From Hank: We did it! Had a great weekend in Richland, WA. It was our first visit and performance at the Tumbleweed Folk Festival; great music on four stages, and great weather! We also had fun jamming with friends from Portland, Seattle, and Eastern Washington. Keep the festival in mind next Labor Day, and take in some wineries while you’re at it.
Windy and sunny all weekend in Richland, WA
We took I90 on the way there, and made some time for the Ginkgo Petrified Forest State Park by the Columbia River. It’s been at least 10 years since I stopped there last, and it only takes an hour or so to take in the displays at the visitor’s center, and walk the trails around the petrified logs. And don’t forget to walk around the back of the visitor’s center to see the petroglyphs that were relocated there before they raised the Wanapum Reservior. Not only was it a reminder of how quickly the landscape can change, uncovering features buried under lava for millions of years; but it was a healthy reminder that power and bridges in that area were non-existent in our parents’ lifetime; some of our parents were truly pioneers.
For the return trip we stayed on the “Blue Highways” through Yakima – picked up some crates of tomatoes and peaches – and across White Pass on the south side of Mt Ranier. It’s a drive I always enjoy. The mountain was weathered in this time, but I’m sure it was standing proud behind those clouds.
We had about two weeks to listen to the rough mixes of the studio recordings, and returned last week to do some final editing and adding a few tracks. We got some great results and will probably be in the studio for one more day to complete the editing and mastering. Yee-Haa! If the stars are in proper alignment we could see a completed project as early as Thanksgiving.
CD PACKAGING PREP
This weekend was spent at the “Villa” in Ocean Shores, where we went to the jetty to get some photos. We had nail-biting fun scrambling on the jetty rocks with our guitars and subjected them to more salt spray than they should ever sea, but we did get some interesting shots. After it was over, I wiped down the Larrivee guitar and applied a good coat of polish. But I was not apologetic – this is the beach guitar after all.
In search of the perfect CD cover. This was close, but not the winner.
From Claire: Our first music festival together was a surprise in one special way – many of our now-dearly appreciated music buddies were there from Seattle, Portland, and places beyond. Ellen van der Hoeven came down from Canada to perform with her sweetie Tom Rawson, who snapped the two photos of us – thanks, Tom. We got all fouled up on directions Saturday night to a jam at a nearby home, but tried again Sunday and had a delightful musical time from 7pm to 2am or so Monday morning.
As for the petrified ginkgo trees, well they were sooooo memorable that I totally forgot I’d walked the trail to see them with Mimi, my amazing daughter, about 10 years ago or more. Unfortunately, because of looters, the individual logs in situ are encased in metal cages that could hold King Kong at bay. Very off-putting. And the trail was up a hill in the blazing heat of an Southeastern Washington late summer roast. But I don’t think Mimi and I stopped at the visitor’s center and that’s where the really interesting specimens and information was on display. Well worth the detour even though the gift shop was all out of T-shirts my size.
And kudos to our wonderful friend and photographer Angela Wilson, for chasing us around at the jetty and on the beach, snapping everything that happened, including my taking a tumble in the soft sand as we escaped the raging surf. Notice my guitar held higher than my head, which meant digging sand out of my ear but not out of my sound-box!
Racing the waves
Proper protocol for falling with guitar