What does Memorial Day weekend mean to me? It means the beginning of summer shows and festival season - it means Summer Camp. This year was the festival's 10th year and it was bigger than ever. It was also the 8th year that Colin and I had gone. It's amazing to think of all of the great bands and wonderful times we've had at Three Sisters Park.
This year, our camping group was smaller than normal, as it was just me, Colin, Joy, and Zeb. We left Des Moines around 6:30 am, and after the GPS took us on a really bizarre route, we made it to the park at 11 am. We knew we'd be arriving to a long line, but jeez. It was so hot, with no shade, in a line for about 2 or 3 hours.
Joy and I got through the line first and rushed to find a good spot in the same area we always camp. It was pretty hard, but we eventually found a site with enough room, shade, and even cold water.
The first band we saw was our friends from Des Moines, Omega Dog at the campground stage. They were really good and the small but enthusiastic crowd was really gettin down.
Joy likes to make signs. She spends a lot of her spare Summer Camp time making signs instructing fellow campers where to put their trash/compost/recycling, and to not waste water. It's amazing how many people don't look at a sign unless it's extremely simple, such as "Keep the flow low, yo". I actually heard somebody say, "I'd read that if there weren't so many words". Really?
I made Emily a bet before we left: that we would eat all of the 6 blueberry and 6 cinnamon muffins we bought for the trip. Well, we didn't, so I had to pay Emily $1. Actually, I ate my share, it was everyone else that was slacking.
This campsite was a big part of finding our way back to our own site... so was the trampoline.
We always eat really well at Summer Camp. Our meals included eggs with cream cheese, breakfast potatoes, chicken and dumplings with biscuits, spaghetti with meat sauce, and bbq chicken sandwiches.
On Friday we met up with Stray and Jason and Amanda with their girl Addison. It was so fun to get to spend some time at this festival with our Yonder friends.
On our way to the main stage, we stopped by the soulshine tent for a little bit o' Cornmeal. We only caught a couple of songs, but it was a blast.
After Cornmeal, we saw a little bit of Reverend Peyton's Big Damn Band. I always forget how much fun these guys are to see live until I get my socks rocked off the next time I stumble across them. So much energy and so much music from 3 people. And I can't understand a word he says.
Shelley and Jared got a sweet new camper and got to be in RV camping this year. I thought they had a great spot because they were on the way from my campsite to the bathrooms. So, we got to visit whenever I had to pee, and that was pretty often. Oh, and Jared and I bonded over our love for the Sims.
After our visit, we sped over to the Jager stage (or whatever they call it) and saw the end of Split Lip Rayfield. They were great, but it was so hot and there was no shade. I wouldn't have been able to stand there for their whole set, anyway.
We headed to the main stage for Cornmeal after Split Lip. It's amazing how empty the main stage can get in between bands, while other times it's impossible to even pass through the crowd.
I sat in the shade with Gale, Jason, Amanda, and Addison during Cornmeal, while Colin went up front. It was a great set, but I don't know how everyone could rage it so hard in the sun in the middle of the day.
Finally out in the sun, it was time for us all to go down front for some Yonder! It's such a different experience seeing our favorite band at a festival and only getting a short festival set. It was a blast, but it was over way too fast.
This is one of my favorite photos of the weekend. Stray and Bill were talking about how they can get along at shows but they always butt heads on PT. Really funny.
Yonder was really great, but they played for just over an hour, which is definitely not enough. Danny Barnes came out and played a couple songs. Seeing that Danny was going to be playing with some of the bands was what finally made us decide to go to Summer Camp, so it was great to finally see him. I guess some of our friends who didn't make it to Summer Camp saw us on iClips. I hope they archive it, because I'd really like to see the show again.
Colin and Joy are such great camping cooks. Yum!
Saturday afternoon, Colin and I went to the soulshine tent to check out Chuck Garvey and Danny Barnes. They played a few songs for WhyHunger, and it was a really nice and relaxed vibe. It was also in the shade, which was a major bonus.
It's weird when big news happens while we're at a festival. We found out about Gary Coleman from Jeff Austin during Yonder's set on Friday.
Uncle Bob's ice cream saved the day - every day.
Zeb was living on the wild side and put a peanut butter m&ms inside a strawberry. Apparently is was magical.
Being so close to the trampoline, we had to finally try it out. I brought a lot of costume clothes for the festival, but it was too damn hot to dress up, so we just put on some fun skirts for jumping. Now, I don't even remember if I've ever jumped on a giant trampoline in my life, but it was a lot harder than I thought. I couldn't get my balance and after a couple jumps I was severely overheated. Joy seemed to have problems too, so Zeb jumped us around. It was really fun and really funny, but was not a good idea for my head. I got such a bad headache that I had to take it easy the rest of the day and miss a couple bands. Oh well.
There were so few people at a lot of the main stage shows during the day, when we went down for Keller we were surprised to see that it was packed. I wasn't feeling too well from the heat, so we sat back in the shade. Keller used to be "our guy" and the musician we saw the most, but over the past couple years we've listened to him less. It was definitely weird to not be up front, but it was a great show. He played Erykah Badu's "Tyrone", which was really great. Then Danny Barnes came up and they played "Cornpone Sally and her Hay Bailing Wagon Wheel" and "Get it While You Can". Awesome.
I went back to our campsite after Keller, but Colin stuck around for moe. He managed to get up front and get some pretty sweet pictures.
All of a sudden, it was Sunday.
The first band I saw on Sunday was The New Mastersounds. They were fantastic! Colin was up front taking pictures while I hid in the shade of the beer tent.
After The New Mastersounds, I went back to our campsite because I was hurting from the sun. I hung out in the shade and finished my book. When Zappa Plays Zappa came on, I was able to stay at our site and listen while I did our dishes. It was actually quite nice.
Colin went down front again for moe.'s first set.
Colin passed the camera to me for the second set. I stayed far in back and he went up front again. You know, he always says that he doesn't like being up front, but even when I'm not making him ride the rail he usually ends up there. Ha!
I really enjoyed moe.'s light show. I honestly haven't seen a nighttime moe. set in years because I'm always too tired by the time they go on. I enjoy moe., but I just don't connect with it.
We packed up a lot of our stuff Sunday night and took it to the car, because Colin and I wanted to leave pretty early Monday morning. We visited with Zeb a little, then headed on our way. It's amazing how much trash people will leave behind. I guess they weren't told that their mothers wouldn't be there to clean up after them. Jerks.
Overall, this was one of my favorite Summer Camps. There was no drama, besides for yelling at people to not waste water all weekend. "Could you please use the pitcher instead of letting the water run?" Watching people turn on the water FULL BLAST to wet their toothbrushes. Really? There was even one guy who wanted to argue with us about wasting water. "Water is an unlimited resource! It falls from the sky and comes out of the ground!" Ho hum. Some people aren't worth arguing with.
I love Summer Camp, I love my friends. Thanks for another great year.