite part was listening to them warm up and rehearse outside the venue.  They were standing beneath the jacaranda trees with bougainvillea all around.  My eyes have been popping out here because of all the colorful blooms everywhere!  It's absolutely incredible!  

Another feast of a lunch at Helen's followed by a bit of time spent trying to track down my luggage (it's apparently still in Atlanta....)  Later went to practice at the hall before the evening meeting.  Gail and I did a song at the evening event and then I was able to get Jonathan and the girls on Facetime for a very short conversation afterwards, as there is wifi in the building where we perform.  They were so cute--I am missing them like crazy!  They were so excited to show me all the things that they bought for $2 at a garage sale!  I also bought some things today that were for sale along the street..... but, well, I spent more than $2.  :-)                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        

Bulawayo -- Arrival and first concert

Our flight to Bulawayo was uneventful and we came through customs without any hitches (partly because my suitcase, which was full of CDs, was not with us!)  Lynn and Helen were right there to pick us up and we went straight from the airport to the hall where the concert would be that night.  We ran a couple of things and then went on to Helen's place for an amazing meal she had prepared.  A large number of her family were in town because of the special meetings we were going to be a part of, and so we had a big and wonderful houseful of people.

Since we got through customs at about 1pm and the concert was at 6 that night, we didn't have a lot of time to spare.  In 10 minutes' time Helen had whipped up a beautiful gown and shoes for me that miraculously fit me perfectly, Gail and I rigged up our electrical converter box so that we could use the flat iron and fix our hair, and we were off and running.

When we got to the hall a few hours before the concert I got to meet Erwin--the other pianist who I was going to be collaborating with.  We ditched one of the pieces that we had planned to play and decided instead to play three Brahms Hungarian Dances, which we sight-read exactly once together.  The other thing that we were going to play on two pianos we never got to rehearse, so we ended up sightreading that one for the first time in the actual performance.  That was a first for me--yikes!  It went fine, though...

There were no printed programs and so we were announcing our pieces as we went along.  Musicians backstage should probably not be given that kind of liberty because we kept shifting around the order of the program as it went along--it was somewhat hysterical.  You'd walk onto the stage and by the time you came off, the others in the green room had made a different decision about what was coming next!  We really did have a total ball, and somehow the whole thing came off without any train wrecks, despite our lack of rehearsal.

Johannesburg

When I first got my rerouted itinerary through Lagos, I had forwarded that on to our hosts in Zimbabwe so they would know what was going on.  (Our Zim host's brother--who lives in Johannesburg--had kindly agreed to put us up for the night in between our arrival and when we left for Bulawayo the next morning).  Unfortunately my time in the Atlanta airport was so rushed that I didn't have time to sent them a proper message letting them know that I had made the original flight after all.  I didn't think this would change the overall plan much because Gail, who I was to meet and travel with from Atlanta, was still going to be on the original flight and would need the Johannesburg accommodations anyway.  When I met with Gail on the plane just before leaving Atlanta, I asked her to quickly email them while I was getting myself settled in, to let them know I had made it to the flight.  She did this, but her message--that we were traveling together from Atlanta--was interpreted to mean that we were both on the crazy itinerary through Lagos and that we wouldn't need a night in Jburg after all.  At any rate, naturally we didn't then have a ride when we got in.

After waiting for awhile in the Johannesburg airport and discovering that neither our phones nor the wifi worked there, we figured out a way to call them by waiting in line to change some money and calling from the public pay phone.  We hadn't changed any money in advance because we didn't figure we'd really have the opportunity to spend any money in South Africa before proceeding on to Zim.  At any rate, once we called, David (Helen's brother) came and picked us up and took us to their beautiful guest house.  Just a couple of hours before we arrived, the power had blown in several buildings right around there.  So we were sort of "camping in luxury."  The guest house was absolutely gorgeous and luxurious and there were candles all around for us.  It was rather lovely.  We were exhausted and went to bed with about nine hours until we had to get up for our morning flight.  I'd say we slept a good number of those hours and woke up feeling rested and happy.  In the morning we got to see the spectacular grounds of the guest house and there was a lovely breakfast for us there before David came to collect us and take us back to the airport.

How Get to Johannesburg In 22 Easy Steps

1) Purchase a ticket with a reasonable schedule: short afternoon flight to Atlanta, 8pm departure on nonstop flight to Johannesburg, arriving 5:30 the following day.
2) When your short afternoon flight gets delayed by 4 hrs, preventing you from making your Atlanta connection, you call Delta Airlines from airport to sort it out.
3) After you explain that you have to be in Johannesburg by Saturday morning to make your connection to Bulawayo, they reroute you on the following schedule:
       -Thursday evening flight to Atlanta
       -red-eye to Lagos, Nigeria, arriving at 4pm on Friday
       -another red-eye to Johannesburg, arriving at 5am Saturday
       -10:40am flight to Bulawayo.

4) When you think for a few minutes about the reality of spending two consecutive nights on red-eye flights and then playing a concert the same day you arrive, you figure there must be a better way.
5) You start wandering around the airport to see if there are any other flights to Atlanta.
6) You see an AirTran flight that is leaving for Atlanta in half an hour so you ask if it's full and the attendants say "almost".
7) Almost sounds really just fine at the moment, but alas they announce that they don't accept Delta tickets so you wander away.
8) You then look up the new itinerary that Delta sent you on your phone and see that they in fact did book you on an AirTran flight, but a later one--not this one that is leaving in half an hour.
9) You return to the AirTran counter to see if you can go stand-by on this flight since you do have an AirTran ticket after all.
10) The attendant looks it up and discovers that Delta has reserved the seat for you but has not paid for it.  They explain that you wouldn't even be able to get on the later flight unless Delta pays for the ticket.
11) You call Delta and after being put on hold for 10 minutes at a time (meanwhile, the current flight to Atlanta is boarding) you realize that the only way you can get on this flight is to hand the lady your credit card and just buy the ticket.
12) You tell the AirTran attendant that this is exactly what you need to do if Delta doesn't get their act together in time.
13) Finally Delta comes back on the line and explains that they are very sorry, but the rerouted schedule was created in error and you will not be able to take any AirTran flight because they don't have an agreement with AirTran.  You then quickly calculate that there is no possible way (using Delta) to get to Africa in time for your first concert.
14) When you explain to the Delta representative that you are going to buy the AirTran ticket so that you can make your connection, they say "Sorry, if you don't take your first Delta leg, you will not be able to get on the second leg of your trip."
14) Since you've already handed the AirTran attendant your credit card by this time, and have to actually board the flight because they are closing the doors, you explain to Delta that this their problem and they need to  figure it out in a hurry because you are in fact going to make your connection, and when you arrive in Atlanta, you sure as heck better be able to get on the flight that you have the ticket for.
15)  AirTran Goddess Jamie hustles you onto the plane at the last second and AirTran  Goddess Kathy makes sure that your carry-on bag stays in the cabin after the gate check Nazis try to commandeer it--"it's too big for you to carry on and you will conveniently be able to pick it up at baggage claim in Atlanta."
16) You step onto the plane realizing that you may never again see the luggage that you did check.
17) You hold your breath all the way to Atlanta, hoping that the plane will land in time.
18) You arrive in Atlanta 50 minutes before the departure of the Johannesburg flight, and of course you are three terminals over because you arrived on an AirTran domestic flight and you are leaving on an international Delta flight.  You tear through the airport and get to the gate as the last 20 people are lined up to board.
19)  You check in at the desk and of course they think you were not coming because the Delta representative you spoke to in Pittsburgh did not in fact make the proper arrangements for you.
20)  You about bite your tongue off when, after explaining that you bought an additional ticket on AirTran so you wouldn't miss your connection, the attendant says, "What? You missed your original flight?"
21)  They do give you a boarding pass, but immediately ask for volunteers to take a later flight since they had already given your seat away.  You shake your head when they offer a night in a hotel plus a $750 travel voucher--they would have saved a lot of money by paying for your AirTran ticket in the first place....  Inevitably, the seat of yours that they gave away was the aisle seat that you specifically called ahead to reserve and had to pay extra for.  Now you are stuck in the middle seat of the middle section of the airplane.
22) Nevertheless, you are relieved--and relaxed--for the first time since noon and so you do just as you are told: sit back, relax, and enjoy the flight.

Leaving for Zimbabwe!

I'm at the airport waiting to board my flight to Atlanta where I'll meet up with Gail. Yesterday I was really nervous about the trip, but today I feel good--definitely excited, but relatively calm. It helps that sitting in the airport waiting for the flight is the most relaxing thing I've done for weeks.

I'm so excited about everything we're going to see and do on this trip!  The music we are going to play is fantastic, I'm excited to meet all the people I've been communicating with by email for the last several months, and I'm just plain excited to be in Africa. It's my first trip there, not counting an afternoon in Morocco, way back in my Spain days.

West Coast -- Trip home

Saturday morning we set out from the cabin right on time around 9am. The girls had a hard time saying goodbye to Nana and Bob, but were also feeling homesick, so they were happy about going home. The drive from West Glacier to Missoula was absolutely gorgeous. We drove along the east side of Flathead Lake and all the horse pastures and cherry orchards there were just so beautiful, not to mention the lake itself. I have to say that I'm lock-stock and barrel sold on Montana--totally love that country! We arrived in Missoula with enough time to stop and grab lunch at an Italian place near the airport. The little airport was so tiny that Evelyn commented that it didn't even look like an airport at all. She had a point--those small-town airports have a casual, homey feel that is really quite different from the big city airports we're used to. Jonathan had gotten a First Class upgrade for the flight home and graciously offered the seat to me, which I gratefully accepted. I promptly fell dead asleep and when he came to check on me mid-flight I was apparently completely zonked. I must have slept pretty much the whole way because I don't really remember anything about the flight--I woke up when we started our descent into Chicago. On the second (shorter) leg of the trip I sat with the girls in coach. Everything went smoothly and all our luggage arrived at the carousel before we even made it down to baggage claim. On our way to grab a taxi we ran into some friends from First U who had also been out on the West Coast and had gone to Crater Lake, Ashland, and some other places we had also visited. It was fun to briefly compare notes with them. We got a cab to our house and the girls fell asleep on the drive into Pittsburgh. When we arrived, Evelyn had been fast asleep but she pulled her head up, saw the house and immediately said, as perky as could be: "I'm not homesick anymore! I just got to be the luckiest girl in the world because I'm HOME!!"

West Coast -- Glacier, whitewater rafting

Friday morning we got up and had such an amazingly organized departure from the cabin that we actually arrived at our rafting pickup point ridiculously early. We signed in and then had time to kick around in the various shops in the vicinity. Around 10am we boarded the bus and had a rousing time on our ride up the river with the guides and the other folks rafting that day. I had a little trepidation when I looked around and the next littlest kid on the trip was a boy who was probably 10 or so. There were lots and lots of..... guys. Not even that many women on the bus. And here we were taking our tiny little girls on this adventure. Yikes! They seemed fine, not that worried, except that Evelyn was disconcerted that she couldn't understand the guide who was talking to us on the bus He was mostly shouting out trivia questions such as, what is the Montana state fish (Answer: the blackspotted cutthroat trout) and basically trying to get everyone pumped up. Once we got to the river, we were paired with two really nice couples from Scottsdale--Becca & Dave, and Bill & Sandy. The four of them sat in the front of the raft, J and I sat in the next row with Ev between us, and Nana and Bob took up the rear with Sierra in the middle. The first part of the day was just floating calmly down the flat part of the river. We were hoping to see some wildlife and we did see an eagle and some other interesting birds, but no bears or mountain goats or anything like that. At lunchtime the guides all put up these amazing collapsible grills on the beach, we all brought burnable wood for them and they were cooking steak and chicken burgers right there on the rocks (and veggieburgers for us rabbits, of course). They also had a really nice spread of other appetizers and salads. Great meal! Back in the boat, we hit the white water in the afternoon. Everyone was having fun, the girls even seemed enthusiastic through the biggest, roughest rapid--named the Bone Crusher. In the next rapid, however, (the Eye of the Needle) we hit a rock on the back right corner and lost Bob into the water. The way he described it later, he was paddling away and suddenly went up in the air. When he came down, there was no boat beneath him! He got safely and quickly back into the boat and was surprised that the water was not nearly as cold as he expected it to be. Unfortunately losing Grandpa Bob overboard was more than little Ev could handle. She was genuinely terrified and had a really hard time pulling herself back together after that. She cried quite a bit, but eventually was able to gain enough courage to make it through the rest of the ride. At the very end we even went over a tiny rapid and we all unanimously decided to name it the Evelyn Riffle. Meanwhile, Sierra got a huge kick out of the whitewater and loved every second of it--she wanted to go back up and do it again! Our raft guide was George, and he did a great job with both of the girls, having them help him shout out the paddling commands now and then. Evelyn was especially taken with him, I think even more after he helped her try to calm her nerves when she was so scared. She wanted to leave a note for him in the rafting office at the end of the trip, which she dictated to me: "Dear George--I love you. You helped me a lot. Even though I was scared in the raft, I holded on really tight. Thanks for helping me out of the boat. Love, Evelyn" Back at the rafting headquarters, we decided to buy the professional pictures they took of us going through the Bone Crusher rapids. Some really great shots there! We also got various t-shirts in the shop, including one for Bob depicting a dude flying out of a raft with the caption "I do all my own stunts". In the evening we worked on packing our suitcases for the trip home, racing against the clock because we wanted to watch the opening ceremonies of the Olympics. We feasted on haystacks as we watched, and the girls stayed up to see the whole thing--they were blown away! We all though London did a great job with the show.

West Coast -- Glacier, Lake MacDonald

After our epic day on Wednesday no one was anxious to be too ambitious Thursday morning. We all slept in and took it easy in the morning reading, relaxing, and hanging out at the cabin. Every once in awhile someone would say "Well, does anyone want to make a plan as to what we should do today?" and then we'd all lazily go back to our books again. Eventually we landed on taking a picnic lunch to Lake MacDonald and then seeing about renting kayaks again. After we ate lunch at the Apgar picnic area, the girls wanted to run down and check out the water. We ended up spending some time there on the shore as the girls played in the water. Jonathan tried his hand at standing and balancing on an old log lumberjack style, while Bob took about a million videos of his attempts. Later on we rented kayaks again, starting out with Nana, Bob, and Evelyn in the canoe, Jonathan and Sierra in the 2-person kayak, and me in the one-person kayak. The girls wanted a go by themselves in the double kayak, so we beached and switched around. They paddled quickly out into the middle of the lake, but then got tired and had a hard time paddling themselves back into shore. When they were at their best, though, they could really make some time cruising through the water! On the way back Nana and Bob wanted to try the double kayak so Jonathan took the canoe with the two girls. Unfortunately the kayak seats worked out horribly for Bob and he had a hard time sitting in such a way that he could paddle. Between that and Evelyn having a complete meltdown, we were all glad to be back on land. The girls enjoyed playing at the beach for awhile and Nana and I went up to the gift shop for a few minutes. I did manage to find a Xmas ornament as a momento from Glacier (a bear), and also a mountain lion ornament for Lassen, as I had forgotten to get one when we were down there. On our way back home we stopped back by the Fun Park to do the remaining activities there that we had missed the earlier day. We did the bumper boats first and all got completely soaked from squirting each other with the water guns. After that we took on the huge bi-level walk-through maze. Yikes! Bob went solo and the rest of us tried to stick together at first. After nearly an hour Nana, Evelyn and I were ready to be out of there so we took a hint from one of the workers and split from Jonathan and Sierra. We were quickly done and they finished about 15 minutes later as well. That night we went down to the fire pit again to roast hot dogs and marshmallows. Unfortunately on the way down Sierra slipped at the bottom of the trail and really scraped up her leg and ankle. She couldn't put weight on her foot at first, but after awhile (although she was diligently hopping around on one foot most of the evening) it became clear that it was a bit of an act, as she would forget now and then and walk normally until someone would notice and comment that her foot must feel better. Then the hopping would resume.

West Coast -- Glacier, Going to the Sun Road... Bears!!

Today (Wednesday) we drove all the way across the Going to the Sun Road and around to Many Glacier, the area on the Eastern side of the park. Wow!!! It was completely amazing! At one of our early stops Jonathan ran up a very short trail and nearly stumbled over a big-horn sheep. The two of them were equally startled to see each other and the sheep turned and bolted. We hiked a short trail to St. Mary Falls. Aside from an incident in which Evelyn ran out on the bridge by herself over the raging torrent 20 feet below and started to crawl up onto the wooden rail, giving us all a major heart-attack, we all had a lovely time. The Falls are stunning and we got some great pictures there. We explored St. Mary Lodge and did some damage in the gift shop. After that we drove up to Many Glacier and had a lovely picnic. There was a ranger in the parking lot that had a telescope focused on some mountain goats on the slope above us. It was amazing to look through and see them because it was impossible to see them when we just looked up there. Over at the trailhead for our afternoon hike there were some other folks who had spotted a grizzly way up on the slope and some of us were able to see it through their telescope. We had a great hike up to Red Rock Falls--Evelyn was our resident mountain goat and was scampering about and pretending to eat the grass along the edge of the trail. She probably hiked three times as far as any of us, for all the loop-de-loops she was doing around the trail! What energy! When we got to the lake there were some people who had spotted a grizzly way up on the opposite slope. We weren't able to see it through any telescope and it literally looked like an ant up there, it was so far away. It was still incredible to see it, lumbering across this incredibly steep slope. We hiked around the lake to the Falls and hung out there for awhile. Evelyn loved to just find a quiet spot, sit down, and get into her own zen moment enjoying the scenery. Sierra was anxious to get back to the other side of the lake because she really wanted to get into the water and there wasn't really a safe place to do that near the falls. Nana and Bob took the girls around to the still part of the lake for a swim while Jonathan and I hoofed it up to the next lake and back. As we came back by the Falls there was a huge group of about 20 people there playing, shouting, and having a really good time. Shortly after we went by we could hear them shouting "Bear!", etc., but we thought they were just teasing each other, because it seemed along the lines of what they had been doing anyway--and we couldn't imagine a bear actually being interested in coming into all that people noise anyway. Well, it turns out that a grizzly indeed did just wander on over to where they all were, and was about 5 feet away from one guy (we talked to him a bit later). From all we could figure out from his story, this bear had been hot on our heels down the trail from the upper lake. Spooky! We never saw or heard it at all but it couldn't have been more than 25 or 50 yards behind us, given the timing of when he showed up at the Falls. Eeek! Anyway, he apparently shuffled away from the group when they started screaming. Meanwhile, we had circled around and were on the opposite side of the small lake by that point, and we got an absolutely fantastic show of this huge bear lumbering along the side of the lake. What a treat! Some of the people who had been by the Falls were making their way around on the trail, so we got to hear their story as they came by. What fun! After the hike we drove by and checked out the Many Glacier Lodge and came unanimously to the opinion that this is THE place to stay in the whole park. Once we had that sorted out we drove down and ate at Two Sisters Cafe, which is famous for its Huckleberry Pie. The pie lived up to its reputation, but the rest of the meal we probably could have done without. Next time we'll just stop there for dessert! The highlight of our meal there, though (not counting pie) was that we spotted our fourth grizzly of the day, just hanging out on the hill behind the restaurant. We feel so lucky! After stuffing ourselves with Huck Pie, we drove back over the Going to the Sun road at dusk. We missed an opportunity to get an up-close look at some bighorn sheep right at Logan Pass because we had already driven by them before we realized it. I looked over my shoulder and caught a glimpse of them, but there was no place to turn around by then. I still feel bummed that the girls didn't have a chance to see them. I don't think they did too badly though, on their wildlife-viewing experience of the day!!

West Coast -- Glacier, Funpark, Horse ride, and kayaking

Tuesday we had promised to take the girls to the nearby Fun Park. We ended up going there first. We didn't have time to do all the things in the park, but we rode the Go-Karts and played mini-golf. Sierra was nervous at first about the Go-Karts, but she rode with Nana and was assigned to be the photographer. She ended up having a really fun time. Evelyn wanted to go fast, so she opted to ride with Jonathan. Everyone really enjoyed themselves on the ride. Mini-golf was fun, but the girls where sort of phoning it in by the 10th hole or so and we also had a time constraint to get to our horseback ride by a particular time. We sort of "divided and conquered" towards the end with everyone stringing ahead and hitting the balls into the holes as fast as they could. Ev was really hoping to ride the bumper boats, but it turned out to be pretty chilly, so no-one was too keen on getting wet at that point, plus we didn't really have time, so we left that one for a different day. We went straight over to Apgar to do our horseback ride. Right when we arrived to sign in, there was a bit of a kerfuffle with some pack horses in the yard. One of the wooden yolks connecting two of the horses snapped, but the ropes were still connecting the horses, pulling the back of one horse directly against the flank of the other horse. Of course neither of the horses liked this very much, and there was also a third horse that was also tied together with those two. They sort of did a sideways stampede right through the area where we were all standing, and the wranglers there had a bit of a time reining them all back in. That was not exactly the right thing to happen right before our ride because Sierra was already pretty nervous about doing it, and I think she was downright freaked out after seeing all of that. I was nervous myself. However, thankfully none of the horses that we were to ride were involved in the incident, so it turned out not to be an issue at all. Sierra was really scared , but she bucked up her courage, and the wrangler that helped her get to know her horse and mount was absolutely excellent with her and by the time we went out of the corral, I think she was completely sold on the whole experience. She did AWESOME and had a really fun time. My favorite was when, towards the end of the ride, our wrangler turned around and asked if anyone was feeling sore yet. Sierra said, "Well, I do have an itch on my ankle!" :-) Love it! You had to be seven to ride, so Ev and Nana stuck around the corral and got to know the horses while the rest of us went on the ride. Evelyn was completely enamored with the horses and had gone up and down the row petting, kissing, and loving on all the horses that had stayed behind. She could hardly pull herself away from the corral when it was time to go and has been talking about the horses ever since. So cute! After the horses, we went to Apgar village and picnicked with a great view down the length of Lake MacDonald. We were right by the boat rental and by the end of our picnic Sierra had convinced us that we should rent kayaks for a spin. They didn't have enough kayaks, so we ended up with one canoe (me, Bob and Ev), one double kayak (Sierra and Jonathan) and a single kayak (Nana). We paddled around and had a great time and then beached at some point and switched around, ending up with Nana, Bob, and Ev in the canoe, me and Jonathan in the double kayak, and Sierra by herself in the single. She did great, but got tired quickly, so we beached again and Sierra went in the canoe, Ev with Jonathan, and I finished out our ride in the single kayak. At some point Nana realized that Ev didn't have her life jacket on and we realized that we had left it on the beach at one of our stops. I paddled back and sure enough, there it was sitting on the sand. Oops! We had eaten our lunch so late that we were not that hungry in the evening so the girls had left-over chili and we grown-ups had salad..... and watermelon, of course! Then we got all of our things ready for our early morning departure the next day. That night I had a really weird headache in the night which scared the living daylights out of us. It was right on the crown of my head, which felt like a very strange place for a headache. Then when I sat up (in retrospect it was probably just a very major headrush) it felt as though my brains were spilling out of my skull and down the outside. I felt a wave of nausea and had to lie down. I was absolutely freaked out and we almost went to the ER, but after Jonathan did some quick research on the computer and we determined that I was not having some sort of stroke or anything, I just took some Ibuprofen which seemed to do the trick and I went back to sleep. Poor Jonathan was awake most of the rest of the night worrying, though. Especially as part of the aftermath of my head injury several weeks ago, it was pretty concerning, but it hasn't seemed to be anything more major than a normal headache, so we're going to keep watching and hopefully it won't happen again.

West Coast -- Glacier, Hidden Lake

Monday morning Jonathan made us huckleberry pancakes for breakfast with fresh huckleberries, purchased for a small fortune at the nearby supermarket. The true Montana experience! (Cheaper, I guess, than local cuisine in Paris....) After a leisurely breakfast we drove up to Glacier and took the shuttle up to Logan Pass, trying hard not to get carsick in the bus. The park is absolutely stunning!! Massive stone snow-covered peaks in every direction, waterfalls pouring down every nook and cranny, huge green meadows on the lower parts of the mountains....just overwhelmingly beautiful. We took a picnic up, but there really was nowhere to sit and eat it. We ended up huddling on the ground against the outside wall of the visitor center in the freezing wind, since there was nowhere sheltered. After lunch we hiked up the Hidden Lake trail. It was unfortunately not completely clear of snow yet and so crossing the snow field was a bit dicey. We were not properly dressed and were hiking in our Keen sandals, so our feet got snowy and cold and it was pretty slippery. The girls got cold and frustrated and when we reached one point that was particularly difficult to cross, we decided it was best if Grandpa Bob and the girls didn't try to traverse it. They were kind of miserable by that point anyway. Nana and Bob stayed on a big rock near that point and Jonathan and I hoofed it around to the lookout point. In addition to spectacular views, we also ran into a huge mountain goat munching away on its cud, practically sitting right on the trail. When we got back to the clan, they were singing away happily with their backs into the wind. We had an easier time going down over the snow, and although the girls were cold, they managed to make it down fine. Jonathan carried Ev over the snow, but she otherwise hiked on her own the rest of the way down. Sierra booked it down with Nana and left the rest of us in the dust. I was hiking with Ev and at some point I pointed out that the visitor center was very close and that was the end of the hike. It still seemed far to her, so I suggested that we count to 100 and then we'd be there, so that's what we did. We managed to arrive at the visitor center on exactly 100, so she was very excited! For the ride down, the shuttle that was leaving right when we arrived only had space for four, so Nana and the girls and I took that one and came back back to the cabin to get dinner started. Grandpa Bob and Jonathan came down on the next shuttle. Ev had slept the whole way up the valley earlier in the day, so on the way down she was literally beside herself looking out the window at the amazing views. She kept insisting that I take pictures of every single thing, so I obliged--even though we had already taken all the same shots on the way up. It was fun to see her get so excited about the mountains! Baked potatoes and chili finished off the day--it was nice to warm up with that after getting chilled on our hike. We have also been cutting up an entire small watermelon each night since we managed to get here with four of them.

West Coast -- Glacier

When we left Rod and Stacy's in Spokane, we drove through the beautiful area around Couer d'Alene and into Montana, stopping for dinner at Blue Canyon in Kalispell (yum!!). We are staying at the Tamarack cabins in Hungry Horse. It's very close to the west entrance to Glacier park and yesterday we drove up and did the Avalanche Lake hike. We were all a bit nervous about bears, so we picked up a canister of bear spray and that relieved a lot of concern. The girls were total troopers and did the whole hike without being carried at all. The lake sits in a spectacular basin with waterfalls cascading down every wall. When we got back to camp around 8pm Nana and Bob had arrived and already had a fire roaring for our hot dog and marshmallow roast. We were at the camp community fire pit and others joined us later on--we met and visited with some really nice folks and the kids had fun playing on the giant swing that's big enough for a mama bear and her two cubs (really!) Later that night we had fun looking through our cards that show all the National Parks. The girls are excited about visiting the parks so hopefully we can incorporate many of them into our trips over the upcoming years.

West Coast -- Rod and Stacy

After a late start, then an emergency store run, then an emergency potty run in downtown Spokane, we finally got up to Rod and Stacy's place around 11am. Our visit corresponded exactly, by coincidence, with Taylor's 2nd birthday party. We had a lot of fun getting to know the girls since we hadn't ever met them--in fact, we hadn't seen Rod and Stacy since their wedding five years ago! Their new home is spectacular, with a gorgeous view of the whole valley. Barb and Finn were there too, as well as Stacy's parents. After the party we drove the rest of the way up to our cabin near Glacier.

West Coast -- Walla Walla

Thursday morning we contacted some of our friends and family in WW to try to connect. I also picked up stuff from Andy's that we would want at our cabin in Glacier the next week. We had a lovely lunch at Olive in downtown WW, followed by a treat at the Colville St. Patisserie, and then went to visit the Boyds in the afternoon. Had a nice visit with Julie and Doris, and also chatted a bit with Lynn who is here for a month from Africa. He is trying to recruit me for a concert tour to Zimbabwe in a couple of months. I've been trying to make arrangements so that I can do it..... we'll see what comes of it. It sounds like it would be an amazing experience! Awesome dinner at Astri's, and a nice visit after the girls went to bed. Friday morning we were able to get together with Barb in the morning. She was really encouraging and helpful with regard to some entrepreneurial ideas I've been having. She also took us down and introduced us to the people at the Power House Theater. She is really gung ho about having me come and do a concert there. We also dropped by and visited for a bit with Brenda. Jerry came by on his lunch hour and Andy was there as well, so we had a nice time. The girls stayed with Astri in the morning, as she had offered to walk with them down to the duck pond. They had a very nice time together and were in great spirits when we returned. Ralph and Astri were very impressed with what awesome girls we have, and we felt very proud of them! After another lovely lunch with Ralph and Astri, we packed up and drove to Spokane. Found a great place for dinner at Pikabu Bistro.

West Coast -- Welcoming Baby Ren

Wednesday we got mobilized from Sara and Noah's house and headed back up to Portland. We had gotten a text that baby Ren had been born. We were not originally planning to stop in Portland on our way through, but couldn't pass up the opportunity to meet the brand new family member. We spend a lovely hour or so with Shelley and Brandon again, hearing the birth story and holding that precious little guy. Then we were on our way to Walla Walla. We made it to Ralph and Astri's by evening.

West Coast -- Sara and Noah

On Tuesday we got up and Sara made a beautiful German Pancake that we all devoured post haste. We took the girls to a splash park and they ran around and tried to stay cool while Sara and I talked. Jonathan took the opportunity to take a long run since Noah had work to do at KAMA that morning. In the afternoon we had planned to take the inflatable raft out to the reservoir and putter around, but it cooled off so much that it was actually too chilly to think about going on the water. We went out to a farm instead, and got strawberry shortcake, and bought a bunch of beautiful produce for our tostada dinner that night. Back at the house, the girls had no end of fun playing outside on the tire swing and in the treehouse.

West Coast -- Crater Lake

Monday morning we headed from Diamond Lake Lodge up to Crater Lake. After stopping at one of the overlooks, we were driving along the narrow roads when we suddenly looked up and saw a van that looked just like Grandma and Grandpa's, pulling into an overlook area. We all commented on it, that it looked just like their van, and then we looked closer..... and saw that it was actually them!!! They had thought we were going to be on the boat to Wizard Island, so didn't expect to see us (they'd been looking down at the boat moments before and imagining that we were probably on it!) and we didn't even know they were going to be at Crater Lake at all, so we were completely surprised to see them. We all had a good laugh and visited a couple of overlook spots together before parting ways again. We had lunch at Crater Lake Lodge before heading out towards Sara and Noah's. We reached their house in Keizer around 9 or so after stopping in Eugene for dinner. We got to talking the girls started running around with Lilla and Clara. The next thing we new, it was 11:30! Finally we got all the kids down and then proceeded to stay up talking until 3am. Always so great to see those guys!

West Coast -- Mt Lassen, end of the week

Thursday Jonathan and I hiked up Brokeoff Mountain with Paul and Sheena and Rick. What a view! We could see everything from up there, including Mt. Shasta in the distance. In the afternoon we hung out at camp doing a puzzle and just relaxing and visiting. That night the girls recruited us to all come over to their show at the campground stage. It turned into a great evening of everyone joining in to act out various fairy tales and stories, including a full re-enactment of the story of the mountain lion and the deer. Friday we all rented a pontoon boat on Lake Almanor. We took a picnic down and all took turns riding on the boat and hanging out on the shore. Some of us went into Chester and did some shopping as well. Christy and I found a great gallery with local art. Friday night we lit the bonfire, made s'mores and sang campfire songs. Saturday Greg and Christy hiked to Bumpass Hell with Sierra as their guide. She was so excited to be the "leader" since she had been there before. She did not want us to come along, and the rest of the group was hiking to the waterfall from the trail by the visitor center, so the two of us and Evelyn went with that group. In the afternoon Rick and Gail and their clan took off, and Greg and Christy also left after dinner. That evening our girls and Eric and Dawn's boys did another show for us on the stage. They wrapped up their show in the morning right after breakfast with a final performance of Herb the Vegetarian Dragon right before we all took off in various directions. Mom and Dad were also leaving north through the park, so we caravaned with them and saw the devastated volcanic area on the other side of Lassen Peak, and had a picnic at Lake Manzanita. Mom and Dad took off at that point and our family hiked around the lake before we left. Unfortunately Evelyn took a major face plant on the trail just before we got back to our car and got some pretty good scrapes on her chin and hip. We had to lay her out on the trunk of the car to get all the little gravel out and get some bandaids for her. She was a total trooper--even hiked the rest of the way back to the car after her fall without being carried. We drove up to the lodge at Diamond Lake that evening and it was pretty late when we got there. We did manage to get to stop in Ashland for dinner along the way, which was a fun surprise that we hadn't planned on. We just happened to be around that area at the right time, so we swung over and got to hit another of our favorite restaurants that we didn't get to the week before.