Monday, August 2, 2010

The Virgin Islands & bluegrass...but not together...That would be wrong.

We had our route of Northern Michigan to Florida all mapped out, not counting on the "asthma" (as the doctor decided to call it) Judy suffered with for 3 months at the beginning of year; some of our gigs in Florida had to be cancelled and we were unable to work for almost a month during the worst of it. (See our last post for all the glorious details.)

Our down time included a little trip to St. Croix in the Virgin Islands for Whitt's son Justin's fabulous June wedding to the lovely Triona. 
 Judy was quite a bit better, but (due to medication) left with a suppressed olfactory sense.  How wonderful to be in an exotic location for a feast without being able to smell or taste anything!

But we rallied (grateful to be "ashore" at one of the kids' homes for a while) and sallied forth, rallying and sallying our way through Georgia, and, of course, north to the cool north woods of Michigan.

We love summer in Michigan and the opportunity to spend time with old friends--uh, that is long-time friends!  (Heaven knows, all of our friends are young (at heart).

One of our favorite things about Michigan is a neat, growing event called "Bluegrass In The Park" in Atlanta, Michigan, in the beginning of August where we did a full concert next to the beautiful Thunder Bay River and Mosquito Sanctuary. Visit their site at  www.bluegrassinthepark.com.



 Although we are clearly not bluegrass, folks at Bluegrass in the Park, in Atlanta, Michigan, have been putting up with us for years as their Sunday Morning Gospel Hour before they hit the road.

Ever see Judy play finger cymbals?






This year Doc & Luann Bungard, founders of the fest, held on the banks of the beautiful Thunder Bay River, asked us to do a whole concert on Thursday evening, before the official start of the festival, for RVers and others who arrived early.  (They may not make that mistake again!)

Other than the amount of blood everyone had to donate to the Sanctuary, it was a great time.  Fortunately, the sudden drop in temperature drove the mosquitoes off (and, unfortunately, folks to their rigs for blankets).