The original plan was to camp our way from Idaho to Wisconsin, but of course we followed some massive June thunderstorms throughout Montana, North Dakota, and Minnesota. We ended up having to do conventional lodging…boo hoo. But, it did afford us some great indoor practice time in preparation for our recital in Houghton, MI. There is a cool lodge in Bemidji called Ruttger’s with very affordable efficiency cottages right on the lake. This was our practice nook for a day.
Today we worked with musicians via the Boise Tango Society on playing tango music for tango dances. Our hour and a half session focused on getting a good marcatto, changing up the texture in an arrangement, and how to utilize ventanas (windows) or the places in the music where the phrase breaks before the next one continues. Our jam band for the dance consisted of violin, viola, cello, piano, three guitars, and harmonica!
We had a lot of fun playing for the milonga that night which was downtown at the Boise Café, a fun spot in the middle of downtown. Jennifer Olso taught a cool workshop on improvisation that we went to before the milonga. Later, I was trying on all the Comme il faut shoes that she was selling…I REALLY need new tango shoes, mine are ten years old…but, alas, tango shoes are such a low financial priority. After all, we could have used our money from the gig to guy gas to get home or to buy me a new pair of tango shoes…hum…
Fresh Food at Last
We walked into the Moab Brewery at 11:30am today at the guy at the bar walked up with 20 ounce pours, “pounders are the same price as pints on Sunday, it is our way of celebrating the Sabbath,” he said. “Are we in Utah” I thought? We were further convinced by the out-of-placeness of Moab when we headed out from the Wake n’Bake Coffee House, where Andy was served a tall dry cappuccino served in a Captain Morgan’s mug.
Here is the Moab inspired dinner we made at Arches National Park using local Utah produce:
This is one of the most famous places in Canyonlands, an amazing high altitude plains-like area that is surrounded by a castle fortress of eroding rocks. We had fun capturing it at sunset and then making a fantastic dinner.
Supreme Backpacking Pasta
Ahh, Natural Resources…
Nothing is too far away from the water source in the Canyonlands campground, but we were worried about finding a place to filter water out in the backcounty.
Water is available only in small isolated pools usually as the base of a rock outcrop in the upper parts of the canyons. When we finally did find water our first night it tasted better than beer!! I think we both got dehydrated and were starting to get water crazed before that point. I couldn’t stop thinking about water all day….and when all the water we were going to use for EVERYTHING (drinking, washing) was literally in the 9 liter bottles on our backs, I stated to get a little obsessed…
We managed to find filterable water twice on the trip…you can actually smell it ½ mile away, and of course you just use your eyes to find it…follow the green.
For our entire six night trip we ended up using 27 liters…that is 2 ¼ liters per person per day…whew….
Another tip for desert travel, don’t for get the lemons!
At the end of each hike we sucked the juice out of meyer lemons straight. Now that is a thirst quencher!
Then we made killer sun teach with the left over halves of the lemons:
Killer Desert Sun Tea