Montana

When I was poolside last summer in Arizona I got an e-mail about a Brandi Carlile concert weekend in Mexico and sent a screenshot to Luke immediately that we had to go. And we did! A few weeks later Jamie texted me that Lucius was going to perform at a concert weekend in their town of Whitefish, Montana, and that we should come. And we did!

I bought the festival tickets the day they went on sale. Weeks months later it occurred to me I needed to book our travel.

THERE WAS ONLY ONE HOTEL ROOM LEFT! Booked it. Booked the airfare. Ahhh, all set.

Days before our departure... hey wait, I though to myself - did I get a rental car with the flight?!!! I had NOT and there were none to be found. Dang it! I planned a day to drive to Glacier National Park! Then I remembered an NPR story about a peer to peer car rental company in which people rented out their cars that would otherwise sit at the airport while they travel. I googled "Airbnb for cars" and Turo popped up. Entered my dates and I found ONE car for ONE day (not the weekend) but it was the Glacier day - booked it. Victory snatched from the jaws of defeat procrastination.

Grandma picked up the girls and we flew to Whitefish.

The hotel shuttle picked us up at the airport and Jamie picked us up from the hotel. Our first stop was food and drinks on a deck overlooking a lake.

Playing pool downtown with Andy, who directed us to his friend Paula's sushi restaurant for dinner. We wanted to say hello to Paula but she wasn't there; when asked if we wanted to leave a note, Luke replied, YES! And wrote a note to Paula (who we had not met yet).

That night we saw two bands - one that had driven from Houston (that's 2, 045 miles) - with Andy.

In the morning we picked up our rental car and headed to Glacier after having huckleberry pie for breakfast.

NATURE.

We drove Going to the Sun Road to Logan Pass. Andy made us dinner that night - slow grilled steaks, smashed potatoes, and asparagus. And then was nice enough to lend us a car to drive back to the hotel ....

and back for blue cheese omelets in the morning!

Luke and Jamie worked on some songs that morning and then we headed to the festival. The venue was stunning!

Festival ladies serving lewks.

Another delicious breakfast in the morning - egg and chorizo tacos and strawberries from the garden. Paula, the sushi restaurant owner, came over for breakfast and to play the harmonica. Before she joined to the band to work on songs, she did a tarot reading for me. I am still thinking about what we discussed these months later.

Music making in the Garage Mahal.

Back to the festival.

LUCIUS!

In the morning we shared the hotel shuttle back to the airport with one other couple - who happened to be from St Louis!

In September Jamie flew to St Louis to work with Luke and record songs for her nonprofit The Great Blue Song Project, an organization that pairs songwriters and those with a story to tell (grief, illness). How amazing is that?!!

Thanks MT friends for your hospitality and friendship and for making sure we had bear spray! YIKES! Montana is wild y'all!

Girls Just Wanna Weekend

On the day of the polar vortex in late January, Luke and I headed to sunny Riviera Maya, Mexico, for Brandi Carlile's inaugural Girls Just Wanna Weekend!

Music started on the main stage in the evening. There were activities durng the day - yoga, painting, margarita-making contest - but we opted to sleep in, read, walk around, people watch. I finished Madeline Miller's The Song of Achilles and began Barbarian Days: A Surfing Life by William Finnegan.

The line up:

Wednesday: Shawn Colvin; Brandi Carlisle

Thursday: The Secret Sisters; KT Tunstall; Brandi and friends - songs in the round; Indigo Girls

Friday: Lucius and Maren Morris

Saturday: Ruby Amanfu; Mavis Staples; Brandi Carlisle; Ladies of the 80s (80s covers by all the artists)

On the first night we met Maren Morris' parents and ended up playing pool with them later. We met SO many friendly people ... the retired police officers who are genealogy buffs and taught us the term "NPE" [non-paternal event]; the graphic designer handing out free postcards she made for the event; a couple who travels around to Brandi concerts and invited us to hang out on their stage-side balcony. Everyone was just so nice and so excited to be there. It was a powerful energy to soak up.


(We don't appear in the recap video but it does capture the fun and great mood of it all).

We were walking on a sidewalk and I spotted an iguana (always on the lookout for them - they're terrifying) and Luke walked right past it, unaware, and I squealed and it turned lightning-fast and jumped down a drain. THAT was terrifying. They can move fast!

The view from the upper balcony with a hot tub and a wall that I could drag a chair next to and enjoy some shade.

I have been following Pete Souza, Obama's White House photographer, on Instagram for a long time and knew that he also photographs Brandi Carlile frequently. THEN I saw he was posting photos from this event! I kept an eye out and finally spotted him walking toward me on a sidewalk. "MR SOUZA!" I shouted. "I'M A HUGE FAN OF YOUR WORK!" Luke got this photo. It was a huge thrill to meet him!

We met a great couple from Montana who took us off the resort for seafood -- here the waiter is tempting us with a live lobster.

I'm not a beach person but the resort was very nice except for the food - the food was meh - but I was expecting cruise food (delicious - at least gobs of fresh fruit available) and that was not the case at the Hard Rock. Expectations ruin everything!

This seafood tower was what I wanted to eat the entire time.

I don't care where I am I'm still going to order bacon-wrapped jalapenos.

Scooped-out pineapple with a mix of pineapple, shrimp, ham, and very salty cheese.

After the shows on the last night, I went to bed and Luke went out. He came back later saying, "you gotta get up! Lucius is in the hot tub!" [We've been fans of Lucius since 2014, listen to their records frequently, and have a running joke stemming from this:

Houston, Texas, circa 2015: Clementine and I were in a muggy McDonald's bathroom and some country song by a female singer came on and Clementine, little feet dangling off the toilet, said: "Is this is Lucius?"

So we're big fans and they were a large part of the reason we went to Mexico. (And planning to see them this summer!) Luke ended up in a hot tub with Lucius and other night owls, singing Billy Joel songs. At one point they asked around for cigarettes and no one had any ... Luke, Fan Boy, said "I'll find some!" and ran dripping through the resort to find an employee, any employee. He found someone with a walkie talkie who radio'ed his request and ZOOM someone appeared on a golf cart with two cigarettes. Which he then presented to Lucius (Jess and Holly) with flourish.

By the time he retrieved me, they were gone ... but we have this photo. (Which Luke, Fan Boy, asked a stranger to text to him).

We met a fabulous couple on the flight from St Louis to Cancun and saw them several times (the resort isn't that big). We were on the same flight home and they gave us a holiday card:

Yes, this means Blair travels with not just holiday cards but envelopes and at least TWO colors of markers. I'm not worthy!!! The only reason I've unpacked at all from the Mexico trip is because I've been on two trips since!