Thursday, March 13, 2008

Langerado....

(an actual gator they had at the camp ground...... he wrestled with guys at various occasions)

Well... another festival of camping fun has come and gone....



This is the one I have traveled the farthest for and had to prepare the most for. Over all it was an experience all in it's own, as each I have been too have been. I've covered the drive pretty much in the previous 2 blogs so I won't bore anyone anymore with that topic of discussion..... Instead I'll just start from the top and work my way to the end with little breaks of opinion here and there :-)


We rolled into Florida in the wee morning hours of Wednesday the 5th.... bout 3:30AM. Casey was still up waiting for us at Lynn and Bob's condo. (THANK YOU! It was a wonderful place to stay!) John and I crashed hard and fast to awaken to a beautiful day of resting and relaxing in the warm Florida sun. We took our time and then we two, Casey, BG, Bob, and Lynn all headed for the beach. We spent the day lounging in chairs, walking the pier, strolling in the ocean looking for seashells, and even eating a cheeseburger rolled into a hot dog (YUM!). We then went to dinner and had a fine Oyster Po Boy and feel asleep full and happy, anticipating Langerado early the next morning.....








We got up bright and early to travel down Alligator Alley and head to the Langerado camp site in the middle of the Everglades on Big Cypress Indian Reservation (what sacred and beautiful ground to be on!).




We got to the festival about 8:30 and got in line. In line we were literally standing next to creeks that had gators in them!!!






We didn't actually get to our tent spot until about 11:30 and then it was a mad dash from hell setting up the camping equipment to insure our "space". However we made a fine tent home in the middle of tent city and then it was relax time in the hotness of midday.....




UNTIL the storms rolled in! It was a monsoon for about 2-3 hours! Lightning, wind, heavy rain, the works!! Thank goodness for the canopy and our tents! John even got a chance to shower in the rain :-) According to him its a very pleasant experience :-)








Bout 7PM Casey and BG headed for Les Claypool and John and I ventured to see That 1 Guy.... What an AWESOME performance that was!!! Mike Silverman is one of the BEST performances I have seen in quite awhile. He is ONE man on ONE machine that he handles and manuvers as if he were an entire band, except he's all on his own.... I highly suggest checking him out and if you think his CD's are good, you have to see him live.... his CD's don't even do much justice to his skills as a performer..... (much love to Whit who steered me into his music!)







After this performance, John and I shopped around and drank a few EXPENSIVE beers before heading back to the campsite to pass out sweetly after enjoying our first day at the festival.


Friday set itself up to be another LONG day :-) Weather was our first challenge... turns out there was a HIGH WIND warning for the whole day.... so we spent half the morning watching our tent, canopy, and stuff blow like hell!!! We finally had to secure the canopy and tents down with more parachord because the wind was causing them to bend!! Mission accomplished though and we ventured off to check out Vampire Weekend, only to discover they had dropped from the roster and oh how disappointed we were!! So we ventured over to G. Love and finished some of that set.






After that we ventured back to the tent for dinner and set out for the Beastie Boys!!! We were pretty excited to see the beastie boys but I do have to say, them as a jam band is definintly a new spin, and one that is not something I was ready to see.... They did give a very high volume performance of their older music and encored with 2 well known songs, Intergalactic and Sabatoge.... All in all, not too bad. Then it was on to STS9.... great dance music but the damn day wore us the freak out!! SO back to the tent we marched, and got to endure another strong thunderstorm bout 4 AM..... thank god we secured the canopy!!!!



Saturday was another fantastic line up that we checked out! We started with Arrested Development and they put on a fantastic performance! I think I shook my butt the entire time!! Their new music is just as good as their old and they delivered it well, mixing it all together to give an uplifting, fun, and energetic show!!




We then hung around for Ben Folds. First time I saw him and my opinion is kinda down the middle. Suppose I have to listen to him more..... Then we went off to see Ghostland Observatory and that was another amazing performance!!! I think I danced the entire time at this one too!!! If you haven't heard of this band yet I highly recommend you check them out!! It's movin and groovin music and for only 2 members, they deliver! I didn't even bother getting pics of these guys cause my camera I had didn't do too well at night but check them out!! After Ghostland John and I headed over to see a little of R.E.M. from the back view and we relaxed with a few beers until it got too cold and we went back to the campsite.... down to 45 degrees that night!!! John and I cuddled more for body heat then anything!!



Sunday we started out with Martin Sexton. I had never really listened to him before but it was definintly good chillin in the grass kinda music and relaxed us for the afternoon.... then John and I headed back to the campsite to pack up. I had intended on staying for Ani Difranco (as she is one of my most favorite artist) but voice of reason told me that I had seen her before and waiting 4 hours was a bit silly when we could have spent that time on the road heading home... SO we left camp bout 4:30 and started the long drive home....





All in all it was a great trip.... As usual I saw many types of people and tried many different foods. We endured all types of weather, all except snow, in the Florida Panhandle and it made for an even greater experience. We even got to stop in Nashville, TN on the way home and say hi to Elvis :-)



4 comments:

Nina said...

Sounds fun :) I would love to see G Love... I'm glad you had fun and I'm glad a gator didn't eat ya ;) Love the pics

Anonymous said...

So nice! Glad you enjoyed your vacation!!! Love all the pictures!

-jd said...

I had the best time of my life with you, baby. Can't wait to do it again.

Jake and Emily said...

Martin is one of my favorites! I saw him for the first time at River Roots Live...and he'll be at he Redstone Room on April 24th! Your adventure sounds fun! :)