No sleeping yesterday, Rocket - had to stay up to fight the jet lag. When I woke up at half past 11 today, my body said - "what´s wrong with you girl, get back to bed - it´s 3 am!!"
Oh my, what a trip! We saw and experienced so much that I felt like being there for at least a month and on the other hand time went by so fast that it all seemed to be over within 2 days...
First the HAB Festival, which was a kind of a RAH revival ... so many people to meet and chat with, whew - I didn´t get to hear anything of the first three bands. But it was so great to meet everybody again and see new faces as well.
Hanging out at "Camp Cathy" was so much fun - lots of laughter, lots of good food and lots of beautiful places to see. I really didn´t want to leave on Monday ... and imagine coming to this place (http://www.flickr.com/photos/41675368@N … 978776221/) right after spending an evening at THIS place: http://www.flickr.com/photos/41675368@N … 978776221/ ...
But NYC was exciting of course ... saw some of the touristy things like Empire State Building (http://www.flickr.com/photos/41675368@N … 978776221/) and the Statue of Liberty (http://www.flickr.com/photos/41675368@N … 978776221/), but also strolled around some crazy places in Greenwich village (saw the Beatles reunite there ... (http://www.flickr.com/photos/41675368@N … 978776221/) and of course we had to pay B.B. King's and the Rock´n´Roll Hall of Fame a visit (http://www.flickr.com/photos/41675368@N … 978776221/) ... on the whole we saw only a very little part of the city, but after 2 1/2 days I was really exhausted by the buzzing energy of that place. There´s just SO many people everywhere ... I speculated about some kind of 6th sense that New Yorkers have to have - how can they all stare at their Blackberrys all the time without running into all the other Crackberry victims on the street??
Next time I´ll have to meet up with Ben and his dad in NY - too bad we only found out afterwards...
After one great week at the east coast that was ended very appropriately with the musical fireworks of the Allman Brothers Band we were off to the west coast on Thursday where our friend Rocket took care of us from day one ... you couldn´t ask for a better tourist guide really. Not only did he take us to beautiful hidden places that we would never have found without him (http://www.flickr.com/photos/41675368@N … 978776221/), but he was also our allround Entertainer, human GPS ("oops, ... U-Turn!!"), food guide (can you say Strawberry Pancakes?!) and on top of it all - my dad´s lost twin: http://www.flickr.com/photos/41675368@N … 978776221/
Rocket, we really can´t thank you enough!
But Rocket wasn´t our only benefactor in Cali - Libby, my sister in hysterical giggling, arranged tickets for two fabulous shows at the Coach House. On Friday we saw Sonny Landreth (http://www.flickr.com/photos/41675368@N … 978776221/), whose slide playing is really out of this world. Then on Sunday we saw Devon Allman, who played with such a passion that the maybe 30 people who were there made noise for 300 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/41675368@N … 978776221/). Wow, I was really blown away by his intense playing - he has matured so much within one year... I'm definitely curious about his new album next year. Also got to meet Danny (and his Les Paul!), which was great - we literally had to be seperated by force to end our music talk. Next time: jam session, o.k. Danny?!
Here´s a pic of our two kick-a** guitar players ... http://www.flickr.com/photos/41675368@N … 978776221/
After discovering some of the SoCal beaches with Rocket, we stopped by Laguna Beach (http://www.flickr.com/photos/41675368@N … 978776221/) to meet Libby once more ... what a beautiful place, and very European-looking as well. We had a wonderful Californian summer day - UNTIL my dad managed to run into some kind of thorny branch and cut his head so bad that he looked like a human Rocky Horror Picture Show within seconds ... but of course our fabulous Libby turned into a caring nurse right away and rescued my dad with improvised first aid ... whew!
Los Angeles was our last stop and we got a glimpse at Hollywood (http://www.flickr.com/photos/41675368@N … 978776221/), downtown LA, Santa Monica (http://www.flickr.com/photos/41675368@N … 978776221/) and Venice Beach (http://www.flickr.com/photos/41675368@N … 978776221/) ... I have to admit that I liked the LA atmosphere much better than the one in NYC - more laid back, less Blackberries, crazy people and some really cool city places ...
I was sad that we couldn´t make it to one of the nature parks and to Frisco, but I guess that means that I just have to come back ...
Being back home now I really miss you all already - and to think that I probably wouldn´t know any of you without this forum ... well, gotta say - thanks Joe.
So - I hope I will be back for seeing San Fransisco, for more woodland solitude in Maryland (and guitar lessons from Jimi!), more shows at the Coach House, more giggling with Libby, more adventures with Rocket and a guitar jam with Danny.
Eva