Over the weekend I had a wonderful musical experience. I was asked to take part in a musical memorial and holiday celebration on behalf of a long time Grants Pass resident. Her daughter, Paula, arranged the entire event and played violin with us. Grants Pass is a wonderful town in the southern part of Oregon, and is the gateway to the redwoods area of southwestern Oregon and Northern California.
We played a huge selection of Baroque favorites and arrangements of Christmas carols for string quartet, as well as a couple of pieces arranged for flute and string quartet. Paula is one of those people that you meet and instantly feel like you’ve known them forever – truly an instant friend – and it was a joy to play with her! The concert was very well attended, and the people of Grants Pass are “good folks” – generous and welcoming. I hope that we get a chance to make music in GP again soon.
Our drive home was eventful, as the first winter storm of the season was blowing in (as you can see from the first photo below). Though we had a rental car, I bought chains at Les Schwab so that we wouldn’t be turned back at any of the three mountain passes that lay between Grants Pass and Portland. As it turned out, we had clear sailing until we got to about 10 miles south of Portland, where the temperature dropped by 20 degrees and we were forced to pull off the highway and put on the chains. The last 12 miles of our trip added two hours to our journey, but we were able to make it home safe and sound (despite all of the idiots skidding around in their SUV’s and chainless cars).
Photos after the jump!