Seeing the world. Or Elko.

So one of the deals I made with myself when I decided to take the teaching job in Lindon was that I'd make sure to travel. I'd been doing fairly well for myself (thanks in part to the recent diaspora of college buddies), but January really sealed the deal. I've managed 4 states (including Utah which is cheating I know, but wait for the symmetry) in 4 weeks. And I'm working full time. So great.

This weekend I went with some (now) friends to Elko to visit an old roommate and the Cowboy Poetry Gathering. What I loved about the weekend:

Not the poetry, alas. I didn't catch good acts or was too achy/grumpy to appreciate them (late weekend afternoon post-roadtrip? boo). But I found some fantastic music. The Quebe Sisters and Don Edwards and I fell absolutely in love with The Streets of Laredo (there was a great bluesy version too--killer) (Johnny Cash also does a couple of versions. The later one is beautiful. The earlier is very schmaltzy.)

Getting to know cool people. The friend dynamic in my life has altered significantly lately and it was great to realize that Provo is full of funny smart ambitious kids. Usually only a friend away (Facebook tells me these sorts of things.) Also good to remember that I'm capable of making friends. I forget. This includes adults, by the way. I'm coming to appreciate adult relationships more and more and getting better at talking to grown ups. Because I'm not 16 and awkward even though sometimes I feel like it.

Sun and blue skies. Elko doesn't do the inversion thing. This is the inversion my smile did when we drove back into Utah Valley and the grey murk. :(

Renewing old friendships too. People do this. I haven't seen Sarah in a couple of years and it was great and we chatted like old times and she's fantastic.

The West. One of the music acts presented old Irish/Scottish ballads before they sang the cowboy songs based off of the originals. What a beautiful transfusion of culture into the frontier. (Also, I love melodrama but can only handle it acoustically. These songs fit my tastes precisely.) The border thing struck me again when someone was talking about horsemanship. It was all redolent of stately Spanish horsemen, precise and trotting and decked out. The West couldn't be what it is without these other influences. Imperialism and oppression notwithstanding, I think the influences that ended up mixing together in the West are cool.

And there was just a cool dynamic in the people gathered. Not at all my usual scene: earnest and over the top and entirely without guile. Such a great weekend.