February 27 – March 12: We spent a couple of nice, busy days with Doug upon our return to Phoenix. Visited two really special museums, the Heard Museum of the American Indian and the Museum of Instrumental Music (or MIM).
At the Heard displays are organized by region and tribes, making it easier to compare pottery and basket styles across the different tribal families and clans, while appreciating the similarities and overlapping histories. As always, the Hopis fascinate me the most. Their creation story is remarkably reminiscent of the Book of Genesis and, although only orally transmitted over numerous generations, remains fresh and salient to the Hopis of today.
The MIM captivated me for over three hours. Exhibits were organized basically by continents with some displays focusing on specific instruments and how they differ from region to region, and in some cases village to village. For example, who knew that there were so many variations of thumb pianos, made from different materials and containing differing numbers of keys? Or that the steel drum, originating in Trinidad and now widely played throughout the Islands of the Caribbean, could be built to play in many keys? Or that flutes of some sort were played on every continent? Most exhibits were accompanied by short videos with audio coming through your headset as you approached the screen. The performances portrayed were varied, some ceremonial, some casual jam sessions, others shot in the field by audio anthropologists. All were spell binding. They all featured typical instruments of the region and those exact instruments, along with many others, were displayed nearby.
As planned, I boarded an early flight on Tuesday morning (5 am pickup) heading home for a week, while Ron stayed behind. Highlights of my week:
- IS 61 show Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, with Allie alternating between two leading roles. She is very talented! And she became a teen while I was there. No more little kids in this family…
- A pizza night on Saturday! A birthday brunch on Sunday! Dinner with Jan and Charlie at Marie’s on Friday! Dinner hosted by Jan and Charlie (that included Loretta and Harlow) on Monday! (Food plays a big part in what makes me happy…)
Highlights of Ron’s week:
- A ball game between the Milwaukee Brewers and the Pittsburgh Pirates complete with hot dogs and peanuts.
- Several terrific meals, including chicken kabobs and lamb steaks on the BBQ and tacos and chicken parm at a couple of local restaurants. (good food makes Ron happy, too!)
- A walk into the desert to see if the expected desert bloom has begun. Some flowers but not yet the bloom that can be expected after all the rain.
When I returned, Ron surprised me with tickets for Wednesday night to Sondheim on Sondheim at the intimate Phoenix Theater. So well-staged and performed; a great way to end the visit but end it we must. We said a last goodbye to Doug and Sam on a very rainy Thursday morning, did some (!) food shopping at Whole Foods and Trader Joe’s and headed south to find some sun. *
*As an aside, the whole country is consumed with worry about the corona virus pandemic, with events being postponed, schools closed, flights cancelled and the stock market in free fall – no one knows what to expect as COVID 19 makes its way across the world with new cases reported minute by minute and the death rate increasing exponentially. So it was no surprise when Jan and Charlie cancelled their plans to meet us in Las Vegas – probably not the best place for any of us to be at this time. We will be spending the rest of our trip pretty far from crowds and hopefully the worst of it will have been resolved before we get back home.
The Ultimate Road Trip 