Burning Man - 2009

Ok, since you can't really explain Burning Man to someone that hasn't been there, pictures are at least an easy way to get some of the story, so I'll mostly focus on that.
General overview - a great and amazing time. It was windy and dusty this year, so several days we were more inside than last year. That didn't stop us from having all sorts of adventures just the same! The event was smaller (both physically and attendance - I think I heard 45k this year, vs. almost 49 last year) largely from the economy. We still managed to have a vibrant and fun camp. We spent a bit more time around our camp also, because we had such fun camp mates - and such great food!

A few particular memories -
* A giant slide made of Astro-turf that you could slide down on cardboard
* A 60ish foot tall, '50s vintage rocket that you could actually climb in. It was slated for take off Friday night, but they had, um, technical problems (on a colossal scale)
* Hammocks on the playa - napping in the shade
* Jazz camp at 2 AM, one guy in a Scuby Doo suit that was the best trombonest ever, another nude guy playing as well on the alto sax, his oiled rear gleaming oddly in the light, as they took shots of absynth and played on into the night
* Tom Kah Guy Soup, Salmon, Brockely Salad, Margaritas... Did I mention we ate well?
* A gal named Molly wandering into our camp in a wind storm
* Cowboy hats, bandanas and goggles

The line heading in
Windy/dusty, but still so amazing
Welcome "home" :)
Our camp mates on Monday.
Evening Adventure on the Pedi-Trike - with B in back, and me peddling... oh my aching knees! :)
The temple at the far side of the playa. We circumnavigated the playa that night along the esplanade.
The Playa at night.
Giant Rubics cube (Like 20 feet across) and othe camps
A panaroma of the Playa

Cube close up. It "digitally" rotated - by changing colors on the panels.
Flower ball tea - Bob's signature tea
A stilt camp/party
And a Super Stilter!
The Man during the day
Giant legos - made from wood... they made over 300 of them...
The 6 o'clock path to the man.
One of the MANY art cars - this a giant, 6 wheeled Cady cruiser...
.
The theme was "Evolution" - so a platypus works well...
Ok, this one is for any gear-headed gal, that works on her own car... (Laura R, where are you? A wedding???)
7:30 road where we were camped was a hotbed of Playa Culture!
Cooking at Bacon Camp. Turns out Bacon is great with Beer... I don't even usually like beer, but man did I cook some fine bacon!
Our entire camp with fine food (one of many lovely meals we shared).
Pinky, Barbara, Patrick, Naughtia, Bob, Marietta, and Lourdes.
A giant dragon boat the size of, well, a boat!

A full size '50s vintage rocket, ready for blast off
And the same rocket, 2 hours later, still ready for blast off! Wind storms et al.
The wings - yes i finished them, but they were so big and unwieldy (they kept unfurling) I didn't wear them much. Need to pasivate them better, and - next year... Some tail action there
Wings spread
With friends (less Patric who was adventuring)




And an ultra short video - wind and wings. Don't blink!