flwyd | Entries tagged with festival

The weather this weekend was an official announcement that summer is now in force. Last night I let the fire warm my whole body as I drummed and danced at Bob's place. The best thing about the collapse of the housing market is the planned subdivision never made it that far out. This afternoon, I hosted a mid-month games day. Twixt, Small World, Pandemic, and Dominion were all fun. I might not host one next month, 'cause look at this schedule of fun:

Memorial Day Weekend: Cabin with my family
June 5/6: Apogaea Work Weekend (not sure if I'll go)
June 6: Zooko's First Sunday Game Day
June 10-13: Apogaea
June 19: Black Rock Ranger training
June 24: Ignite Boulder 11
June 26: Drum circle at Bob's (maybe)
July 1-4: Coloradan/San Franciscan camping trip with KK near Steamboat Springs
July 5-6: Work holiday (Strawberry Hot Springs?)
August 1: Zooko's First Sunday Game Day
August 4-8: Dragonfest (in its new South Park location)
August 29-September 7: Burning Man (plus travel time)

If anyone's interested in partaking in some of these activities, let me know! There's a lot I like about Dragonfest's new site, so if you're on the fence about it this year, let's talk.

Mood: quixotic
Location: Boulder, CO
Music: KGNU - Dub Palace

My summer plans came true, but I've entirely failed to blog about them. I'll do so in the near future, for posterity if nothing else, but here's a short summary. Pictures will be forthcoming. I'm not doing well at the whole "put stuff on the Internet" thing this year. On the plus side, in my grand adventures I haven't been constantly saying "This will make for a great livejournal entry."

I spent a week in the semi-desert helping set up Dreamtime. That was a blast, but I was a bit dehydrated by the end and didn't have a lot of energy to enjoy the part where everyone showed up and did stuff.

mollybzz and I drove through Wytanada for a week and a half, hitting Vedauwoo (Wyoming), Yellowstone (Wyoming), Glacier (Montana), and Waterton Lakes (Alberta). I took 929 photos that I haven't organized yet. Molly and I had some great conversations in the car, in the tent, and on the trail. She also spoke French from our entry into Canada until I cried. Then we bought ice cream with exact change across two currencies.

I was in a good groove for Dragonfest. I visited with old friends, helped run Men's Mysteries, brought a 35-foot dragon to the kid's parade, did some emotional processing, was in a bawdy production of Lysistrata, and drummed a little (though my djembe never left the car). I took some cool pictures of the landscape, the dragon, and some glow sticks. After a year of not doing anything for it, I'm getting to work on an online voting system for Dragonfest.

I capped the summer off with Burning Man. Much of my time was devoted to becoming a Black Rock Ranger, which is a fun way to make an important contribution to the community. I also spent a lot of time (at least six hours, plus the burn) at the temple, one of the most powerful pieces of art I've ever experienced. I took some art photographs, but discovered when I got home that the funny icon on my camera meant it was in the wrong white balance mode. Photoshop's auto-level feature seemed to do a good repair job, but that's yet another obstacle to sharing my giant pile of photos from this summer.

While I'm at it, anybody know of a good International Talk Like A Pirate Day party this weekend?

Mood: quixotic
Location: home, at last
Music: The Air Is Getting Slippery - Primus

First: Anybody got any cool plans for the 4th (i.e. the next 24 hours)?

Second: I'll be volunteering for a week to set up Dreamtime, a festival that's equal parts new age workshops, tribal electro music and dance, and Burner-minded people. I'll be hoisting shade structures and unfolding yurts after the 8th; the festival runs from the 16th through 20th.

Third:

mollybzz are talking about a two-week road trip northwards. I'd like to see Glacier National Park before it becomes Ironic National Park. Molly's never been to Yellowstone... or Canada. And I think there's some good hot springs in Montana. Got any travel tips for Wyoming, Montana, Idaho, Alberta, or the Canadian Rockies? Is Calgary worth visiting?

Fourth: I'll be at Dragonfest the first week of August. I'll be helping with Men's Mysteries. I wonder if I should come up with a workshop, too.

Fifth: Anybody going to Burning Man? I'd like to go, but only if I have a camp to connect with. Teaming up on transportation from Colorado would be nice, but connecting with a sweet camp from elsewhere is also keen.

That's all that's on the radar so far. If you'd like to hang out, we should do so before July 8th! Otherwise, you may have to wait until mid-August or catch me at my tent.

Boy, unemployment sure feels great.

Mood: quixotic
Location: Boulder, CO
Music: Bach, Laibach, and Bachata

In the morning I head to Valley View Hot Springs. The next day I think I'll take US 160 to Mesa Verde, possibly spending Tuesday night in the San Juan mountains. Come Thursday afternoon, I'll be at Dreamtime outside Paonia. I'll be back late Sunday or some time on Monday.

Should you decide that running around with a bunch of hippies and listening to music until late at night sounds like more fun than your plans for the end of this week, tickets for Dreamtime will be available at the gate. I'll be the one with a big beard and a silly hat.

Mood: quixotic
Location: Western Slope
Music: Gregory Isaacs - Night Nurse

"Freedom's just another word for nothing left to do." -- my mishearing of "Me and Bobby McGee"

(Read my previous post if you're not into the whole brevity thing and would like a long-winded backstory.)

So here I am with 20 (maybe more) paid vacation days and a summer of high temperatures and high gas prices. What should I do with them? Here's a tentative schedule. Let me know if any look fun and you'd like to come along.

Memorial Day - May 24th through 26th: There's drumming at Bob's place on Saturday night, Boulder Creek Fest, and probably other interesting activities. Or I might take the opportunity to camp at Valley View. If you're planning a Memorial Day party and would appreciate my presence, please let me know!
Apogaea - June 5th through 8th: Colorado's regional Burning Man event. Should be full of colorful weirdoes. I might meet some people and join forces for the full burn. Or maybe I'll get the burning sensation without 2000 miles of driving and a week of dust, making a full burn superfluous.
Tuatha and Kan'Nal at Mishawaka Amphitheatre - June 20th: Tuatha features some of my favorite musicians from Dragonfest. Kan'Nal is a great tribal band. Put them together for a performance by a river on Summer Solstice and it sounds like a good combination to me!
Boulder SolFest (actually near Berthoud) - June 21st and 22nd: Organized by Double Rainbow Ranch and featuring performances by Lunar Fire (the feminine side of Kan'Nal), Tzol (the masculine side of Kan'Nal), Tuatha, and some folks not performing the night before ;-) If I camp the night of the 20th along the Cache La Poudre I can have a fun solstice weekend in Larimer County. I'm not tied to this one, though, so I'm open to other interesting solstice events.
Road Trip? - June 28th through July 6th?: I'd like to visit Glacier National Park before it becomes Ironic National Park. That probably means this year or next. I realize that driving to Montana contributes to the melting of said snow, so I'd like to make this a group (or at least paired) outing. Anyone want to visit the northern parts of the eastern edge of the rockies, stopping at hot springs and mountain vistas?
Dreamtime Festival - July 17th through 20th: I've heard this festival is a lot of fun, with elements of Burning Man, music festivals, and weekend workshops. Should be full of colorful weirdoes. I might start the week by visiting Conundrum or another west slope hot spring. With any luck, Paonia should have some tasty fruit I can ravage while I'm over there.
Dragonfest - August 6th through 10th: I keep saying "By next Dragonfest, I may have moved out of state," but it hasn't happened yet. I'm going to teach an introductory I Ching workshop, visit with friends I see once a year, and dance around a few fires. Who knows, maybe I'll draw down again.
Burning Man or Democratic National Convention - August 23rd through September 2nd or August 25th through 28th: Burning Man will feature tens of thousands of colorful weirdoes in the Nevada desert celebrating the theme of The American Dream. The Democratic National Convention will feature tens of thousands of political partiers in Denver celebrating the theme of electing America's first black or female president. It'd be pretty amusing to say "I'm at Burning man because my hometown is full of chaos," but I feel like I ought to spend less time driving and more time participating in the American dream when it lands on my doorstep. And if I do the latter, I can still go camping on Labor Day weekend. I'm not sure what I'd do outside the convention. I've thought about printing some "FREE HUGS" shirts and sharing human energy without a political message. I'd be interested in participating in some public/interactive political art pieces; I should probably see who got a permit. I could also get a video camera and act as an outside observer in case "Recreate Sixty-Eight" gets taken too literally. (I'm not sure why they named their organization after an event which featured police violence and the nomination of a candidate who lost to Richard Nixon.) How I feel about the convention will probably depend on whether Obama, Clinton, or neither has been anointed in advance.
Alternatively, I could say nuts to both and go berryquesting with mollybzz.

That should be enough to distract me from work for a while.

If I attend Apogaea, Glacier, Dreamtime, Dragonfest, and Burning Man I'll use 17 of 20 vacation days. If I turn Dreamtime into a full week for more west-slope adventures I'll expend them all. I should probably leave a few days free in case I need to fly somewhere for a job interview. So maybe I should ask for more time off as compensation. Or maybe I should put Glacier off until next year.

What would you do if you had a month worth of vacation to spend and might be in your last summer of residence in Colorado?

Mood: quixotic
Location: in your campground, dancing 'round your fire
Music: Chemical Brothers - We Are The Night

From the Mind of Trevor Stone

… blogging like it's the mid-naughties

Entries tagged with festival

Spring has Sprung, Summer has Swung

What I Did For Summer Vacation, by Trevor Stone

Summer Plans

Dreaming The Future (at least a week into the future)

What I Did For Summer Vacation, Premeditation Edition by Trevor Stone, 22nd Grade

Profile

Active Entries

Page Summary

Expand Cut Tags

Subscribe