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This afternoon we returned home to Lake Celeste. We celebrate the completion of this dream circle which included wonderful stays and visits with friends and family, 8700 miles of driving, seeing amazing new places, music and dancing, hotel rooms to hippy hangouts to hours of getting along in the car together… and so much more.  I still plan to write blog entries with pictures of much of our trip, begging your pardon as I was never able to make time during the journey itself. We christened our Sienna minivan “Argo”.  Below are family pix from the Grand Canyon south rim at sunset, and from the Route 66 car museum in Santa Rosa NM. Our cat is very happy that we returned. She doesn’t know about Balkan Camp.

So, yesterday we “did” Nashville properly.  Our sweet friend Amberly, who lives and works here as a professional violinist, took us all around Nashville like a pro tour guide.  We saw downtown, and she pointed out a lot of the venues where she has played.  She also took us to see the replica of the Parthenon near Vanderbilt.  We went folk dancing and then, for something completely different, went to see Jim Lauderdale at “Honky Tonk Tuesdays” at the American Legion Hall.  Though we’re not into country per se, we danced a combination of swing, zydeco, two-step, and whatever else occurred to Noel to lead me through.   Good times.  Finally, Amberly took us to Jeni’s, which is, hands down, the best ice cream ever!!!

Yesterday we met up with a folk dance friend of my parents named Amberly. She showed us around the city and we went to dinner and dancing. Sunset was really beautiful. She brought us to the Parthenon replica but we didn’t get to go inside. 

After that we went to a Jim Lauderdale concert and Craig Smith from Megadeath slayed on guitar. My parents danced and Sophie made some friends and found a cat to pet. It was a fun night. Today we’re going to drive as far as we can on the way back to NY. This trip has been so much fun, and we squeezed in so much in so little time. It really amazes me that we did most of what we wanted to do without a hitch. I am so happy my dad took the time to plan this out so meticulously. It has been such a wonderful and fun experience for me to see so many beautiful and interesting new places in America with the family I love so much!

Yesterday we drove from Yukon, Oaklahoma to Memphis, Tennessee. We went out to dinner at an Italian place with my mom’s best friend from Georgia, Eve, and her youngest daughter, Catherine, who was celebrating her 9th birthday! I ate a really good pizza and amaretto cake with ice cream and blueberry sauce for dessert, and Catherine got a cannoli with a sparkler candle on it!​​​

[wpvideo mHdScdWw]​After that, my parents went out partying on Beal Street and Sophie and I stayed in the hotel watching netflix and stuff. Today we went to a great café for breakfast and now we are going to explore and maybe visit the Mississppi River before we leave for Nashville.

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.