Well, we had to get out of town. The murk was choking us. Couldn't see downtown from my front window, time to leave... and it was NAMM! So off to SoCal we went.
First things first at NAMM was a pic with the booth babe... you bet!
Pretty cute dress....
As usual, NAMM features a zillion tons of music gear, software, accessories, and weirdos... Nothing much new this year, but we did find a booth full of curious bass guitars.
Try to get your head wrapped around that... let alone your fingers.
On a stage outside, we heard the surprise group of the conference... L'Angelus... really a great live performance of modern "cajun" and "swamp rock" music. Terrific energy and a great selection of songs.
NAMM burns you out quite quickly. So the next day we decided to enjoy some other aspects of the SoCal lifestyle. Unfortunately, it was the rainy season, so outdoor activities were out. So we went car shopping.... Rod couldn't believe they had a McClaren dealership in Newport Beach, so we drove down there. Very nice, and very, very expensive cars.
Finally, on the day we left SoCal, the weather broke giving us sunny skies. So we decided to take the long way back via Joshua Tree National Park.
Rod had a trillion dollars worth of camera gear, and was excited to shoot everything in sight.
Here's a few of his shots (I suspect a little photoshopping was added for color and light).
I got a few shots of my own, mostly plant life (or death, as it may be).
From Joshua Tree, we took Highway 62 through 29 Palms, then east through some very desolate valleys and mountain passes. What a weird area! Finally, we headed north to Needles (another rat hole), then further north to Vegas (actually Henderson where I have a favorite hotel of OK but dubious quality and a favorite restaurant of equally dubious quality). Then the next day back home through blizzards, ice, and snow... why come back?
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1 comment:
I might add that we almost bought it on an icy pass close to Nephi. Nobody could stop. The car in front of us rear-ended the one in front of it, and knocked it off the road, parts flying everywhere, and we were damned lucky that there was an open lane to the left, onto which somehow, Sherm managed to steer the truck. Coulda been bad.
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