My Daddy-Daughter Date with Melissa

Yesterday, Feb 22, Melissa and I drove to Flagstaff to go to a Ladysmith Black Mambazo concert. You will remember them from Paul Simon's "Graceland" CD. It was snowing pretty hard when we left Lakeside at 3:45, and we wondered if it would be a safe trip. But by the time we got outside of Show Low, the snow had stopped, and we had clear roads all the way to Flagstaff. But it was snowing in Flagstaff, and as we ate dinner (coconut shrimp at Red Lobster - Yum!) we watched the snow continue to fall. We drove to the concert at Prochnow auditorium and listened to two hours of the most amazing harmonies! What really amazed me was that the lead of the group, the guy who always stands out in front, Mr. Shamalala, started this group 47 years ago. He's in the red shirt in the picture, and doesn't look a day over 50, but he is probably closer to 70. He writes all the songs, and four of his sons are in the group. Anyway, the music was fantastic, and it was amazing to see all nine of these men kicking higher than their heads as they sing.

We walked the two blocks back to the car in deeper snow than we came in. When we got back on the freeway, we found the roads really slick and all the traffic moving much too fast, but we stuck with it, and only came close to hitting one semi. By the time we were 10 miles east of Flagstaff, the roads were clear again, and the driving conditions were fine until we got between Taylor and Show Low, when the blinding snow and slick roads made it almost impossible to get home. We pulled in the driveway at 1:00 am, glad to be home. What a great night we had. Thanks to Melissa and Brad for a memorable Christmas gift (it was also Melissa's birthday present from Brad).