Sadly parted from Anne and David and their beautiful animals this morning, but we are all sort of ready to get home and organized for dance camp. Seeing our friend Polly, who teaches percussion at camp, really brought home the message that the “CDUSA” trip is coming to an end, because Balkan camp is starting in a week! Anyway, we have arrived safely to our hotel near Okla City. On to Memphis tomorrow, where we plan to see some old friends, explore, and dance.
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We have had such a lovely stay in Anne and David’s house. We jammed on Marimbas and played with their dogs and cats. We walked around town and bought some beautiful Native American jewelry. I ate a really good burrito. Now we’re on our way to Oaklahoma City, Memphis and Nashville, and then we’ll be back home!
Here in gorgeous Santa Fe, NM–what a beautiful city!!! We are staying with Noel’s childhood friend Anne and her husband David, their wonderful and entertaining animals, in their beautiful house filled with music and art. We went down to the Plaza, looked at the beautiful cathedral and the nearby Prado art display, and then walked around and shopped for jewelry at the Native American market. It was amazing to meet the artisans in person.
We also visited a cool installation called Meow Wolf. Pictures below:
While here, we’ve been contacting our Balkan music friends to see if they are available to get together.We lucked out last night and Polly Tapia-Ferber joined us for dinner at Cowgirl. Unfortunately, I forgot to get a pic of the group, but a good time was had by all. And we will see her again next week at camp on the east coast, which is actually so weird and awesome.
Spent a lovely day setting up our tents and stuff at sweet Manzanita (little apple) campsite in the Coconino National Forest, not far from Sedona. We even went wading/swimming in Oak Creek, where we had a little private area. Towards evening, we visited with Noel’s old high school friend Linda, and visited her parents in their stunning home in Sedona. Then we explored Sedona a little and ended up eating dinner with Linda at “Etch,” in L’Auberge. Amazing food, very elegant and lovely atmosphere, and sort of an extreme switch for us to be camping and swimming, and then get all dressed up and go out for a really nice dinner, then come back to a tent.
Spent 2 days at a ranch in Utah. We went for a great 3-hr, 10 mile horseback ride–I’ll post pics when I can. It was really wonderful until we were almost at the ranch and my horse decided to canter instead of trot–I have no idea why–I certainly hadn’t signaled him to canter. Somehow both my water bottle and myself ended up in the [thankfully] soft dirt. Someone from the ranch caught him and brought him back to me and helped me back on. But oh, man, we are all aching, from using muscles we haven’t used in a long time. Other than the fall, we had a great time there.
We have been really, really out of touch. As I’ve said before, wifi has been super sketchy or absolutely unavailable, and with no phone service in a lot of areas, we can’t even access our cellular data. That said, we have been doing some amazing things. We are at the Grand Canyon now. Yesterday, as we were arriving, I got all choked up, because this has been on my bucket list for a while, and now, here we are. It is so unbelievably beautiful, and yes, scary. I have a thing with heights and standing on the edges of high points. Or when my family members do risky things. I had a bit of a panic attack yesterday when Dalia and Sophie got close to the edge to take selfies. Anyway, we got some great shots, which I will try to post.
I haven’t posted anything in a while but we have been so busy with so many amazing things! We stayed one night in L.A., and met up with my best friend Hope who happened to be in the area touring colleges. We took her and her mom to Universal Studios in Hollywood, which was really awesome. Sophie wanted to see Dunkirk, the war movie with Harry Styles. There were luxurious electronically reclining seats and we sat in the third row! It was a good movie. Then we hit Las Vegas which was fun but also kind of hectic and overwhelming. And HOT. We stayed in Circus Circus Hotel and Casino right on the strip. It was very crowded and loud. After that, we went to Zion and Bryce National Parks which were absolutely breathtaking. The calm nature was such a nice change from the high intensity of a city like Vegas. Now we are staying at a ranch in Utah, and we rode horses for three hours this morning! It was absolute bliss, so serene. There are beautiful striped mountains surrounding us, and at sunset they glow bright red and orange. I am really looking forward to our visit to the Grand Canyon tomorrow!
-Dalia