Burning Man and back in SF

After traveling back from Canada to San Francisco, Jenine and I made a quick packing turnaround, grabbed our 24’ rental trailer and headed to Black Rock City on Monday Aug 25th.  We heard that Burning Man was “closed” that Monday due to rain, so we camped out at a gas station and breezed into the Burning Man Gates for sunrise on Tuesday morning.

[pe2-image src=”http://lh5.ggpht.com/-FkWN3_ycsW8/VAiIbAF83BI/AAAAAAAAnL4/_E6GDgaL9LA/s144-c-o/IMG_7378.JPG” href=”https://picasaweb.google.com/115263927216347870948/BurningMan2014#6055239696462437394″ caption=”Camping in the Gas Station in Fernley waiting for the Gates to re-open after they closed Burning Man” type=”image” alt=”IMG_7378.JPG” pe2_title=”false” pe2_parse_caption=”false” ]

[pe2-image src=”http://lh3.ggpht.com/-5CGc2ZKkrks/VAiIgLmKY5I/AAAAAAAAnL4/ssG5IBGJu00/s144-c-o/IMG_7386.jpg” href=”https://picasaweb.google.com/115263927216347870948/BurningMan2014#6055239785449677714″ caption=”Ringing the Gate bell to welcome you home (as they say at Burning Man)” type=”image” alt=”IMG_7386.jpg” ]

It felt so good to be “Home” after being away from BRC since 2008.  It was my fifth time coming and Jenine’s second, and I think it was one of our best burns since my first time going. We camped right on the Esplanade with a crazy awesome crew called Dustfish.  They were very welcoming, and it was so nice to have power and be in the thick of things.

[pe2-image src=”http://lh6.ggpht.com/-qmpjWndCT4Q/VAiHqgLPG-I/AAAAAAAAnL4/-mi2krALIh0/s144-c-o/IMG_0473.JPG” href=”https://picasaweb.google.com/115263927216347870948/BurningMan2014#6055238863260949474″ caption=”View from our neighborhood at 8pm and A – Dustfish camp on the right in the distance with the large silver egg art structure” type=”image” alt=”IMG_0473.JPG” ]

Burning man is all about the people and community, and things could not have been better.  We shared our RV with our good friends David (the Rev) and Haley Hot Sauce, and next to us were our good friends Timmy Sled Dog, Lawrence the Philosopher, Chris Pineapple, Jingles, Emily, Ashley and many other new friends.

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[pe2-image src=”http://lh3.ggpht.com/-FPHhQgFBPww/VAiGdaoRteI/AAAAAAAAnL4/1x7OW9H4vi4/s144-c-o/IMG_0343.JPG” href=”https://picasaweb.google.com/115263927216347870948/BurningMan2014#6055237538922214882″ caption=”the crew heading out for the white party!” type=”image” alt=”IMG_0343.JPG” ]

It is hard to describe burning man, and there is always this moment of “Ohhhh, this is burning man” when first-timers arrive. And I think that Chris Pineapple’s dad put it best when he said, “It’s the most spectacular show on earth”.

Here are the things we loved:

1.  70K people coming together and all being so awesome to each other – a real community feel

[pe2-image src=”http://lh5.ggpht.com/-qII_fzvjHGQ/VAiGtU-fxoI/AAAAAAAAnL4/EdTK2Nr6jRg/s144-c-o/IMG_0373.JPG” href=”https://picasaweb.google.com/115263927216347870948/BurningMan2014#6055237812282705538″ caption=”A beautiful community in the desert” type=”image” alt=”IMG_0373.JPG” ]

2.  The amazing creativity of the theme camps and artists 

[pe2-image src=”http://lh4.ggpht.com/-gS81Wbeudd0/VAiF4Q2KqbI/AAAAAAAAnL4/8gBkVhmUO4k/s144-c-o/IMG_0306.JPG” href=”https://picasaweb.google.com/115263927216347870948/BurningMan2014#6055236900640958898″ caption=”Theme camps!” type=”image” alt=”IMG_0306.JPG” ]

[pe2-image src=”http://lh4.ggpht.com/-1CT0qYkFGQk/VAiHUKtbRKI/AAAAAAAAnL4/i6w_wQgZ7-w/s144-c-o/IMG_0441.JPG” href=”https://picasaweb.google.com/115263927216347870948/BurningMan2014#6055238479541650594″ caption=”Inside the Xenomorth Alien fortress” type=”image” alt=”IMG_0441.JPG” ]

3. Art cars, art cars, art cars!

 [pe2-image src=”http://lh4.ggpht.com/-sLSkf5jvvrA/VAiHQa1GivI/AAAAAAAAnL4/Ame31Vhb7is/s144-c-o/IMG_0428.jpg” href=”https://picasaweb.google.com/115263927216347870948/BurningMan2014#6055238415149337330″ caption=”One of our favorite art cars” type=”image” alt=”IMG_0428.jpg” ]

[pe2-image src=”http://lh6.ggpht.com/-kWgN66FnSjQ/VAiHZrjXMNI/AAAAAAAAnL4/MoeT0J_frMI/s144-c-o/IMG_0450.JPG” href=”https://picasaweb.google.com/115263927216347870948/BurningMan2014#6055238574257156306″ caption=”Kalliope – our favorite art car to dance with!” type=”image” alt=”IMG_0450.JPG” ]

4.  The beautiful scenery and sunsets

[pe2-image src=”http://lh5.ggpht.com/-2F22TylDUWI/VAiG1cvX_hI/AAAAAAAAnL4/qb3JW7xQdKU/s144-c-o/IMG_0380.JPG” href=”https://picasaweb.google.com/115263927216347870948/BurningMan2014#6055237951805718034″ caption=”” type=”image” alt=”IMG_0380.JPG” ]

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5.  The awesome sound camps and all night parties

[pe2-image src=”http://lh6.ggpht.com/-xO3WrqYAj2M/VAiH2AyN7_I/AAAAAAAAnL4/7TYL5KVRogQ/s144-c-o/IMG_0489.JPG” href=”https://picasaweb.google.com/115263927216347870948/BurningMan2014#6055239060992946162″ caption=”” type=”image” alt=”IMG_0489.JPG” ]

6.  The spirit of gifting and opening up to everyone you meet

[pe2-image src=”http://lh6.ggpht.com/-OYjJPm15CAE/VAiHK32y2NI/AAAAAAAAnL4/qbWRdZ63dpo/s144-c-o/IMG_0411.JPG” href=”https://picasaweb.google.com/115263927216347870948/BurningMan2014#6055238319861848274″ caption=”group pic + randoms!” type=”image” alt=”IMG_0411.JPG” ]

Burning man in a RV/Trailer was definitely luxury camping, but so worth it.  If you are on the fence about going to Burning Man at all, our advice – DO IT!  Find a camp to join or go with friends and make your RV reservation early.

When we got back to San Francisco, Sanjay welcomed us to his awesome Mission condo and threw us a rocking Goodbye weekend (it turns out this was not our last weekend in SF though…)!!!

[pe2-image src=”http://lh3.ggpht.com/-nXOckTEqbJo/VBiPr5W3x-I/AAAAAAAAnUs/OG4YkkS6dbU/s144-c-o/IMG_7396.jpg” href=”https://picasaweb.google.com/115263927216347870948/2014091602#6059751282920900578″ caption=”head and the heart at the greek” type=”image” alt=”IMG_7396.jpg” ]

We were supposed to be on our way to Utah this week (sept 15th) in our new Sportsmobile, but we found out that our van won’t be ready until the end of the month. Here is a sneak peak of our van we pick up on September 30th!

[pe2-image src=”http://lh6.ggpht.com/-8mh0yvjzj_g/VBhuFds0dVI/AAAAAAAAnK4/LHvOYvprIvo/s144-c-o/photo%2525201.jpg” href=”https://picasaweb.google.com/115263927216347870948/20140916#6059714338778019154″ caption=”The Sportsmobile!!” type=”image” alt=”photo 1.jpg” ]

For the next two weeks we are doing trips around San Francisco (Bolinas and Santa Cruz specifically) and our friend Eli’s wedding in Cabo.  The next time we check in – we should have our Sportsmobile and pics from our last weeks in SF!

More pics of Burning Man:

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