New (to me) piano

 Josie's friend McKay and his wife and children are moving to a new house, and didn't really have room for the piano that nobody knows how to play. Somehow he and Josie decided it should live at our house, and it moved in today!

Time once was that our basement (in the condo) looked like a piano store, but all the pianos went in different directions, leaving only Josie's piano, which is downstairs, and which has sometimes been carried upstairs upon occasion. (Like when my sister had her Swedish gathering in January 2023.)

I have been wanting an acoustic piano. I didn't want one in the condo because there wasn't room upstairs, really, and we had a lot of pianos downstairs. But once we moved here, I started looking for the perfect piano, and just never found what I wanted at a price I liked.

But Josie reasoned that free is a good price, and if I didn't like it, I could list it on the Provo Buy Nothing group. The piano had been free for McKay, so he wanted to pay it forward.

It actually has nice tone. There are a couple of funky keys, and it has probably not been tuned for a long time. So that needs to happen. And I need to find where I packed my music, and I need to get my brain and fingers back in gear, because I have not played the piano much for nearly four years. Which is a lot of time.

It is an Everett piano, and they are pretty decent. They were first made by the John Church company, and eventually bought out by Yamaha, and no more Everett pianos were made after 1989. I don't know what year this is, but it is a pretty good piano, and a bargain at free AND delivered for free by Josie's friends McKay and David plus their two helpers. Carefully put into place by them. 

I am going to enjoy it, and I am thankful for it!

MPMLA 2024 (The Last Post)

 Saturday May 18 was our last day of MPMLA. We had only morning sessions. Traditionally, we then hold a business meeting and have a last lunch together before heading out. Often we combine the two, but since our venue, NMM, doesn't allow food (unless you pay a bunch of money, which is only logical because museums and food don't play together nicely, and which we didn't want to do) we were holding them separately. That meant that some people were planning to leave after the meeting but before lunch, because of long drives.

I was the moderator again for Saturday morning. We had papers from Maria (information literacy), Laura (event experimentation), Woody and Meghan (language representation in library signage), and Danielle (DEI and accessibility in libraries). All very interesting papers, and I learned that Oklahoma (the state) has outlawed DEI. Josh (at one OK university whose president took the blow without making any effort to resist) asked Maria (who is at another OK university situated within the Cherokee nation) how the ban is affecting their programs. At Josh's university they even canceled their Women's Studies program, which had been around long before DEI became a big thing. This, coupled with news like what happened in Idaho, with one public library having to style itself as an adult's only library (link)what the heck? Have we gone back in time a hundred years or what?

Saturday May 18 was also my cousin Marie's birthday, and she texted my sister Arlene and me to give us an update on Steve's condition. He was awake and could even muster a smile, and someone gift-wrapped him -- Marie's birthday gift! "He lives!"

I had forgotten to go for a walk in the morning!! I ate breakfast in the hotel with Daron and Janet, and then we packed up the van and got in it and drove to the museum. We thought that the museum opened at 9, so we could spend more time looking at the exhibits, but it opens at ten on Saturdays--I mean, I think we knew that, but forgot because we were hoping to have more museum time. Otherwise, I could have walked there, but since I didn't, even though I got there early, I forgot to use that time to walk. So instead, I paced during our meeting, which was exactly 20 minutes long. Otherwise, I would not have gotten a walk in! 

For lunch, we (minus Woody and his Denver crew, who wanted to get on the road) went to Café Brulé

On the way, we found another mural for Josie to photograph. I don't know what the artist calls it, but I call it "Spirit Unicorns."

We did not love our food, although the appetizer we got (because we were so hungry because it was like 2:00 pm by then) was good. It was onion rings, which Josie and I shared with Thomas and Laura. We had a good visit over lunch, and then we all gave hugs all around, and began our journeys home.

The GPS was content to do less back and forth driving, so the route was much more direct, and took us on no gravel roads. Huh. That made us wonder WHY the strange route on the way there, but not on the way back? 

We had barely arrived to I-80 when our driver decided that a change was in order, so we got off at the very next exit, so we didn't have time to read signs or anything, but once we were getting off at the exit ramp, we spied a gas station, and headed there to use the facilities (we didn't need gas) while we were planning to stop to change drivers. As we drove toward the gas station, Josie noticed a sign that said "Mormon Island," so we ladies headed over to read the sign up close, and to take a photo opportunity.

This is a place where Janice and her family had camped before. My daughter Kelli commented on our family chat that she used to see this sign as she would drive a semi down I-80, and had wanted to stop there. Well, we didn't see the sign, but we accidentally went there! Josie volunteered to be the photographer, but did not want to be in a photo. (She had dressed rather casually for her afternoon in the back seat, and did not want to memorialize her outfit!) But I wanted her in a photo, and so I captured her shadow! (That is me, Josie, Janice.)

"Oh, there is even a handcart!" Janet said -- I was looking all over for it, but couldn't see it. It was a miniature handcart replica, right in front of me, but I couldn't see it for looking. Beside the tiny handcart was a ginormous frog (with a smaller frog), which Josie took a picture of, but nobody captured its buddy the baby handcart.

On the road again, driving, driving, driving, until it was time to stop for gas. I don't remember where we stopped, but Janet was checking for a recommended restaurant, and highly rated was an Indian restaurant, which we could not see from the road, because it was inside the gas station! From the outside, it didn't look there would be a restaurant inside, but there was. And honestly, it was very delicious. Josie and I had samosas and aloo gobi. Janet got chicken tikka masala. I can't remember what Janice got, but she said it was almost as good as she makes it, and that is a high compliment because Janice is from an Indian family, and they do cook yummy food.

There was also an Indian food store in the restaurant, and Janice and Josie were excited to see some things, because they have both been to India and knew what to look for.

Back on the road again, our intrepid googler, Janet, began looking for a hotel for the night in Cheyenne. She first called the Super 8. They said they were full...would she like them to call the Motel 6? So they did, and told her that we could book two rooms, and that would be $700. What??!!!! $700 for two rooms for one night at a Motel 6?!!!  

Back to the googling, Janet found a hotel called The Historic Plains Hotel. It would only cost around $100-$150 a night for each room. So that is where we went. Janice, Josie and I got a cramped little room for something like $140 that was either hot or noisy (if you ran the air conditioner). It was so hot that we opted for noisy. Because it was an old hotel, it was awkwardly designed, too, with the bathroom in the far corner with a light switch high on the wall.  Janet and Daron, for about $100, got a lovely, large King suite with a full-size fridge!! Also, our room had an east window, and the curtains were designed so that there wasn't a way to keep out the morning sun. And also there were birds twittering and scampering about on our window ledge, enjoying the morning breeze, so we all woke up with the sun! Which meant we got an early start for home on Sunday morning!

This hotel had once been grand, but it was now in a state of fading elegance. However, the ceiling of the lobby was lovely:

Those circles on the ceiling are planets.

The elevator on the first floor was broken, so we had to haul our suitcases up and up to the second floor, which took one large and two small staircases to get to it. 

Also, the elevator was very small, holding two people comfortably, and three people less so. But not five people at once! So we took turns going up. And leaving, we just met in the lobby, so we took turns, but not serially. Here is the elevator sign on the fifth floor, where our rooms were located:

Outside of the hotel, through a window, Josie spied another mural,

And at the hotel doorway, as we exited (this was not the entrance we had used the night before), a beautiful mosaic.

We had thought to eat breakfast in the hotel restaurant, but it wasn't open yet when we hit the road at 7 AM. So we assigned Janet to be on the lookout for the breakfast destination of her choice, because it was her birthday! May 19th. 

I am not sure what city we stopped at--Janet chose a Penny's Diner. Apparently that is a chain, because I thought it was an individual thing, but I found so many all over the place. This was maybe about two hours from Cheyenne, along I-80. This diner was an actual diner, like long and skinny. There was a sign on the door saying "cash only" so we scrounged for cash, and I think we could have done it, but once inside, Josie discovered that you could use your phone to order and to pay, and so that is what we did. Only Josie ordered and paid for mine because I suck at using phones. 

It was fun to sit right beside the griddle and watch the cooks cook. Or watch the food cook when the cooks were serving, because there were only two employees there doing all the jobs. Weird thing about the diner was that it was also functioning as the front desk for the hotel beside it, so the employees also had to do front desk stuff while cooking and serving and cleaning up. Talk about multi-tasking!

And here is a picture of Janet and Daron on her birthday in Penny's Diner:

And then we drove on home, arriving at about 3 pm. It was a great trip. Last of all, as I looked through all the photos in my MPMLA folder, I realize that I missed one of the instruments that Josie photographed at the storage facility, so I will add it here. It is a toy piano. Now, in case anybody wonders, a toy piano can be a toy, but it can also be an instrument. Composers do compose works for toy piano, or use toy piano in scores for multiple instruments. I know. That seems a bit weird, but there you go. Life is weird. People are weird. Weird can be wonderful. So, I will close off this post, and this trip, with a toy piano, bagged in plastic, wearing a tag, sitting on a shelf in a musical instrument storage facility. Can't get much weirder than that.

MPMLA 2024 (May 17 second half)

 Before I tell about the afternoon, let me insert here a photo of the entire group of us! (Which I will get to eventually after I explain some things!) We took the picture just after the museum tour, but before lunch. Janice had wanted a picture of all of us outside, on the steps leading up to the old museum. That was possible in the past, when the building looked like this:

But now, they have plants in front of the stairs because they don't want people using that entrance any more. The sidewalk no longer leads to that door, so there is grass, and then plants in front of the stairs, and everyone uses the more westerly entrance.

So we took the picture inside, on the steps leading upstairs to our classroom. We needed to take the photo on Friday, because Laurie and Don needed to leave first thing on Saturday morning, so Friday was our only opportunity to capture the entire group in a photo. I should have put it in the last post, but forgot. 

Top: Laura, Woody. Next row: Thomas, Josh, Josie. Then: Meghan, Danielle, Myrna. Then: Allegra, Daron, Janet. Next:Don on one side, Maria on the other. Bottom row: Laurie, Janice, Anita. Janice is tall enough that her head is equal to Don and Maria, but she is standing on the same row as Laurie and Anita.

Back to my chronological narrative!!

After lunch, we headed back to the NMM. We needed to be on time because Josie was the first presenter after lunch, presenting on Video Game Music. She did a great job. If she was nervous, nobody could tell. Her presentation  was very interesting, and people  had a lot of questions and comments after.

Next up was Laurie, presenting about sheet music illustrations. She focused on big women, little men. Amazingly, there was a lot of early sheet music like that! She showed so many examples, and discussed whether the illustration had anything to do with the actual content. I have no clue how she found them--I was trying to find one to show an example here and utterly failed.

Then we had our only virtual presentation--Jason presented from Denver via Zoom about Ray Brown's bass playing during the time he played with the Oscar Peterson trio. (Oscar Peterson was a Canadian jazz performer and composer FYI.)

After the break, Woody handed session moderation over to me, and we had presentations from Thomas and Woody on indigenous voices--they are embarking on a project to create an online discography, and were soliciting contributors to the project. And last up was Anita, presenting about Anders Nyborg, and how songs from South Africa spread into hymnals elsewhere, and we all attempted to sing one of the songs at the end. Well, we did indeed sing it, just imperfectly, for me, at least!

Sometime around the time that Anita's presentation ended, I got a text message from my cousin Marie that her husband Steve was out of open heart surgery, and that it looked so far so good. Marie had texted me about what was going on with Steve just on Wednesday, as we were getting ready to leave. (This is a heads up for a picture coming your way in the next post!)

Anita's paper was originally planned to be the end of the day, except for the dinner later in the evening--but in the morning, Carol, the deputy director of the NMM, had asked me if we had time to tour their storage facility. We didn't know they had it, and they hadn't thought to ask us about it until that morning. So we added that tour right after Anita! 

The storage facility (which probably has a name, but I don't know what it is) is fairly new construction, and part of it houses the bulk of the 40,000 instruments, and part of it houses off-site storage for the library, including much of university archives. Here is the exterior, with the piano keyboard design--see how it is patterned in twos and threes? This is at 1362 Carr Street. (Thanks to Google Maps for helping me find it, and for the image.)

Inside, the building is built in sections so that if anything goes wrong with air or temperature control, the entire building is not affected, only one section. So here are the photos Josie took inside the facility. 

First up, looking down the long hallway that all the sections open into. The doors at the end of the hallway lead to the library section. The doors on the sides of the hallway lead to musical instrument storage rooms.

                                

This instrument is made of bones. Like, the things you play are literal bones.

This keyboard instrument is in a state of deconstruction.

More gamelan things, in addition to what is currently housed in the NMM itself.

This photo does not give the correct idea of how huge these percussion instruments are. There was a big set of wheels that looked like the were from a huge wagon that were used to transport these very large drum-like things.

An array of harps. I think Josie put this photo on Instagram, and one person commented that this was more harps than they had actually ever see in real life.

There were some parts of instruments that were complete mysteries to me. And some complete instruments that were absolute mysteries to me. So. Many. Instruments.

In the NMM itself, there is a gallery dedicated to jazz music, which includes Lionel Hampton's vibraphone. It is set in front of a large poster of Lionel Hampton playing, and so it kind of creates an illusion that poster Lionel is playing his actual vibraphone. Well, here in the storage facility is the drumset that was a part of his set-up. And look! The drum is acting like a mirror, and there I am, appearing in the drum! With Josie's hand holding her phone to take the picture also appearing!

This is a one-man band instrument. My uncle also played a one-man band, but this is a step up in complexity from what Uncle Earl played. 

I do not know what this instrument is!! I know there was one instrument, similar to this only larger, that was trying to be a complete orchestra in one go. 

After we had seen all of the separate spaces, including the workroom which was like all of the other spaces except full of work equipment and it had a window, we headed out. We would be going to a restaurant named Cee Cee's for the chapter dinner.

We all (Janet, Daron, Janice, Anita, Josie and I) decided to do the twenty minute walk from our hotel to Main Street (literally all of the restaurants we went to in Vermillion were on Main Street), and so Josie took photos along the way. Of buildings:

This is a Baptist church. That surprised Anita, because it is on the ornate side for a Baptist church.

Josie also took pictures of the murals on various buildings. Coming from High River, which is full of murals, she is always on the look-out for mural art.

Neither Josie nor I really loved our dinner choices at Cee Cee's. We both got bowls--hers had a Japanese sounding name, and mine was called Peruvian, and all of the Peruvians (there were four of us who ordered that) came so late that it was quite noticeable. I didn't finish mine. Josie didn't finish hers enough that she wanted to stop at MacDonald's on the way back to the hotel.

The entire group had pretty much decided to get ice cream at this place quite close to Cee Cee's that we had all passed on our way there. So everyone-ish got ice cream. I did not, and I wasn't even jealous. I just didn't want any! 

Anita and I were the slowest walkers on the way back to the hotel. Everyone else got way ahead of us, as we ambled along having a good chit-chat. So we didn't realize that Josie and Janice, who both wanted to get fries at MacD's, found that they were closed to walk-in orders, and only the drive-through was open, so they ran to the hotel, got the vehicle, and drove through the drive-through to order.

And it is Fine (the end) for Friday May 17!

MPMLA 2024 (May 17 first half)

I have to say that traveling all day on Thursday, when we had left home on Wednesday,  made it feel like Thursday was Wednesday Part Deux, so it still feels weird to think that May 17 was a Friday. In the morning when I awoke, I checked my email and saw that Rick, our university librarian, had posted his Friday message as usual, and I was all like "Why is Rick posting his Friday message on Thursday?" Well, he was right, and I was...confused.

Janice and I walked over to the venue, starting the day off with a 20 minute walk. It was a beautiful day! We arrived at about 8:30, and Woody and the people who were riding with him (Meghan and Allegra) also arrived there early. Woody needed to set up all the technology, because we were doing a hybrid conference, with 16 attending in person, and another 20 something had registered to attend virtually. 

The people at the National Music Museum were so kind and helpful and considerate. I was so impressed with all of them. Byron was their technology dude, and he was super helpful to Woody. Those of us presenting in the morning (Allegra first, then me) got our slides up, so we were ready to go by the time the troops arrived.

Janet, Daron, and Josie were almost late--Erin from the NMM had told Janice that the best bakery in town was a certain one (I don't think I ever knew the name of it) so Janice told Janet about it, and so they decided to go there for breakfast (apparently not realizing that there was free breakfast in the hotel). When they went to the address it was an Ace Hardware, and when they walked around outside (all around the building) they could not find it. Finally they saw a tiny sign that said the bakery was inside! So they ate their breakfast at this little shop INSIDE the Ace Hardware. They thought that was pretty funny!

We were first welcomed to USD by their dean of libraries, Dan Daily. He was so nice and down to earth and welcoming! And then Carol Robertson, the deputy director of the NMM, welcomed us. And she, too, was so warm and welcoming. She told us some of the history of the museum, part of which explained their name change from "Shrine to Music"--in the early 2000s, their then director (the son of the man who started the whole thing) applied for the "National Music Museum" title, because that was when a bunch of museums on the mall in DC were becoming "National Museum of" this or that, and he wanted to get in on that, and make sure that nobody else got to that name first.

After the welcome, Allegra was first, presenting on the Mozart Da Ponte operas (Da Ponte was the lyricist) and she did such a terrific job! She is only 22, and a master's student at the University of Denver, and she has a lot of self confidence. Then it was me, presenting on the music of the Korean drama DoDoSolSolLaLaSol: Theme and Variations--our presentations were put together because of the Mozart connection, since his variations on "Ah, vous dirai-je Maman"  AKA "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star" are important, nay integral, to the music of this K-drama.

And then Arian, the curator of string instruments, took us on a museum tour! We started in the basement with behind-the-scenes things to look at. Like their book collection! All of their books are in library  museum use only, since they are not a library. Then we went to the galleries. 

When they did the expansion--which I have not talked about!! So, they planned an expansion, and were going to be closed for two years for it. I think it was 2019 the first year we talked seriously about going there for MPMLA, but they were planning to be closed for two years. Then COVID. And with interruptions to the supply chain, personnel issues, etc., as a result of COVID, they just reopened recently. And everything cost way more than projected, of course, because of all the things mentioned plus inflation. So, they built the addition and developed it, and then did the remodel of the old building, and ran out of money. So in the old building, there are lots of empty galleries. They are gated off, and in some cases there are posters showing plans, but only the newer side has open galleries. I didn't even think about taking pictures, but fortunately, Josie did. 

I do not know the significance of this sculpture, which is near where the galleries are. Huh. I am sure there was a sign that explained it. But here it is! 

This sign, however, makes good sense in the context of the museum! 

It should come as no surprise to anybody that Josie took a picture of their gamelan display. This is an active use gamelan display--they have a joint university/community gamelan group that plays on this gamelan in this rehearsal space, and they have a public performance every so often, too. This is a Javanese gamelan, whereas Josie and I (and that one semester, Nancy) have played in a Balinese gamelan. They have similar instruments, but music and style differ. I prefer Balinese, but obviously I am biased.

This gives a good idea of what the museum is like. It is all set up to "tell a story" and while it is nice and everything, I liked the old museum better, which was still thematically arranged, but there were way more instruments to look at, read about, listen to (you could check out a walk man to listen to narrative) and they didn't waste space on posters and screens and stuff. Because they have 40,000 instruments, but can only display in the hundreds because of space (and of course, no money for the empty galleries.)

This next series she took pictures of should also be no surprise, since she plays both viola and guitar--she took pictures of the fake luthier shop and some of the instruments in that gallery. This is really not fake--it is a replica. This family of luthiers had been in the business for generations, but when they moved to the US, all the sons became doctors and lawyers and engineers and so stopped being luthiers, which is sad, but their shop is saved. 

Here is a lute to show early stringed instruments. Although, this is pretty complex and has all those sympathetic strings, doesn't it?

There was some significance to this viola? violin?, but I don't remember what it was. So that is helpful! Also, it refuses centering.

There! my words sort of fixed that!

There is a keyboard gallery, and it was cool, and had a nice variety of keyboard instruments, but probably only half what were in the museum 20 years ago, when placement and signs and all that were not taking up all the space. Josie just took one picture there, of this beautiful organ, which I sent to Miriam because I hoped she might like it.

And that takes us to the lunch break! So it was time for lunch. People must have been hungry, because everybody all rapidly disappeared, and then all of us BYU people were milling around, being slowpokes, so we were all "where should we eat lunch?" 

We wanted to try something new, that we wouldn't be trying later during our time in Vermillion. So Janet found a place called Bunyans. Only, we heard it; we didn't see it written. So some of us thought of bunions (not very appetizing) and others thought of bun + 'nions (short for onions) so onions on a bun? But it was actually "Bunyans." It was on the way out of town, at the west end, and I think is very much a local spot. We walked in and didn't know if we should sit down or wait or whatever, and the waitress was pretty irritated at our indecision. She said rather exasperatedly to just sit somewhere.

So we sat. We got menus and water and these cute little girls (maybe like 8 and 10) were in their element bringing napkins and doing all the grunt work (clean up, etc.). They loved it, but we weren't sure, should we tip them?! 

The menu was interesting: 

I sent the photo to our family chat group, and Patrick noticed the Cheeseballs with absolutely no description of what they might be, but Nancy noticed the Gizzards. Which was what I had noticed, too.

And eww...since I know my way around inside a dead chicken, when I imagine gizzards, they look very raw and very gross and just ewww. So I did not feel very hungry anymore. I just ordered a garden salad, which cost less than $5 and was actually the best garden salad I have had in a long while. It did have grated cheese in it, and some people don't like that, but what I liked was that all the veggies were in very small pieces, which made eating it a very pleasnt experience.

Plus, Josie's Pickle Fries were plentiful, and she was happy to share. I used to go to a place called "Perky Pickles" in University Mall when I was a BYU student, and so I already like battered and deep fried pickles. But the pickle fries were, in my opinion, even better than Perky Pickles, because you get more batter in comparison to pickle, which was a tasty way to do it.

The restaurant was an old gas station, and it had cool stuff to look at all over the place, on the walls, in the rafters--should have taken some pictures! We took pictures outside as we were leaving, though.

Okay! That is half the day. I am going to stop here and continue later. It was a very full day!! So, be tuned for more!!           

MPMLA 2024 (May 15-16)

This year, Josie went with me to the 2024 meeting of the Mountain Plains Chapter of the Music Library Association. I know that she has gone with me before--she attended with me in 2006, when she was 12, and the meeting was held at the University of Denver. Emily Bradford went with her mom, too, and both girls stayed at Emily's older sister Sara's house, but came to the meeting to celebrate Janet's birthday (which is May 19). It happened that flights to Denver (round trip) were only $50, so Janet and I took our little girlies with us.

Josie came again in 2011, when she was 17.  That was because we met in Albuquerque, New Mexico, where her good friend from StarTalk, Julia Campbell, lived. Julia came and met us for our opening dinner. The girls sat with Thomas Bell and talked about Indie Music, one of Thomas's favorite topics. Then Josie went with Julia to be a guest in her home until the conference was over. 

And now Josie came again in 2024, but this time she was a presenter. She applied for and received a chapter grant for a first time presenter award, with her topic being Video Game Music. 

It was fun to have her along!! She did a great job, and there was a healthy discussion with the audience after. I had wanted her to try to come along because finally, after many years of hoping to go to this venue, we met at the National Music Museum, on the campus of the University of South Dakota, in the absolutely lovely and charming town of Vermillion. (Population 11,000.)

Josie, Nancy and I have been there (the NMM) before: when the International Viola Congress was held in Minneapolis, Minnesota in 2004, long before I started blogging. We drove in a BYU van with some BYU students, plus Bryan Lew, who was still a high school student, from Provo to Minneapolis (where we all stayed at Bryan's aunt's house). So Josie was 10; Bryan was 15; Nancy was 19. Carrie Maxwell, Andrew Snow--I can't remember all the names right now, but we had a full van. And along the way, we stopped at this museum, then called The Shrine to Music. The kids initially groaned, but then loved it, and I loved it too, but Josie doesn't remember it. (She remembers playing with Bryan's younger cousin, Taylor Wood, and those two girls did have a fun time together.)

So, I was predisposed to want to have MPMLA at this venue, having been there and loving it 20 years ago!!

So, Janice and I got funding to go by van, and so we added Janet and her husband Daron (Janet is now retired) and Josie to our trip. It was cheaper for two of us to drive than for two of us to purchase plane tickets, and there is no airport in Vermillion, so we would have had to rent a car anyway. So, we took five people for the price of two. We left on Wednesday evening at about 6, and drove until midnight (when the BYU van would turn into a pumpkin=against the rules to drive after midnight). We slept in a little Motel 8 (I did not know that Motel 8 was a thing. Super 8, yes, but plain Motel 8, nope.) We got a good price, but the room was pretty noisy once the truckers started working as soon as it got light.

Janet had determined the fastest route on her GPS, and it was a total hoot. Here we are embarking on our first of two gravel roads the GPS took us on:

Daron was driving once we turned off of interstate 80 and made our way, blindly, relying on the GPS, to Vermillion. Besides handling dirt roads, he also passed semis on two-lane roads without any shoulders. We arrived in Vermillion on Thursday at abuot 6:30 pm, and I was so grateful that Daron was driving--had it been me, I would have been still behind one of those semis!!

People asked us what route we took, and we joked that we drove on all of them--if it was a numbered highway in Nebraska, we drove on it, as we back-and-forthed our way to South Dakota. I completely lost my sense of direction, we went this way and that so much!! 

One of the directions it gave was like this (pretty good art? Hahahaha!):

Daron accidentally drove past that little turn on the right, and we could see the next highway up there, but he wanted to exactly follow the GPS, so he turned around and took that right turn (now a left turn from the other direction) and it was a road marked "Local Traffic Only," but he followed it, and it came out on the very highway that we would have been on had we just gone to the intersection. That was our second gravel road of the trip. We laughed so hard about that. Still, we made it to Vermillion!

After we checked in to our hotel, the Prairie Inn, we went to dinner at the Dakota Brick House. Our entire group was there but for Danielle, Laura, and Josh. 

Around the table, you can see Maria, Anita, Laurie, Don, Meghan, Woody, (Allegra had stepped out so is missing after Woody), Josie, me, Janet, Daron, Janice. Thomas took this picture, and just sent it to me a moment ago.

I ordered a poutine faker that was not very good, and I did not finish it. But we all loved the band! There was a retired music teacher husband/wife duo playing guitar and keys/synth and singing oldies but goodies. Nobody knew Runaway!!! When I was lyp-syncing to the chorus (as was Laurie's husband Don):

I wonder
I wo-wo-wo-wo wonder
Why... why-why-why-why-why
She ran away
And I wonder where she will stay
My little runaway
I run-run-run-run runaway

Everybody was so shocked that we knew it. Guys, this is a classic! It was a number one Billboard Hot 100 for 1961! (I was a little kid then, but I had older siblings!) It has appeared on Rolling Stone's list of the Greatest Songs of All Time in both 2004 and 2010. So!

We clapped heartily for the performers with each song, and they expressed surprise--I think they just get ignored when they play the Dakota Brick House, usually. So it was fun to make their day!! We explained that we were all musicians or performers, so of course we would clap. On one number, I forget which, they used either a synthesized flute or a flute recording, and we had Daron, Laurie, Janice, and Anita who are all professional flutists, so we were like--did you bring your flute? (Daron did bring his, but not to the restaurant.)

As it turned out, and totally out of character for our normal MPMLA folks, only one person flew there!!! Maria flew to Omaha, and Anita, who lives in Lincoln, Nebraska, drove to pick her up, and then they drove to Vermillion. Thomas drove from Manhattan, Kansas. Woody brought Meghan and Allegra, and they drove from Denver, as also did Laurie and Tom. Josh drove from Norman, OK. Laura drove from Brandon, Manitoba, we five from Provo, Utah. Danielle lives locally in Vermillion, being in charge of music (and other subjects) for the USD library, so she was already there. 

I had not gotten my 20 minute walk in yet, so Janice, Josie and I walked back to the Prairie Inn, and that took exactly 20 minutes. And then we all, exhausted, fell into our various beds in our various rooms, and slept!