A return & stuff on the horizon...

Well, we made it home in one piece!  It was the most fun anyone could ever have in the Arkansas death heat.  Which really was a lot of fun.  I have some crappy photos to share taken with my craptastic point and shoot from 2006.  You will have to deal.

If you have never been to a major music festival and you're old {like we are}, you may have a bit of culture shock as you pull up.  Luckily, I've had some previous exposure.  The photo above is the main stage camping area.  This is NOT where we camped.  We camped across the road in a lovely, shaded spot called West Woods.  This festival was 25,000 strong {maybe more}, so you can imagine some of the conditions.  It is not for the faint of heart.  I will say that I think the staff did a great job keeping everyone as happy, as comfortable, and as safe as possible!

The main stage grounds were full of fun stuff and dust and sun and sweat.  But also, art, food, smoothies, beer, and, of course, music.  Again, if you are new to this sort of thing...there is music nearly 24 hours a day.  Some of the food vendors serve 24 hours a day, too.  Which is good for fatties like me.

The photo above is of Big Daddy and my super cousin and musical-soul-mate-at-arms, Michelle.  They are walking off into the Mulberry Mountain sunset.  Yes, there is some sun haze/flare, BUT it is also an enormous dust cloud settling over the grounds after Mumford & Sons amazing, foot stomping set.

I'm not sure how anyone in their right mind could perform quite the set they did in long sleeves and jeans.  But they did.  No one passed out, no one gave up, no one disappointed.  It was hot folks.  Hotter than I can put into words.

So hot in fact, that about 98% of that wetness is sweat, and the other 2% is water from a very welcomed water balloon attack.  Michelle even has broken balloon remnants still stuck to her sweatyness.  We may have sweat a bit excessively because we were dancing up a dust cloud.

This is my favorite photo of the weekend.  The ferris wheel and the blue Ozark sky.  Do I need to say anymore?  When I took this, we were headed back to our camp for the night.  On the way we bought some fresh ice for our cooler.  Carrying it back was welcome relief from the heat.

The whole gang {my sis, brother-in-law, hubby, cousin, and me} was getting tired.  We had been on the road since 5:30 am, and couldn't hang any longer.  I wish we would have had some 20-something youth on our side to head back over the main stage area at about 2 in the morning.  It sounded bumpin' over there.  Alas, I couldn't drag my old ass out of the tent.  Nor could anyone else.  I will say that the temps dropped to a very comfortable 70ish that night.  It was amazing.

It really is a beautiful part of the country.  The views are amazing.  The people were friendly.  The music was fantastic.  I'm glad we did it.

In other news...I'm hosting an incredible giveaway early next week.  My friends over at Methane Studios are going to be giving one lucky reader their choice of a letter from their 'Ransom Lettters Series'.  Thanks, Carolyn!

I will post the deets on Monday or Tuesday, and choose a winner on Friday.

Cool, huh?