We dropped the kids off at the Albuquerque airport yesterday, and officially began the music tour portion of our trip, as we head back to the east coast! I’ll tell you our plans, ask for your tips (because plans are made to be changed on a trip like this), but first I want to share a little of where we’ve been, because it’s been SO AWESOME and I have so many freakin’ photos — they’re burning a hole in my phone, Jonsein’ to be shared…

PART 1: Singing Workshop in redwood Shores, California

 

PART 2: Visiting with family in San Rafael, Placerville and Laake Tahoe, California. And PARASAILING! with Emily

 

Part 3: Epic Journey Through the Southwest with the Kids:
The Lonliest Road, Great Basin National Park, the Grand Canyon, and the Navajo National Monument (with the Betatakin Cliff Dwellings). Above is a Pionion Pine, the oldest living species in the world — some of them are almost 5000 years old!

All of us at the North Rim of the Grand Canyon.

The hike down to the Betatakin Ruins.

The Betatakin Cliff Dwellings: Created by the Ancestral Puebloans who are ancestors or the present day Hopis and others. Incredible to see.

Part 4: Music Roadtrip — Current Plan:
From Albuquerque, New Mexico to Amarillo, Texas. That’s where we are now. Our goal is to catch some live music everyday. Last night we pulled in around 11:00 caught The Dirty Rain Revelers playing at the 806 Coffee and Lounge. Very fun. We thought we were headed straight to Memphis (for obvious reasons) but a conversation with the lead singer of the band has re-routed us. Now we’re headed for Clarksdale, Mississippi instead — though we’ll probably make a quick stop in Memphis on our way to Nashville.

Clarksdale has s rich in history and a seminal home of the blues — I looked it up on Wikipedia and found myself fascinated as I read about the awful and wonderful things that have happened there from the time of the Choctaw and Chickasaw Indians, through intense periods of slavery, and into it’s active role in the Civil Rights Movement. And we’re told it has hopping and accessible music scene.

We’ll get there tomorrow, and may take a tour with this awesome dude in his jeep. I’ll keep you posted.

AND — if there are places you think we should go — be sure to let me know! Put your suggestions in a comment below!