No camera in paradise
, 1.30.2011
On the way out the door I felt that unsure feeling that we'd forgotten something important... We'd decided to drive down to Moab to explore Arches National Park, and celebrate Robbie Burns Day in one multi-function trip. Kate MacLeod was playing with Natalie Haas and Chris Layer at a Burns Dinner, and since Natalie hardly ever plays in Utah, and we were needing a mental health break from yucky inversions, stressful classes, and our cold basement apartment (and narcissistic professors, but that's a different story), we packed up the car and headed south.
That nagging feeling is never very specific. Thank you, natural selection, for allowing humans to develop a vague, "something's not quite right" intuition without including a "you forgot your CAMERA and you're going to the most beautiful place in Utah, go get it, you moron!" intuition. What's with that?
I brought my laptop which has a camera, but couldn't really take a laptop on the hike to Delicate Arch or the Devil's Garden... but here's a shot from a pull-over site along the road.
Arches National Park is breathtaking all year round, but there's a strange oddness to it in January. I wonder if I can really describe it. A picture would be better (@#$%!). One snow-packed trail wound along a tall rock wall on one side, deep red. On the other side of the white trail, a gnarly juniper sent grey and green spindly arms down in a twisting pose, and pale yellow stalks of yucca and sage brush poked through the snow. It felt like a movie set, with the colors so stark and the plants like improbable props. I expected to see a coyote lying in the snow, where it would calmly watch us as we walked by, or it would mutter something like, "Find your soulmate, Homer" and off we'd go on a soul-searching journey through the reds and purples of the desert canyons.
The Burns dinner was a lovely and relaxed event. The city of Moab, though small, has a loyal base of supporters of folk and acoustic music. And they are able to bring in some incredible talent from all over. I'm jealous because even when Logan succeeds in getting great musicians to come play, so few people turn out. What are Loganites doing instead? Watching TRON 3-D?
But I digress. The Moab has a lovely new events center called The Grand Center, and they hosted a Burns night.
Robbie Burns, how I love that man.
Sam's alright with it. I told him yesterday Robbie Burns was one of two of my "dead historical figure" crushes. The other is John Wesley Powell.
So somehow, Moab is lucky enough to get to hear from Natalie Haas for this Burns night, and she's the premier Scottish cellist in the world. She was perfectly genial and lovely and so was Kate MacLeod. The concert was divided into two parts. The first just featured Kate, Natalie and Chris, and it was delicious. Then after they piped in the haggis and distributed it on crackers to everyone in the audience, the local Moab Community Dance Band joined in for the second half. It was a sincere performance. (At one point, though, I had to fight the urge to go tune one of the violins which was tuned to a perfect G-D-A-Eb). It was really cool that the community was so supportive of their local performers, and so willing to come to events, that they could pool the money required to brings such amazing talent.
Anyway, it was an inspiring weekend, arches and fiddles all.
And if you need a cheap place to stay in Moab when you go yourself, check out the Lazy Lizard hostel! It's just what you picture in your mind when I say the words, "cheap, Moab, hippie, hostel."
I liked about a million things about this post. Tyson and I celebrated New Year's Eve 2005 in Moab. Your description of the landscape brought back fond memories. I'm almost glad you didn't bring your camera, because I enjoyed the words. I also loved your description of Logan. ("What are they doing? Watching TRON 3D?"...um, yes, exactly). Keep us in mind if you ever want to come to Philadelphia (and/or New York and/or DC, both very reachable from here). Reasonable flights into Philly through Delta and Southwest, and sometimes even better deals into JFK on JetBlue. Take care and say hi to Samboni for me.