7th Colorado Dulcimer Festival

Wednesday 3 February:

Morning and the weather forecast was not promising and the road condition maps showed lots of amber exclamation marks. Drive with caution. If I was going to Colorado I'd better set off today. Last year I drove up to the festival in one day. Do I take the car or the truck? The car is front wheel drive, good in snow but low and not so comfortable for a long journey. Kathy urged me to take the truck, be comfortable and to take my time . . . oh, and the truck had better come back without a scratch.

Changes of clothes: check. Toiletries: check. Tyre chains: check. Good jacket, gloves, shoes: check. Dulcimer: check. Hammers, tuner etc: check.

I set off about noon. Oh, I need to eat. Stop to pick up a sandwich. Gas tank full? I filled it the day before.

Finally on the road. View north at mile-post 60 on US60 driving east towards Socorro, New Mexico. Lightly snowing.

 

There was only one exclamation point near Magdelena marked on the road advisory map. The VLA seemed to be in hibernation as all the dishes were huddled near the visitor center.

Compare these pictures with the ones I took last May.

Very wet in Socorro as I meandered through the town to get to Interstate 25 North towards Albuquerque. Busy highway, as is usual, from Albuquerque to Santa Fe. Then the fun began. Packed snow and ice on the highway. The light was fading, not that it had been great what with the cloud cover, snow showers and patchy fogginess. So I drove the next hundred odd miles to Las Vegas, NM at about 35mph which was probably still too fast for the conditions in places where it was particularly icy. Very little traffic on the road; and dark by now. One, two vehicles off the road. And then I was coming into Las Vegas, NM. Flashing lights, police cars, emergency vehicles attending to a van-conversion flipped onto its roof off the side of the road . . .

Well I was half way; had got to my first destination safely though others weren't so lucky . . .

Thursday 4 February:

Travel day two. Back onto icy Interstate 25. Following an eighteen wheeler at a steady pace all the way to the last rest stop before Raton.  I'd been imagining Raton Pass snow-bound but from the rest stop the road was clear and dry and the view from the top of the pass was (and still is!) beautiful with snow capping the distant Rockies.

 

It was whilst stopping to take this picture I discovered I didn't have an important tool. The tuning hammer/wrench/wrest . . . what to do? I know I'll stop here.

Manitou Springs is near the foot of Pikes Peak. I drove up Pike's Peak in the old Mazda 323 in 1989 . . . but I digress. Other tourist attractions in the area are Seven Falls, Garden of the Gods, and the Cripple Creek gold mines and railroad. 

 

Garden of the Gods is an outcrop of sandstone rock formations.  

Refreshed after a sandwich and postprandial walk I was back on the road: Castle Rock, Denver, Fort Collins. Check in to hotel. Now what? There's a Barns & Noble across the way. I spent the evening browsing and bought E.L. Doctorow's Homer and Langley and a book  the title of which was the title of a film I'd seen. I browsed the blurb and yes this was the book from which the Film was made: The Power of One by Bryce Courtenay. Not that I would have any time to be reading . . . .

Friday 5 February: Official day one of the 7th Colorado Dulcimer festival

 The friendly volunteers who greet everyone at the door.

Here are some dulcimers. Where is everyone?

Attending workshops? Without their instruments? This festival is Steve Eulberg's child.

This is Steve playing strathspey Brachanloam.

Music festivals are about the music, the instruments and playing them, and that's what happened. I learned about ornamenting O'Keefe's slide. Joined in the few tunes I knew with a Celtic jam. Most people then watched three mountain dulcimer players compete in the competition the winner of which played during the evening concert which is open to the public.

Cathy Barton-Para taught me that there is a rich tradition of South-Western music suitable for the hammered dulcimer. I actually played in front of a small crowd during the open stage session.

Saturday 6 February: 

Developed a simple arrangement of Nonesuch, a Playford dance tune and joined the beginning jam in the afternoon.

The hammered dulcimer contest had to be decided with a play off for first. All five contestants played very well.

Warming up before the competition.

I joined the beginners jam after lunch; more my speed.

The last workshop I attended was with Steve practicing lots of Scottish snaps whilst learning Brachanloam.

The informal afternoon entertainment was this trio, Meadowlark:

A moment of levity and . . .

then all business before this appreciative gathering:

There is always so much going on. All the mountain dulcimer workshops and the other hammered dulcimer workshops; jams and extras like guitar accompaniment and song circle workshops . . .

But one extra which was new this year was a Sunday song circle led by Steve, Don Pedi, Nina Zanetti, Cathy and Dave Para and only about eight others. Some of the songs I knew but it was quite easy and relaxing to join in anyway. Snow was falling quite heavily for a while on Sunday morning and I was wondering how far I would get . . .

The sky did look cheerful for a moment somewhere between Colorado Springs and Trinidad,CO

But most of the way it looked like this:

Raton Pass was icy and traffic came to a standstill as vehicles that had slid off the road were rescued. Made it over the pass and stayed in Raton for the night and made the final run home today, Monday 8 February . . . .

These pictures are the highlights of todays travel. I do like the contrast of the snow on sandstone.

A gang of elk

  

Escudilla

 

And the snowy hills to the west of Round Valley