Backpacking Day 3

The final day! I can't believe the trip has come to an end so soon. I'll definitely be going for at least a week next time. So last night was fun, getting to know each of the random individual's personalites that stayed at the shelter. Each one was so distanct and so open. Ironically, one of the packers was a journalism teacher! Maybe it was all the good energy that helped me get a little better night's rest last night. Though I still woke up a few times, feeling my neck being strained with out its usual comforting prop of a pillow. Nonetheless, I was already beginning to adapt to this style of sleeping.

Woke up before 7 this morning, just in time to catch a glimpse of the sunrise. We ate breakfast alongside the whistling sound of a distanced train. I've been hearing the traveling of a lot of trains this summer. I'd also get to listen to them toot their whistle during almost every morning meditation at Yogaville. If I didn't already have a romanticized image of trains from listening to others such as Thoreau, I surely do now. They are now linked to the multiple good memories of great experiences I have been able to take part in.

We hiked a 7-mile straight stretch today, right into the town of Harper's Ferry. My body was really starting to complain today, and I have to admit that the idea of a shower never sounded so good before. However, there wasn't too much time for my mind to spend thinking about my aching body and a nice cool shower. We passed through numerous overlooks and views today which were, to say the least, amazingly surreal. I found where the noise of my early morning train was rooted at one of the views. Shortly after we arrived, a several minute long train came chugging through the trees along a track that lied alongside the river. Picture perfect.

Most of today was downhill, which to many sounds like a relief. Although I could run downhill for hours and never want to stop, I find backpacking downhill quite difficult. In fact, I may even say it's as challenging as hiking uphill, though in a different way. Your legs have to use a lot of muscle to keep you and the weight of your pack from tumbling down the mountain. I feel like it tones a part of your legs that doesn't often get reached, or at least get pushed.

After making it down the mountain, we walked for several miles on a bike trail that lined the Potomac river. This led us into the town of Harper's Ferry, our ending destination. After unloading our gear, we stopped in at a restaurant to eat our first real meal off the trail. I'm sure we got a few looks because I'm also sure we didn't look spick-and-span clean. The tourist-type couldn't quite relate to our grunge. Anyways, lunch was great, and I enjoyed the fresh, cooked food.

I'm going to miss these days traveling peacefully through the beautiful green tunnel. Overall I have to say that hiking without a backpack is in many ways more enjoyable, however the experience of living your life straight out of a backpack is irreplaceable. All you need to survive encompassed in one little backpack that you humbly sling over your shoulders; Carrying your life with you as you travel to places you'd never be able to go otherwise. I've had just a few days to take in the innate peacefulness of nature, coming across blackberries, frogs, sassafrass and other little treasures along my way. And now its time for me to go back to living in civilization. Only a couple weeks before I'll be in the hustling and bustling city again. Hey, life's meant for changes, and good can come from anywhere. Peace can be made anywhere.

Backpacking Day 2

Made it ten miles today! That was a great work-out. However, we stopped to talk to several thru-hikers along our way who aimed for 20-25 miles in a day, so I can't be so proud of my distance. Although, they assured me that ten miles was great for a novice.

When we arrived here at the shelter, there were about 8 young guys awaiting us. Too bad they had already planned on continuing further to the next shelter until settling in for the night. Bummer, haha. Everyone we've met on the trail so far has been more than friendly. Though I can recognize a lot of tired faces, they are all happy nonetheless. I sure as hell am having a blast and would love, love to try going for a longer period of time on my next backpacking adventure.

There is lots of talk in the book of which hikers can write in when they stop at this shelter about bears being near this shelter and using the spring. There are also entries warning us that we may be sharing the shelter with other creatures, such as snakes in the rafters, and bees. That's comforting. Hope I don't run into any of those going to the bathroom at night. Speaking of night, the noises last night were beyond phenomenal. It truly did sound like a live symphony, and since I was having trouble falling alseep (yeah, try sleeping without a pillow on a hard surface sometime) I was visualizing myself conducting the insects' orchestra, haha. However, the orchestra didn't really need a conductor, it was utterly beautiful as is.

After a long, restless night, we got up bright and early (around 7). I was too uncomfortable to sleep any longer and figured it'd be good to start hiking earlier while it was tad cooler. However, being in the 90's for consecutive days, it really wasn't much cooler in the morning. Though we did avoid the beating sun overhead for a few hours. After a couple of miles into the hike, we can to some large overhagning rocks overlooking a beautiful view of the mountains. We stopped there for awhile to take in the scene and load up on some protein bars. Go figure, my appetite has been pretty ravenous throughout this experience. My new appetite matches my new additional weight. Although I'm pretty sure it'd be impossible to gain any real weight out here with all the strenuous hiking we're doing. After our stop, we continued about another 3 miles to a cutesy, historical park where we breaked for lunch and talked to a mom who was backpacking with her two little boys. They looked about nine or ten years old! From doing this with my mom, I'm able to fully see that this is a great opportunity to spend some quality bonding time with none other than the one who birthed me. There are long stretches of trail where it's just me, my mom, and nature. This allows me to really get down with her, no outside eyes on us. She let me in on some of her childhood stories (which were actually quite comical, like the imaginary family of lice she pretended to keep in her hair), and I shared with her some experiences of my first year of college, my first year away leaving my mom in an empty house. Her last kid off to college, at the same time she begins to slowly distance herself from her irresponsible, often absent husband. A space she'd been dreaming of for awhile, yet almost too much space for her to handle. A new beginning for her as well as me. And there were also long stretches of the trail where we were both silent. At times almost reading each others thoughts, for I know her better than any other being in my life, and other times just simply enjoying each other's presence. This is the kind of experience that builds memories that stick. And I knew that those two little nine year old boys backpacking with their mother would have something spectacular to look back on, something that'd they never forget. And their mom was probably overly joyed to be able to share these moments with her two sons, be able to learn with them, be with them, and have their almost undivided attention, undivided company for those few days hiking on the trail. I thought about my own joy of being here with someone I admire and love as I drifted off to sleep on a bench in the middle of the park.

My mom woke me up after my much needed nap. We hiked to the uncanny, bear-tenured shelter which leaves me where I am now- comfortably sitting on a bench, leaning back against my pack which has positioned itself perfectly against a nearby, towering tree. We actually just got company, so it looks like we won't be alone (human-wise) tonight like we were last night. Maybe I'll persuade one of our visitors to take a hike to the spring with me and scare away all the bears. I'm going to go get on that...and go do a little socializing. Peace and Joy.

Backpacking Day 1

Whew. Just made it to the shelter where I'll be spending the night. It's actually a relatively nice place, conveniently located next to a fresh spring and accommodated with a wooden swing which I'm currently seated on as I write. I'm backpacking with my mom, which is great because she's super fit and keeps an even pace with me. It looks as though we'll have the place to ourselves tonight which alleviates us from having to set up a tent. I'm not really in the mood to use the last of my energy to put together a tent.

Halfway into the hike I felt surprisingly great and was even bummed that we hadn't planned on tracking more mileage the first day. However, around the 7th mile I started to change my mind. My shoulder's were screaming for me to take of my pack, and my legs were starting to feel all the extra weight I had added to them. I was relieved when we finally made it to the shelter. At last I could shed my pack, prop myself up against a tree or in this case a nice, wooden swing, and relax. Although, I can't seem to shed these incessant gnats that are swarming around my head. They're everywhere! I'm trying to decide whether gnats enjoy dirty humans or freshly clean humans better. I've heard that insects are attracted to the perfumey scents of soaps and shampoos, but I imagine they also like sweat, and at this moment I'm a pretty sweaty, dirty girl. Anyways, they've been attacking me since I've stopped hiking, looking at me like I'm the juiciest thing they've seen all week. It's not quite as bad under the roof of the swing...maybe it's the intricately strung spider web on the side that's keeping them out. There are quite a few gnats trapped in the web.

So accessing my body...my shoulders are pretty tight, and I'm pretty sure they'll be sore tomorrow. Other than that, I feel pretty good. I'll probably do a little yoga later to loosen up.
I've learned that I could definitely benefit from some hiking boots. My beloved running shoes aren't so lionized by me while I'm backpacking. Definitely not enough support for me and my extra 20 or so pounds. How could I ever be a runner and overweight at the same time? Let's hope it never gets to that point...Though I'm not discouraging overweight runners, especially those trying to lose weight. More power to you!

Anyways, like I mentioned before, I'm super dirty already. Oh sweet Earth, inclined to cover my body within a few hours. It was definitely a scorcher outside today- somewhere in the 90's when we began our hike. It didn't take long at all until I looked like I had just gotten out of the shower with my shirt on and everything. Nothing beats a well-deserved sweat though. Pumping oxygen, having fun, both are worthy of breaking a sweat.

It's super peaceful right now. At the beginning of our hike, we ended up crossing paths with a lot of dayhikers and crossing several noisy roads. I was actually a bit irritated because I just wanted to be in the tranquility of nature. But that doesn't matter anymore, because I've alas made it to a place of complete stillness, with the exclusion of some furry little creatures and beatiful-winged animals running around. Ahhh, the sounds out here are amazing. I'm sure I'll enjoy them even more tonight, when nature's sounds become magnified creating a live orchestra performed lullaby. Helping me drift off into a well-deserved sleep. It's actually going to be strange sleeping out here all alone (besides my mom) in the wilderness. There was a sign on the way that warned us to watch our gear because of recent bear activity...so maybe I won't actually be so alone tonight, haha. I do hope that the flies and gnats go home soon and let me be alone...though I'm sure the mosquitoes will be willingly taking their place to join me.

Anyways, I'm going to go. My rehydrated, dehydrated meal of beans and rice is awaiting me...oh boy haha. I'm actually pretty hungry, so I'm sure it will taste great whether it's really good or not...Night.

Backpacking AT

Backpacking was an unbelievable experience. Living and being in complete harmony with nature for a moment of life, what could be more peaceful? Symphonies of bugs, sights of mountains, scents of flowers, scenes of creatures.... an experience you can only come across once you leave the artificialness of civilization and discover for yourself what nature really means to you. The Appalachian Trail isn't even the most bona fide experience of Mother Earth you could observe. To get a real taste of the candid wonders of nature and absorb yourself in its true natural state you'd have to go out into the unmapped, untracked wilderness. (Like in the movie I just watched last night, Into the Wild...great movie!).

Meeting and observing other backpackers on the trail was almost equally as fascinating as the beautiful outdoors itself. These interactions revealed the beauty of nature in a whole different light. People from all different walks of life all joined together with the shared commonality of wanting to be on the trail, in nature, just living and loving the moment. Around the moments when you felt like you could use a little outside-world socializing, you'd come across a fellow hiker, where you could open up each other's stories, letting the words run out. So many interesting life stories, tales, views, bits of information, so many unique and different personalities. Almost always crossing paths in at least one area of sentiment, almost always sharing a similar regard for nature. Beautiful.

I did some brief writings of my daily experiences while out on the trail that I thought I'd share. For the next couple of days I'll be posting my thoughts and brief summaries of a few of my experiences. Tomorrow I will begin the series with day 1 of my backpacking extravaganza.

Backpacking Extravaganza

Tomorrow I am leaving for a few days to go backpacking for the first time in my life! I will be taking off on the Appalachian Trail in an area located in Maryland/West Virginia. Since it's my first time, I'll only be going for two nights, 3 days, but I feel that this will be long enough to at least introduce me to the joy of backpacking. Hopefully after this I can find time in the near future for a longer endeavor.

Just from packing for this I feel like I've already learned alot... Like the fact that I'm gonna be one smelly girl, who will extremely desire a massage after I get back haha. But for real, I've learned just how important every pound, 1/2 a pound, even 1/4 of a pound matters when packing your pack. All of these semi-pounds start to add up, weighing your pack down. And I'm pretty sure that the lighter the pack the more enjoyable the hike will be for you, the hiker. However, lighter gear often equivalates to being more expensive gear. It's like underwear, the less cloth you get the more you have to pay (makes a lot of sense, right?). But from what I've heard from fellow backpackers, light gear such as tents and sleeping bags is often worth spending the extra dollars.

I've also discovered that I'll be eating a lot of nuts! I have like 3 bags of nuts that I'll be taking with me. Since hiking all day with a heavy pack requires a lot of calories, nuts are the perfect way to pack in some energy with a punch of protein. I'm also taking some cereal, a couple PB&J's for the first day, and a few dehydrated meals for dinner....who knows how those will taste... I'm going to set my standards low so that I won't be dissapointed but instead maybe pleasantly surprised? Even that last statement however is likely to set me up for dissapointment, haha, but who knows, maybe they're better than I imagine. Either way, this diet is definitely off track from my normal diet which is packed with fruit and vegetables. The closest thing I'll be getting to fruits and vegetables is freeze-dried carrots and some raisins in my trail mix. Maybe I'll throw in some apples for the first lunch. But that's just part of the experience of backpacking...roughing it.

I'm pumped to get going (walking) and begin yet another first-time experience of my summer. I've already done long day-hikes on the Appalachian Trail, and all of my experiences have been wonderful and beautiful. I have yet to do any hiking in West Virginia, so I'm hoping it too is a scenic stretch of the trail. The AT stretches across 14 different states and is 2175 miles long. Thousands of hikers attempt to do the whole trail each year, but statistics have shown that only about one in four ever make it to the end (10% quit in the first week!). The youngest person to walk to the whole trail was just six years old, the oldest, 81! Wowzaaa.

Wish me luck, and hopefully I have lots more to say for when I get back!--Peace and Joy

Yoga Yoga Yogaville...mmm, I'm hungry

So we actually do have access to the internet here, however I won't be using it frequently, as I want to get away for a bit from addictive technology. My experience here has been amazing so far, and I'm definitely learning a lot about the ideology behind yoga. It's actually quite a science, that goes much deeper than people would assume. I'm getting my fair share of time to practice meditation, as we do it around 3 times a day! I definitely need more practice until I progress though. This sitting still stuff is tough for me!

Today we have the encouraged option of fasting. Studies have shown that fasting helps to heal the body quicker, and keep it healthy. The body is able to put the energy it would use towards the digestive processes and instead use it towards healing and eliminating toxins. "Fasting helps you get better fast." I'm only past 1 1/2 meals...and already my mind has been straying a lot towards food. I've fasted before, and I can't say I enjoy it, but I definitely notice its revitalizing effects. It requires a lot of self discipline, and through time will strengthen this and give you beneficial physical results as well.

Well, I must keep this short since my fellow yogi comrades are waiting to use the computer...and I think I might go take a nap, keep my mind off of food. Om Shanti (meaning peace)

The 'Roo Experience (Long Post)

Music is incredible. Bob Marley got it right when he said, “One good thing about music, when it hits you, you feel no pain.” Music, even if for just a brief moment, can take all your worries away. And for the artists themselves, music is a way to let out worries, get out emotions, and freely let expressions run wild. Music is capable of joining together numerous people from all different paths of life. Few other things in life can bring together such a diverse array of people. This past weekend, 90,000 people from all over traveled to the little town of Manchester, Tennessee to experience a four-day musical festival that would send every single attendant home with life-long memories. I myself was fortunate enough to attend this great festival known as Bonnaroo.

This year marked the 8th year of Bonnaroo. Held on a 700-acre farm, there was plenty of room, which provided a great setting for plenty of great bands, tons of vendors, and loads of interesting people.

After a 12 and a ½ hour car ride (split into two days), a 5-hour wait to actually get into Bonnaroo, and a torrential downpour of rain the first night, I was somewhat skeptical about how much fun I’d be having over the next few days. However, the first full day of being at Bonnaroo quickly changed my mind and opened up my eyes as to just how much fun this experience would be.

I went to the festival with a few of my best friends, from both home and college, which made the experience even better. Upon entering Bonnaroo, I was immediately taken aback at the prolific amount of people at the place. Driving in, we got a good view of one of the camping areas. The tents seemed to go on forever. Tent after tent, lined up into the far distance until you could no longer see. After setting up camp (you get a camping spot just large enough to fit a tent, separated by about 6 inches from your neighbor), we ventured into Centeroo (the stage/main area) to see Portugal The Man. I am a big fan of this band and was super pumped to see them. They performed well, and I especially enjoyed “1989”. After that, we toured the area and just checked out the scene. One of my friends and I engaged in a few poses being taught in one of the many free yoga classes. While holding one of the squatting poses, the instructor began commending Sri Swami Satchidananda, the founder of the yoga institute where I will be taking Yoga Teacher’s Training this summer (He also gave the opening for Woodstock!!). Upon hearing a much loved, familiar name, I quickly began feeling like Bonnaroo was the place for me.

After a long day, we decided to go to bed relatively early since there were no big-named bands we were interested in seeing the first night. After what seemed like a short time, I was awoken early in the morning (around 8) by a wave of almost suffocating heat boiling me inside my tent. I realized what people meant when they said Tennessee was going to be hot. Each morning, although sleep was much needed after very late nights, the heat made it impossible to sleep in and catch up on those ZzZz’s. Most festivities/bands didn’t start until 12, so there were plenty of morning hours to do things such as wait in the long lines for porta-potties, or cook up some breakfast after a previously active night. One morning, our camping neighbors decided to cook up some pancakes and sell them to other campers for 50 cents a cake. A couple of Rolling Stone writers took notice of them and wrote down their contact info. Not only did these writers buy a couple pancakes, but they told them they’ll probably be included in the Bonnaroo article of Rolling Stone mag.!!! This is one of many interesting stories that occurred during the morning hours of Bonnaroo.

We had the pleasure of seeing a range of all types of music, from rock to folk to R&B to rap. On Friday, we saw a plethora of bands. The first main headliner we saw was Animal Collective. I thought they were good, but they catered to the stereotyped audience and turned themselves a bit too much into a jam band for my liking. We then saw Grace Potter & the Nocturnals and then the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. We caught the end of Santigold’s set, and then proceeded to see Al Green. Dressed up in a full suit on such a hot summer day, Al Green was surprisingly good. He definitely got my friends and I off of our feet. We then caught some TV on the Radio, Lucinda Williams, and Ani DiFranco (who I was newly introduced of and rather enjoyed). Later into the night, we saw the Beastie Boys who I’ve decided I’m not a huge fan of, and Phish where we met some “raging Phish-heads”. We caught the end of Public Enemy, whose set was followed by a brief, inspirational anti-racism speech. Next, we saw Crystal Castles, a techno-esque band. The scene there fit every description of a typical rave. Glow sticks, fast-sweaty dancing, odd characters, and most likely some ecstasy were all prevalent among the crowd. It was quite the late night experience. Lastly, we saw Girl Talk (2nd year at ‘Roo), where we also started to see some people unexpectedly passing out. All the drinking and drugging and lack of sleep started to creep up on people.

The following day we had the pleasure of seeing Bon Iver who was definitely good. He was a nice change of pace from some of the earlier jam bands we had been listening to. We also saw Of Montreal, whose set included some oddly dressed up characters wildly dancing around on stage. Following that, we saw The Decemberists who played my favorite, “Engine Driver”. We caught some of Mars Volta as well as Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band. We left his 3&1/2 hour set to go back to camp. After falling asleep to Springsteen we woke up to some heavy Nine Inch Nails. Sadly, we realized we slept through Ben Harper.

On Sunday, the last day (tear), we saw Cage the Elephant, and Citizen Cope who was surprisingly one of my favorite acts. We also saw Erykah Badu, Andrew Bird, Merle Haggard, and Snoop D-O-Double G.

Although music was definitely one of the coolest attractions at Bonnaroo, there were numerous other entertaining and random activities to experience. There was a ferris wheel, art galleries, authentic food, mud wrestlers, crazy good hoola hoopers, yoga, dancing, “green” lectures, comedy acts, an obscure circus, a hot air ballon, etc. etc…. I could’ve spent days on end trying to do everything they had to do there. I felt like I was living some totally weird dream, that involved every random attraction you could think of provided all at one place. There was so much to see and experience, it's mind-blowing just thinking about it. There was an endless amount of unique characters to interact with, and lots of interesting people that were “trippin’” to watch.

However, one downside of Bonnaroo is the dirt. If you completely despise dirt, ‘Roo is not the place for you. After the first day of rain, the place quickly became a mud pit. There were numerous places in which you could have mudslided, and we had the pleasure of watching crazy people go at it while wrestling in the mud. There was also the guy who was clearly messed up on something, and decided to down a whole canteen of muddy water that was taken straight from the ground. Many people peed and brushed their teeth between cars, the area right next to the tents in which we slept in and walked around. Walking barefoot was common because of how muddy and difficult it was to walk in flip-flops, but this also meant walking barefoot into the overused, grotesque porta-potties, and among the dirty/pee/toothpasted grass. Showers were available for 7 bucks, and although I greatly desired one, I didn’t end up taking one the whole four days because upon leaving the showers you had to venture through a huge mud pit anyways.

There were drugs everywhere. I found it kind of comical waking up to people outside my tent walking through the campgrounds yelling “Shrooms, nice magical fungus,” or the people who would quickly roll under there tongue “Roids, pharmies, LSD” as we walked by. Weed was basically decriminalized and the air inside Centeroo permanently smelled of it. The great extent of the commonness of drugs was something I had never quite experienced before. It was interesting to see the various people tripping.

‘Roo also featured a lot of recycling and environmental friendly programs. In 2008, they recycled 44 tons of product. There were over 2000 recycling areas on site, and most of the products were compostable, such as the plastic cups made from a compostable corn material. No glass was allowed on the premises, which made it very conducive for walking.

Bonnaroo was a great experience and something I’m considering going back to. I loved meeting and talking to all the different people, listening to everyone’s different accents, and sharing my own stories without feeling judged or being criticized. Pretty much everyone I met was super friendly and everyone had a unique story or talent to share. I definitely could feel a lot of peaceful vibes being given off, a vibe exemplified by the quintessential “hippie”. Out of all the diverse people there, from people of all races and ages, and even people abusing multiple drugs, I experienced virtually no violence or any acts of hate. Everyone was just so grateful and happy to be there, to be in a place where so many people were brought together for exactly the same reason. Music.

Hasta La Vista

I'm headed to Bonnaroo today!!!!! yayyyy

So I went to New York this past week, and they're not lying when they say NY is a melting pot. It's like a huge box of blocks full of all different shapes, sizes, and colors. It was eye-opening for me. It showed me how small Philly actually is, and how many (outer) beautiful, hip people there are (all gathered in one place!). New York is actually a good place to provide motivation if you wanted to drop a few pounds...passing by so many skinny, modelesque people will make you want to get fit as well. And with all the walking you can do across that sprawling city, it would be easy to shed some weight if you really desired.

While NY is known for its blending of people, I am also very fond of the numerous juice blending places the city offers. On almost every block you can find a fresh-squeezed juice venue. Since NY has such a mass and mixture of people, it is able to provide a wide array of restaurants and cuisines. New York has more nutritious/vegetarian/macrobiotic/etc. based restaurants than I have ever seen in once city. These kinds of restaurants allow you to go out and get good food that's actually healthy, making them great options for when you want dine out without loading on all the typical grease and fat.

Almost everyday I would wake up and walk down the street to pick up a freshly-juiced carrot juice. You could also choose to have a mixture of several fruits/veggies. For example, you could mix carrots with a combination of parsley, celery, beets, ginger, or spinach. Pictured above was a beet/carrot juice blend that I enjoyed one morning. I also sampled a fresh-squeezed orange juice, but surprisingly found it to not be nearly as good as the carrot juice blends.

While I already happened to be a fan of carrot juice, I was super excited when I saw it being offered in so many restaurants/cafes. Carrot juice is astoundingly sweet, and doesn't taste like what most people would expect. While it does have a hint of earthiness to its taste, it's nothing like V8 or any other vegetable concoction. If you haven't ever tried carrot juice, I definitely recommend it. And nothing beats freshly-juiced carrots (or freshly-squeezed anything for that matter). Personally, I enjoy just simple carrot juice, but it's also worth trying with either beets or ginger.

Carrot juice is loaded with vitamin A (good for the eyes!). It also contains vitamin E and B vitamins, as well as numerous minerals that include calcium, potassium, magnesium, and iron. The vitamin A from the beta carotene in carrots is said to cleanse the liver, strengthen bones, and protect skin. It's also low-cal for a juice, containing just 70 calories per one 8-ounce serving.

Providing numerous nutrients and health benefits, and a great taste too, carrot juice is one of my favorite drinks. Give it a try, especially if you get the chance to head up to NY and go to one of the fresh-juice venues.

I'm Going to Bonnaroo :)

I purchased Bonnaroo tickets this past weekend, and let me tell you, I am pumped!!  June couldn't come soon enough.  The line-up consists of well over 50 bands, and as quoted from Rolling Stone, Bonnaroo has become a "mind-blowing musical smorgasbord".  From classics such as Bruce Springsteen to rappers including Snoop Dogg to indie bands such as the Decemberists, Bonnaroo has a little bit of everything making it so almost anyone would want to go.  In fact, my dad's almost convinced that he wants to come along to the event!  I don't blame him; Lucinda Williams, Merle Haggard, Bruce Springsteen, and our favorite soul-jammer Erykah Badu will all be performing.  (To most kids this sounds like a nightmare, but my dad definitely hasn't grown out of his "hippiness" yet, and if he's helping to pay for my $250 ticket, then I'd be glad to have him come along.)  

I actually only just found out about the event last summer after I read an article about it in a Rolling Stone magazine that happened to be lying around on one of our coffee tables.  To me, Bonnaroo sounded like the Woodstock of my generation.  The article portrayed the event as a hippie dream land, full of stellar music, drugged grilled cheese, whimsical dancing, and communal bonding/partying/camping, (oh and showers)!  After finishing the article, I knew I had to eventually go.  However I surmised this would just be an unfulfilled dream...But after talking it over with a friend, we decided this was an opportunity we couldnt't pass up...which means music blaring, tent in the trunk, and my dream carried out as we head on a road trip to Tennessee this summer!  SO EXCITED