Saturday night in Kayenta...it's a beautiful warm evening and Fletcher and Sue have invited us as their guests to The Second Annual Southern Utah Equality Evolution fund raiser being held at Coyote Gulch. We get ready for the party and, since we are briefly out of our hiking clothes, we thought we should memorialize the moment...we clean up pretty well!
When we arrive at Coyote Gulch, we see the results of the set up we had seen going on in a whirlwind of activity earlier in the day.
At the entrance to the event, the organizers set up an old-style photo booth, and of course we had to give it a test drive...some shots were better than others, but they made us chuckle...
Thankfully we had a table in the shade, and we met some really nice folks...Michael sat next to two women who are rangers at Zion National Park and talked about parks...
Fletcher was lucky, he won one of the drawings! It must have been the Grateful Dead Lithuania Basketball Olympic games tie-dyed jersey he wore. He walked away with tickets to a local play at Tuacahn Amphitheatre and a $150.00 gift certificate to Xetava, a nice restaurant here in Coyote Gulch. Since we already had one winner at our table, we knew we didn't stand a chance of winning the Kayenta raffle item we wanted...thanks Fletcher...
After dinner we watched an interesting program. First, several honorees received awards for their support of the GLBT community in Southern Utah. (Brief tangent: there appears to be some disagreement about whether the group should be identified as GLBT or as LGBT. Apparently there is a bit of competition between the G's and the L's for who should be leading the acronym, and the poor B's and T's are unanimously placed in the last two slots. Didn't have the time or energy to ask for more detail about this situation...) A slideshow of prominent individuals throughout history who were gay or lesbian served as the frame for three live portrayals of Americans who have contributed significantly to equality. The three individuals portrayed were Susan B. Anthony, Harvey Milk and Barney Frank. Very well done and in a beautiful setting as night fell.
The program concluded with a flourish as the music pumped, the flags from the centerpieces were waved, and people rose to their feet.
As we walked back to the car, admiring the black, star-filled sky, we all agreed that it was a very fun evening...Sue danced up a storm with us, and Fletcher moved to the groove from safely outside the disco entrance...he claims he was protecting his hearing. We retired for the evening and deep slumber in the dark and quiet of Kayenta...except for the "FIRE...FIRE" and beeping alarms that woke us at 3:00am...Apparently there was a miscue in the home fire alarm, and as Patty opened the bedroom door we heard Fletcher say calmly from across the house, "there is no fire, go back to sleep..."
Tomorrow, we hit the road to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. We're not sure what sort of phone or wi-fi reception we will have, so there may be a pause in our postings...we'll see!
When we arrive at Coyote Gulch, we see the results of the set up we had seen going on in a whirlwind of activity earlier in the day.
We found out from Fletcher (just a couple hours before the event) that he had received an email about the event a few days earlier...the celebration was a themed event...the 60's! Now, for us to dress as we were in the 60's we'd have to purchase diapers and plastic pants, so we decided to stick with our "desert chic" look. Fletcher did have a great tie-dyed t-shirt, as did Sue, so they fit in perfectly...as you can see...
We met Up with Sue and Tom again at the party...they were the nice neighbors who stopped in their pickup and chatted while we were out walking earlier in the day...
Here we are showing both sides of the evening's fashions...
At the entrance to the event, the organizers set up an old-style photo booth, and of course we had to give it a test drive...some shots were better than others, but they made us chuckle...
Thankfully we had a table in the shade, and we met some really nice folks...Michael sat next to two women who are rangers at Zion National Park and talked about parks...
Fletcher was lucky, he won one of the drawings! It must have been the Grateful Dead Lithuania Basketball Olympic games tie-dyed jersey he wore. He walked away with tickets to a local play at Tuacahn Amphitheatre and a $150.00 gift certificate to Xetava, a nice restaurant here in Coyote Gulch. Since we already had one winner at our table, we knew we didn't stand a chance of winning the Kayenta raffle item we wanted...thanks Fletcher...
After dinner we watched an interesting program. First, several honorees received awards for their support of the GLBT community in Southern Utah. (Brief tangent: there appears to be some disagreement about whether the group should be identified as GLBT or as LGBT. Apparently there is a bit of competition between the G's and the L's for who should be leading the acronym, and the poor B's and T's are unanimously placed in the last two slots. Didn't have the time or energy to ask for more detail about this situation...) A slideshow of prominent individuals throughout history who were gay or lesbian served as the frame for three live portrayals of Americans who have contributed significantly to equality. The three individuals portrayed were Susan B. Anthony, Harvey Milk and Barney Frank. Very well done and in a beautiful setting as night fell.
The program concluded with a flourish as the music pumped, the flags from the centerpieces were waved, and people rose to their feet.
Just when we started to ask "what, no dessert?!" the emcee announced that the disco was open and that's where dessert was served...we would have gone to the disco and dessert as separate activities, but together?! What a great pairing!
Tomorrow, we hit the road to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. We're not sure what sort of phone or wi-fi reception we will have, so there may be a pause in our postings...we'll see!
Excited to see your Grand Canyon adventures, next! We are living vicariously through you this summer. :)
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