Back in the States

And here we are, back again! We flew in to Seattle, went through my annual Long Covid RECOVER Study medical testing, and bought a car. Due to the vagaries of the governments of the US and Canada, we had to make a pretty quick exit from the Pacific Northwest and rush off the Sweetgrass, MT to have our Nexus interviews.  

The new wheels (relatively new, it's a 2018)

That completed, we are now taking a leisurely lap around the Mountain West visiting friends and family. We started with Mark and Jenn in Helena, MT. We visited Mark last year during our crossing, and when we walked in the door this year we were greeted with the big news - they're engaged! So Mark's June-Boy now has two cat siblings and everybody is happy.

Brian with June-Boy last year. Because I dropped the ball on blogging.

With Mark, also last year, because I forgot to take photos this visit.

While in Helena, we took the tour of the Montana State Capitol, which was very cool. It was the first state capitol building built with electrification: yay copper mine money! The funniest thing were the original seats in the gallery which have wire hat holders under them, for your Stetson. We did some other random stuff, including buying a car cover. Mt. Spurr in Alaska is threatening to blow and I figure all the protection will be sold out before we make it home. Best to be prepared.

Next we popped down to Teton Village, WY and hung out with the Zs. Brian and I hit the mountain (he on a snowboard, me on skis) and it felt amazing. We also watched some great films and had a wonderful time.

We're now in Ketchum, ID where the World Cup ski races are being run. We've been out enjoying the festivities (mostly people watching), fireworks, and watching the races today. I'm hoping to hit the mountain soon. The weather has been....variable. In the meantime, we've had quality family time and sourdough waffles. The important things in life.

We'll be heading north to Alaska soon....

~Lucy  

Menton

Just down the coast, the last French (ish) village before Italy is Menton. The town hosts a parallel celebration to Carnaval: the Fete du Citron. Yes, the Lemon Festival. This year’s theme is Voyage to the Stars, and the lemon-based sculptures celebrated that in a variety of ways. They’re really fascinating: lots of kinetic pieces, soundscapes added into the displays, and very cleverly designed. The citrus seems to be sprayed with some kind of preservative to keep them bug-free for two weeks, and everything is held together with yellow rubber bands. I wonder if the town of Menton keeps the rubber band industry alive. 
 
We didn’t bother with the parades, because it was clear after a little digging that most of the musical performers and dancers are the same people participating in Carnaval in Nice! It’s really quite clever – the parades occur on opposite days of the week, and the artists get full employment for the month.
 
Instead we admired the art, viewed a display of previous year’s themes, and checked out the indoor garden exhibit (prompting B. to remark that every place hosts a garden exposition in the Spring). We tasted some meringue delicacies, and enjoyed a tarte au citron for dessert. We admired the pedestrianized old town, liked the beachfront quite a bit (tho the wind was blowing and occasional rain spatters kept us from basking), and of course hiked up many, many stairs to the local cemetery.  

To the Moon!

The Astronaut

Alien Invasion

H. R. Giger Would be Pleased

The Aliens Just Want Lemons

The Zodiac Arch

Citrus Carpet - the New Thing

Space Cases

The Gallery of Festivals Past

Down on the Beach

Climbing the Stairs

A Lovely Bay

A Burial with a View

~Lucy

Carnaval, Part 2

Our second Carnaval event was the Bataille du fleurs, aka the flower parade. This parade was a little different. Each float was a specific oceanic element – shells, corals, types of fish – and had a single woman riding the float and throwing flowers to the crowd. The dancers and bands interspersed between the floats ran the gamut – acrobats, stilt walkers, drummers, a marching band, majorettes, and many kinds of dancers. A group of dancers from Brazil brought the samba style and costumes with a Rio flare. 
 
At this event we finally figured out the emcee’s chant (which B. thought sounded like, “to the moon, to the moon, to the moon!”) was “Tout le monde”, which simply means “everyone”. But he says it with such a climbing intensity that it’s really funny.
 
We discovered at the end of the parade the real draw for the attendees: each float is denuded of the flower decorations, which of course would wilt before the next event. Then the flowers are handed out to the crowd. I swear a woman near us sat through two hours of parade absolutely stone-faced only to light up and grab for ALLLLL the flowers she could get. She even pulled aside the usher right before they started giving out flowers, I think she told him he was going to give her the first flowers or else, because he certainly made a point of bringing her many.

The Sea Star Float

Yes, the Shrimp Float

Puffer Fish? Sun Fish?

Very Romantic Sea Horses

Coral Float

Jellyfish!

The Flowers are Handed Out

~Lucy

Carnaval, Part 1

One of the reasons for coming to Nice was to attend the Carnaval. B. had suggested we go to Venice, but I liked the idea of sun and beach in February. We’ve been a little skunked on the sun – it’s been gray and cloudy for much of the month – but we’ve attended the parades. This year’s theme is Roi des Oceans, the King of the Sea. Our first event was Corso Carnavalesque illumine. It was loud, and amazing, and a lot of everything.
 
A few floats had specific messages about cleaning the seas, plastic garbage, etc. And one was an array of right-wing politicians being caricatured. 

The King of the Ocean

Dancing Fish Tins

This was titled the Cruisers of the Mediterranean, that’s definitely Putin and Jong Un dancing up front.

Jacques Cousteau

~Lucy

Football

 We have now attended our first ever European football game (aka soccer). Nice vs Montpellier, in the French Ligue 1. Before I let B. book the tickets I demanded to know the team colors. No way was I going to show up to the home team stadium in the opposing colors. Luckily, Nice is red and black, which is very easy to accommodate. 
 
The game was not particularly well attended. It’s spring break here, and carnival, and Montpellier is teetering on relegation. So out of 32k seats, perhaps 12k were filled. Still enough to enjoy the spectacle. And it certainly made the tickets cheap. They had a Carnaval $8 special.
 
I’ve now learned that the French word for goal is “but” and it’s hilarious to hear it chanted in the stadium (even tho it’s pronounced “boot”). Nice won handily 2-0, many dives were taken, much drama occurred on the pitch and off. All told, a fun excursion.

Let's wave some flags!

BUUUUUTTTTTTT!