A truly indescribable experience

8/25-9/1 Finally updating this!! 🤪

After we set up our camp area on Monday- and after waiting 20 hours in line- we definitely lucked out finding a spot next to many cool neighbors for the week. Pics below. Weather was a bit unpredictable the first couple days so we stayed closer to camp after 1 bike ride to see “the man”. And yes, people call him that! I’m not just making up my own terminology. In fact we kinda had to learn a whole new terminology to adapt in the “playa” (yes, more terminology, see… ) After Wednesday it was actually beautiful with sunny days and cool nights, and luckily minimal dust from that point on. So we ventured out more. One special trip we took was to the Temple where you leave photos and notes and remembrances of lost loved ones. The Temple was burned the night after the Man at the end of the week.

Overall it was an amazing and bit surreal experience with a hearty dose of spirituality. It truly is hard to honestly describe to anyone to do it justice. Not knowing what to expect before my week there, I truly thought this was likely a one and done situation but I can honestly say I’d love to go back. It truly was amazing how much it really was so much like a city- with a boutique with clothes, coffee shop, comedy club, bar and disco camps. And different types of foods from Hungarian cuisine to ice cream to tacos and specialty focaccia pizzas, to name a few. All of this was free all week which was amazing and hard to put your head around that. You literally just show up with a cup and plate and people almost compete to get you into their camps. We definitely brought too much of our own food so next time would cut that back a bit. There’s so much to do I think you couldn’t possibly expect to hit it all but they do provide a schedule of things so you can at least attempt to go to what you want.

Ultimately we went to see the Man, visited the Temple, rode around and saw some of the MANY art installs, went to the comedy club, made a BURNING Man pendant , saw a coconut oil wrestling match 😂 went to a couple dance party with our neighbors where another neighbor was guest DJing and met up with a friend of a friend for Bloody Marys at their camp from New Orleans (yes she was the one wearing the cucumber -or was it a pickle? 🤨 strap on! 😂). This was all to name a few of our adventures…

Everyone truly was so open (clearly- ha) but also so giving and friendly. We had a set of younger guys behind us that had brought super cool mini blimps (see pics below) painted by artists from their area near LA. And yes, people walked around naked for sure but I wouldn’t say it was the majority and don’t worry Kenzie and Dylan your mom did not participate in this! 😜 I’ve personally always been a believer in leaving something to the imagination! 😜 #truth

Nightlife was wild and I think we only went out past dark probably 4 of the 7 nights and even then I think the latest was midnight or so. And there certainly were things going on until sunrise and after. DJ mixes and spins (more lingo) were the main music and they were almost all playing from these moving carts that were pieces of art in and of themselves. We watched the Man burn on Saturday which was a better fireworks show than I ever recall seeing on any 4th of July and was definitely one big party. On Sunday they burned the Temple and that was just as much a very juxtaposing somber and moving event. People were essentially mute as it burned down for over an hour. 😢🥺

We started gathering things before the Temple burn but still had about 3 more hours to get us packed up and out on Monday. We finally got out of our spot and in the 3 hour line to what they call the Exodus around 10:30. Dashy here we come…Don’t worry we didn’t forget about you!