Thursday, June 7, 2007

My what a busy week! Sassy-Squatch Part II and Movin’ on Up!

Wow, oh wow. It’s been a crazy week or two since I checked in here last. I’ve put on a conference, traveled to a bike race, attended a new volunteering orientation, and prepared for a big ole camping trip. And slept. And ate. And worked. And tutored. It’s not that it’s really been that busy, it just feels like I’ve not had a chance to catch my breath. In like a month.


Where I left off last time, I hadn’t told you about the Arcade Fire or Bjork at Sasquatch. They were awesome. Especially The Arcade Fire. Even from our vantage point high upon the hill, these guys had energy, theatrics, and outstanding sound. Every one of us there was wishing we were in a small theater hearing these guys up close and personal. But, really, if you had to be in an mega-theater, the Gorge is a nice place to be. They probably also had the coolest stage set of the day—big round screens that showed videos, a giant video backdrop and lots of fantastic lights. Somewhat Goth-y, but mostly just awesome and interesting.


The only downside of the festival was that everyone played and played—this meant that when Bjork finally went on, it was almost midnight. Yow. Her stage set-up alone took a serious chunk of time to get up. It was also awesome. Long colorful banners, flashing lights… they did have to take part of it down just as they got it set up due to the wind. Uh oh! We were only able to stay for a few of Bjork’s songs, unfortunately, since we had a long drive ahead of us. They were pretty great, though. C. thought that they were better live than recorded, and the eerie night with the wind and the flapping flags was a perfect counterpoint to that. I wish we could have seen it all.


At about 12:20 we finally hauled ourselves off the hill (poor C., as we were leaving the area, he could hear his all-time favorite Bjork song echoing out over the countryside). Now came the 3+ hour drive to Pendleton and to our campground. Oy vey. C’s friend D elected himself as driver, and did an excellent job of not only staying awake but keeping everyone safe. C and I failed miserably at our jobs of “passengers who are there to help keep the driver awake” as we kept nodding off. Often we fell asleep mid-sentence, only to wake up 20 minutes later and start talking right where we’d left off. It was super-confusing.


I think we managed to wake up the entire campground when we pulled in. It was about 3:45am, and of course our headlights went right through any tent walls they encountered. As the car rolled to a stop and we rolled out the doors, it (of course) started to rain. Despite the circumstances, we were an amazing, focused crew of tent setter-uppers. We were in bed, eyes closed, ready to sleep by 4:00am. When the thunder rolled in. And the people in the tent across the way started gleefully shouting to one another in a language I didn’t understand.


All in all, though, the trip was excellent. We got back to Forest Grove around 6:00 on Sunday evening, ordered pizza and I slept while the boys watched Road Warrior. Appropriate, no?


* * *


This week I am going to find myself on the road yet again. I am headed out with C’s family (him, his dad, and his sister), for MORE driving and an awesome trip up to the very northern tip of Vancouver Island. We will be traveling through Saturday, hiking out on Sunday, sleeping on the beach, and cooking out, and then returning on Thursday the 21st. I am thrilled to be getting away from the busy streets of Portland, though the prospect of getting in a car again so soon does absolutely nothing for me. Oh well. Vancouver, ho!


In the meantime, you can do a “Cape Scott” search on Flickr, and see some amazing shots from where I’ll be. Or you can just wait until we return.